by K. M. Galvin
He nodded and took my hand and began leading me off the dance floor. I looked for Jason, but didn’t see him anywhere. Right before we got back to the table, Declan leaned down and whispered in my ear, “What are you so afraid of, kiddo?”
He released my hand and waited as the rest of the band stood up, getting ready for their second set. Kayla was asking me if I was ready to leave and I nodded. I blindly followed them out, Declan’s question echoing in my mind.
What are you so afraid of, kiddo? I caught the keys, Johnny threw at me and slid in the drivers seat and began to make our way home lost in thought. What are you so afraid of, kiddo? I could hear Johnny and Kayla talking softly to each other in the back; I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that they were cuddled up with each other, laughing quietly. I white-knuckled the steering wheel and looked back to the road. What are you so afraid of, kiddo?
Myself.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The rest of the weekend was really nice. On Saturday Kayla, Johnny and I went to the beach and on Sunday, Kayla and I went shopping most of the morning and early afternoon. It was so good to spend some time with just us. I didn’t realize how much I missed her. Though we were complete opposites, she still got me. So she knew not to push all the whole lovey-dovey crap.
We mostly talked about her, thank God. After Jason’s disappearance on Friday night, I didn’t hear or see him for the rest of the weekend. That was fine because I didn’t want to have to analyze either of our actions that night too closely. Currently I was sitting on the couch with Johnny watching football, Kayla had to run to school for a study group so we said goodbye earlier.
I looked at Johnny who jumped up and looked the through the peephole. He snorted and looked at me over his shoulder while unlocking the door.
“Who is it?” I asked. He said nothing, just pulled the door open.
“Hey man, is Mari here?” I recognized his voice immediately because my stomach dropped to my knees. Holy shit fuck! I looked down at myself. Yoga pants and a long sleeve shirt I stole from Johnny that fell to my knees, my hair was on top of my head in a messy bun and I was wearing no make up. Sonofatit! I had a feeling that he would always catch me in my most sloth-like apparel. I texted Jason Kayla’s address last night and told him to text me when he was ready to leave. Dammit! I do not like surprises for this reason right here!
“Pinky! You’re friend is here!” Johnny yelled at the top of his lungs, meanwhile three feet away I cringed at the use of my nickname. He dropped down next to me on the couch and I immediately punched him in the arm. “Ow, Pinkster!”
“I swear to God, Johnny!” I growled and continued hitting him while he laughed like a lunatic. I froze when I heard Jason clear his throat. I looked at him, now standing in front of the TV. “Uh, hi!” I hopped off the couch and patted my hair.
“Hey Pinky” He said, thoroughly amused. His eyes were practically blinding me they were shining with so much laughter. I blushed furiously.
“I’m going to kill you, Johnny.” I snarled at him.
“Aw, come on, Pinkster-” He began and stopped when he realized he used my nickname again. My eyes narrowed in warning.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked turning my attention back to Jason. He tucked his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels, looking casually sexy in jeans, a white t-shirt, and converse with no socks.
This is my favorite outfit on a guy. I glare at him while I walk into Kayla’s room and grab my stuff. Why did he always have to look perfect while I looked like a hobo? Walking back into the living room I can hear Johnny and Jason talking quietly, whatever they were saying was apparently hilarious since Jason was cracking up. I walk over to Johnny who shuts up immediately and opens his arms for a hug; I go into them easily.
“Bye, idiot.” I mumble into his hoodie. He squeezes me so tight my feet come off the ground.
“Bye, Pinkster. Don’t be a stranger, we miss you around here.” I can’t even be mad at him of my nickname again; he’s being sweet, dammit.
“I won’t, promise. Love you!” I call walking out the door with Jason following right behind me.
“So Pinky, huh?” Jason asked from behind me. I make it to my car and sling my bag in the back seat in silence. He does the same on the opposite side.
“Quiet you!” I said finally, pointing a warning finger at him. I get in the car and shut the door, when he’s settled in his seat; I toss my iPod at him. “Hit it, DJ.”
Humming, he immediately starts scrolling through my music. It takes me a second, but when I realize he’s humming the Pinky and the Brain theme song I slap his arm. “Stop!” I yell, laughing at him as he just hums louder.
“One is a genius, the other is insane!” He sings loudly, laughing his ass off. “Guess we know which one you are.” He looks over and leers at me.
“Yeah, yeah. The comedic styling’s of Jason Scott everybody!” Incubus’s “Drive” comes on through the speakers again and I settle back in my seat, listening to Jason as he sings the lyrics softly. We slipped into the easy silence without the awkwardness I was dreading. We could do this; we could be friends.
Monday morning I jumped out of bed and right into the shower thinking about the drive last night. Jase made me promise to stop by the bar after I met up with Emily, Jase’s sister, for our interview.
I had forty-five minutes to meet her at the Starbucks by Shenanigan’s. Of course, this makes my stomach turn, having more to do with a certain bartender next door than the thought of my interview. Emily seemed cool when we talked on the phone, but then again it was a five-minute conversation so who knows?
