Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

62 - Rebecca

The light was dimming outside when I heard the music turn off upstairs. I didn't even know if Katrina was still here, but I was too into my work to really care. I wanted to stay here all night, finishing every design to perfection and maybe even starting to design more for the other lines I had. I would have stayed, if it weren't for the sound of Katrina's laugh as she descended the stairs calling goodbye to someone.

I stared, hard, at the laptop screen, hoping that I wouldn't have to face her right now. But she walked inside and shut the door, collapsing onto the couch.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, though she didn't check it. "Are you still busy?" she asked hesitantly, glancing at the screen.

I was on the folder of digital designs after having done them — the last rushed. "A little," I replied.

"It's just that Sam's awake. I thought maybe you could drop me off where I'm going to have dinner with him? You don't have to, I just..."

I looked up at Katrina. If I didn't leave the studio now, would I leave it tonight? That commitment scared me a little to think about, so I just closed my laptop lid. Katrina stood back up, knowing we were about to leave. I shouldered my backpack carrying only my keys and we walked out.

I locked my office door then led her up the spiral steps to the studio's main room. Jax was the only one left, a duffel bag sitting on one shoulder as he stared down at some papers on his desk. He glanced up for a moment and nodded at me, then smiled at Katrina. I saw her waving at him as we walked down the stone steps.

We stepped out into the late afternoon, and I was shocked to find that it was a little chilly. Why does that happen at random times in LA? It's so frustrating. I was getting angry again. I really had to work on my attachment to the studio, because it was starting to become a remedy for my anger.

Katrina and I climbed into my car in silence — a comfortable silence, thankfully. She showed me an address on her phone that I vaguely recognised. We both settled into our seats, secretly hoping that we wouldn't fight again. Hanging out with Katrina had me disliking fighting.

The restaurant we turned up at seemed so impossibly Sam and Katrina that I had to do a double take. It was the perfect mixture of maturity and cheer, along with a hint of darkness in the grey-painted bricks of the outer walls. Sam and Katrina only ever went to places and did things that represented them as a couple, it seemed.

Katrina didn't get out at first, searching the parking lot desperately for something. I saw the concern in her eyes when she couldn't find it, until she spotted a car in the distance. I couldn't really see it because a tree was blocking it, but it looked strikingly familiar. I didn't have time to really look.

"Thank you so much, Becky. I hope we can be closer friends soon!" Katrina exclaimed, reaching across to hug me then flying out of my car.

I stared after her as she walked away at a fast pace towards the car. My eyes flicked to the restaurant. I considered waiting to see her inside, but that was admitting that I cared so I spun the car out of the parking lot. I almost hit a man standing by a tree who had blended in so well that he didn't seem real. I didn't apologise for it, driving along the road.

My fingers tapped incessantly against the steering wheel as I travelled a little too quickly back to my apartment. Being alone had been fine in the studio, enclosed by the walls of my office, but here in the car, I felt a little bit lost. I couldn't say that I entirely wanted Katrina back, because really, I wanted to look into blue eyes rimmed with silver. And I'd wanted to do that this whole time, no matter what I was trying to convince myself.

My phone buzzed in my backpack just as I pulled in to my apartment building's parking lot. I left the engine on, reaching back and finding out my phone. It was Angela, unfortunately.

'Hey we need to talk'

I replied, 'Don't want to'

Angela was quick to text me back. 'It's really really important. Life threateningly important.'

'Whatever'

And any text she sent after that, I didn't see, because I was getting out of my car. I glanced around the parking lot naturally, wondering if anybody was around. I never saw my neighbours besides the nosy foreign woman down the hall. I spotted a silver car in the distance with a guy leaning against it, his head tilted down. He was looking at a phone, but the screen didn't light his face up.

Angela texted me again, then, and I reluctantly checked both of them.

'Stop ignoring this like it doesn't affect you!'
'Rebecca be careful of everyone you see. You're in danger'

You're in danger. I rolled my eyes. She may have been followed, but that was because of her and Mom's ridiculous addiction. I was smart enough to stay the fuck away from any of that, so I wasn't in the way of anyone involved with them.

I brushed off her warning and walked into my apartment building. I didn't know what to do for the rest of the night, but I knew it wasn't going to be anything productive. After so long of working, I was drained. Not to mention how all over the place my emotions were because I was being stupid and missing someone.

When I got to my apartment perfectly safely, I collapsed onto my couch and breathed a heavy sigh.