The Choice (a Painful Past)

51

"Whatever." He replied. "Anyway, do you think you can go pick up Dusty, and bring him here before you go in? You know he doesn't have a ride, and his parents are at work."

That meant that I would have to get ready right now, and leave early, so that I could make it to work on time. I sighed.

"If you don't want to, just say it." He replied, angrily. "Don't make all those stupid sounds."

"I'm just tired, Will. I need to take a shower, and I wanted to chill with you for a little while before I went in." I replied, defensively. "This is going to take up some of my time...but, yeah, I guess I will. Let me go shower."

He smiled that pretty smile of his and looked at me with his pretty eyes. My heart did a little jump when he bit his lip.

"You're off tomorrow, right? We can spend all day together...and all night." He replied, then wiggled his eyebrows.

I forced a giggle, but my mind automatically went to the talk that we were supposed to have. I was hesitant about bringing it up. Not just because I didn't want to put him in a bad mood before I left, but mainly because I just wanted to pretend like what had happened, had never happened.

If I ignored it, it would go away...or that's what I decided to tell myself. So, I didn't bring it up.

I took a quick shower, changed into my uniform, fixed my hair and light makeup, moved my tip money into my bill envelope, grabbed my purse, then found Will sitting in the living room. He was on the phone again.

"No bro, it's cool. Yeah, Callie is gonna pick you up in a few. Bring that with you. Yeah. Okay, see you." He said, then set his phone down, with a smile on his face.

"Was that Dusty?" I asked.

He looked up in surprise.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I didn't know you were there. That was fast." He replied.

I just shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I don't have much time now, so I had to be fast."

His eyes hardened a little, but he chose not to argue. "Are you finished then? Cuz he's waiting on you." He said.

"Yeah, I guess." I replied. "Are you gonna ride with me to pick him up?"

I didn't want to go by myself. Yeah, I knew Dusty pretty well, but we weren't friends. I was just his best friend's girlfriend, and he was just my boyfriend's best friend.

I actually didn't really like him, if I were being honest.

Will sighed heavily.

"If you need me to, I will. I was going to roll this up before he got here though. I guess it can wait."

I looked down and saw all the broken up weed on the rolling tray, along with an empty split Peach White Owl cigar. I had asked him one time why he didn't just buy the already made blunt wraps, instead of splitting a cigar. He claimed they tasted better, but I hadn't really noticed a difference, besides the fact that the cigar had that sweet tobacco taste.

"Thanks." I told him, then wondered why I was thanking him.

I was the one going to pick up his friend, yet I was saying thank you because he was willing to ride with me? That was something deeper than I was ready to think about, so I shook it off.

"I'm gonna go warm the truck up then." I said.

"Okay, I'll be out in a couple of minutes. Just gonna grab my cigarettes and my shades." He replied, looking up at me.

I waited for him to move to do that, but he just looked at me. I turned and walked out the door, and didn't stop till I got to my truck. I jumped into the familiar seat, and turned the key.

When I heard the engine roar to life, I sighed and leaned my head back against the headrest. I felt weird. Like something was off, but I didn't know what.

I hated when I got these feelings because I never knew why. Maybe it was just anxiety. I turned my radio on to my favorite station, then spun the volume dial, until it blared through my thoughts.

I let the music invade my senses, until I heard a loud banging noise on the side of my truck. My first thought was that someone had hit me. I screamed and jerked my eyes open, only to see Will standing at my window, laughing at me.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. You were so zoned out." He laughed.

"Shut up."I grumbled, as I turned the music down some. "Get in the truck. I have to hurry up. I can't be late for work. The light bill has to be paid."

His lips flattened into a straight line. He walked around to the passenger side, got in, then slammed my truck door.

"Can you not?" I asked, annoyed that he was annoyed. "I can't afford to fix the door, if you break it, and you can't either, so chill."

"You don't have to keep shoving it in my face that I don't have a job, Callie. I know that. I'm looking every single day, while you're sleeping the day away. Maybe you should try looking for a job that pays a little more than below minimum wage!" He exclaimed.

I sighed and rubbed my temple. Instead of replying, I put the car in reverse, backed up, then pulled out onto the road. I didn't know what was going on with us today, but we were both annoyed. This was not a good day.

Dusty lived about 15 minutes away from me, so we rode without speaking for the most part. Will took over the radio, hooking his phone up to it, like he always did. I loved riding by myself, because I got to actually listen to the music that I wanted to listen to.

When he was in the car, it was always his music. Sometimes, we listened to the same thing, but more often than not, I hated his music.

"Sorry that I was a dick." He replied, quietly, when I pulled into Dustin's yard. "I get defensive about the whole job thing, because it's driving me crazy that no one has hired me yet. I don't want to do construction but Dad said there aren't many houses that need to be painted right now. I feel worthless and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."

I immediately felt bad. I didn't mean to shove the money thing in his face, but if I were being honest with myself, that's exactly what I was doing. It stressed me out trying to pay all of our bills, plus cigarettes, weed, food, and gas.

There was no way that I was going to be able to keep this up.