I rinsed the soap off my body and hair and quickly dried myself off. Looking at the clock on my IPod dock, I bolted into my room and started searching in my closet for an “I am the perfect nanny, trust me with your kid” outfit. I settled on khaki skinny jeans and a navy loose fitting blouse with little anchors all over it, very nautical.
I hopped my way back to the bathroom, sliding on a pair of yellow ballet flats and set about fixing my hair into a braid a la Katniss Everdeen with subtle make-up. Leaning back I checked out my look in the mirror: unassuming, sweet, girl next door. Perfect. I take the stairs and hop down the last step and head into the kitchen to grab some toast and coffee. My dad is sitting at the kitchen table with his breakfast and tablet, but he looks up when I take the seat across from him.
“Good morning, Father.” I nod seriously.
“Good morning, Daughter.” He nods back, playing along. “What is on the agenda today, my girl?”
“Welp! In about twenty minutes I have an interview with Emily, Jason’s sister.” I said over a mouthful of toast. I sweep away the crumbs that flew out of my mouth.
“Marisol! Eat like a lady, not a rabid wolf.” My mother called from somewhere in the house.
I didn’t see her so I’m not sure how she saw me eat. Growing up I used to think she had the cameras all over the house. She says she has eyes in the back of her head so she’s always watching us, but what about when she’s not in the room? She’s sneaky and I respect that.
“I thought you already had the job?” My dad asks, ignoring my mom.
“Well, Jase thinks I’ll get it for sure. And Emily seemed pretty settled on me given that her brother gave her the recommendation. But I don’t know-“ I shrug.
“Well, good luck anyway. It’ll be nice to get some money in that bank account I bet.”
“Is this a hint of my rent bill being slipped under the door soon?” I joked.
“Well you will be gainfully employed and you know how I feel about squatters.” He smiled at me.
“Squatters!” I crack up. “Dad, if you want me to chip in, I’m totally for it. I should contribute since I’m using y’alls stuff.” I tell him seriously.
He gets up from the table with his plate and walks around to my side and drops a kiss on top of my head. “We’ll talk about it later. You just go make that bread.”
I take a huge bite, finis
hing off the rest of my breakfast. “On it!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
I pull up to the coffee shop; three doors down from Shenanigan’s and check my make up in the mirror. Looking good and I’m five minutes early, first impression in the bag. I cling to this confidence as I exit my car and walk up to the counter to order a caramel iced coffee. Scanning the seating area, I spot Emily easily.
Apparently, the Scott genes were strong because she looked exactly like her brother. She was pretty and petite with long black hair, same Scott green eyes. My head cocked to the side in surprise. She also looked really young like my age young. I knew that Jase was twenty-six so unless she had excellent plastic surgeon she had to be younger. I thought for sure she was older because of her kid, but I guess I shouldn’t make assumptions like that considering my own mother had Kayla when she was eighteen.
I sent her a little wave, signaling I would be there in a minute. She smiled and nodded. Guess she knew what I looked like since she wasn’t weirded out by a stranger making hand gestures at her. Grabbing my coffee I gave the barista a smile and headed over to her table.
“Hi! I’m Marisol.” I said, shaking her hand as I sat down across from her.
“Hey, I’m Emily.” She smiled sweetly. I don’t know why, but this girl made me want to hug her. She had a tired look about her which figures since she had a four and half year old. “So Jason tells me you need a job?”
“Yep and you need a nanny! By the way, I hope you know I’m not a weirdo. I was a little appalled at how Jason went about getting us together, but I promise I’ve worked with kids before. I worked at a day care for a couple of years. I’m CPR certified and all that-“
“Marisol-” She stopped me laughing lightly. “I trust Jason. He would never send a kidnapper to me. He likes you.”
“I don’t know how, I barely know him.” I mentally smack myself because now it sounded like I was talking her out of hiring me.
“Jason gets feelings about people and he’s usually dead on.” She takes a sip of her coffee, watching me carefully for my reaction at this news.
I nod, “So the dad’s out of the picture?” Jason had mentioned this before, but I wanted to make sure there wasn’t going to be any issues I needed to be aware of.
“So out of it, it’s like he was never there.” She said bluntly, but smiled a little to lighten the mood.
“Forgive me, but you’re so young, I usually see older people looking for nannies. I’m sorry, I know that sounds judgmental-“
“Stop, it’s really ok-“She started, looking amused, but I would not shut up.
“No, it’s not, I am an annoyingly curious person paired with no filter. It’s a dangerous combination. I’ve gotten into plenty a scrape because of it.” I cringed. What is with my word vomit and the Scott siblings?
“Honestly? I got pregnant at seventeen and had Mikey a couple months after my eighteenth birthday and high school graduation. The father has never wanted to be a part of our lives and good riddance too him. Thank god for Jase, though. He came home, gave up everything to help me out with Mikey and it really allowed me to get my degree. Now, I have my own home. It’s small but it suits us. I work at an up and coming online magazine called Twenty-Something’s.”
“Seriously?! You work there? I love that magazine! You guys have the best music articles.” I lean forward on the table almost tilting the whole thing over in excitement.
“Thank you.” She smiled. It took me a second to comprehend what she was implying, then my mouth dropped open, and the hero worship started.
“Wait, thank you like ‘thank you on behalf of the entire magazine’ or ‘thank you I write that column’.” I asked excitedly, wanting my suspicions to be confirmed by her.
“Thank you I write that column.” She smiled.
“Shut the hell up! Girl, I worship you!” I’m practically bouncing in my chair.
I cannot believe I am sitting across from E.L. Scott. Holy crap this world is seriously small. Twenty-Something’s was like hipster paradise. They didn’t watch trends; they started them. E.L. Scott was a music master; she had an ear for bands. I would go on online and see her weekly column about a new band and then a couple months later they would be everywhere. She was like Oprah, but instead of making books bestsellers, she made bands famous.
“You seriously have the coolest job on the planet. Literally.” I gushed.
“It’s pretty great. I worked hard to graduate early and I worked at my university newspaper reviewing local bands. It also helps when you’re brother is underground famous.” She says, air-quoting around famous.
“No kidding?” I asked surprised.
“Yep, he’s a festival favorite.”
“Wow! I met the guys from the Boonies and they mentioned that he went on tour with them-” Then it all clicked into place. Jesus. Like this guy needed any help getting under my skin. I was going into full-blown crush mode.
“And then he came home and helped me out.” She nodded, guessing my train of thought. “I love him, he’s the best person I know.”
“He’s pretty great.” I muttered, still lost in thought.
“Yeah, so the magazine wants me to start going to some shows to scout some bands.”
“Which is where I come in.”
“Correct. I’ll be gone maybe two to three nights a week scouting bands for my column. I hope that’s ok. I’ll need you full time those nights and then part time the rest of the week. And you’ll have weekends. It won’t be every week. I’ll be travelling probably every other week.”
“Like I said, best job in the whole world.” Still totally stuck on the information I just learned.
“I know; it’s just hard. I don’t want to leave my son, but its really good money and I want to be able to provide for him, you know?”
“No judgment here. I can tell you’re a great mom.” And I could, she had a light about her every time she mentioned her sons name.
“I’m trying. You won’t be by yourself completely. Jason already said that he would stay at my house for those nights so you won’t have to stay the whole night. Just until he can get there from work.”
“That’s not so bad.” I reasoned, taking a sip of my coffee.
“It’s only for a couple months during festival season, and then it’ll cool down enough that the travelling will be more sporadic. It’s practically unheard of to travel as lightly as I do, but they just hired another writer to help out my column since it’s taken off, so it’s working out well.” She said, but I detected some bitterness there.
“Is that weird? Someone else working on the column you created?” I asked interested.
To be honest I was having a hard time not being completely envious of this girl in front of me. Here she is, with every obstacle that can be thrown at her and she’s handling it beautifully. In fact she’s excelling and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out my inability to do the same.
I pull myself out of my thoughts and focus back on Emily. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
“Oh! I was just saying that I haven’t even met the guy yet so I can’t really hate him; they just hired him actually. Anyway, I have to pick up Mikey in about a half hour. Why don’t you take the rest of the day to think about it?”
“I will, thanks Emily.” I stood up with her and we made our way outside.
“If you’re interested, Marisol, come to dinner tonight with Jase and meet Mikey.” She said as she made her way over to a black Jeep.
“That sounds even better, I’ll see you tonight. It was really great meeting you Emily.”
“You too, Marisol!” With a wave, she hopped into her car and took off down the road. I rocked on my heels and checked my watch. I can’t believe forty-five minutes went by, it felt more like five minutes.
I made my way over to Shenanigan’s and noticed that they weren’t open for another two hours. Why the heck would he have me come after the interview if they were going to be closed? Pulling my phone I texted Jaso
n.
Hey Bartender! I’m at your bar, why aren’t you tending?
In less than a minute he texted me back.
LOL! We’re closed to everyone but really special people. I’ll be right there to let you in.
I tucked my phone inside my back pocket and a second later the door swung open to reveal Jase in his Shenanigan’s Henley and some black jeans, his ever-present Converse encasing his feet. He held the door as I walked by and like some stalker I inhaled his scent, wood cleaner and something spicy.
“I guess I’m special then huh?” I asked as I followed him up to a booth covered in paper and sat down.
“I find myself refraining from making a very middle school joke.” He grinned as he took the seat across from me. I plopped my feet up next to him on his seat and rolled my eyes.
“What’s all this?” I asked, gesturing to the paper that covered the table.
“Payroll, orders, other extremely responsible and important things that you couldn’t possibly understand.”
“Ha. You’re on a roll this morning. Where’s Mr. Shenanigan?” I ask looking around for other people, but we were alone.
“Mr. Shenanigan?” He asked amused.
“The owner, dumbie.”
“The owner’s name is Jackson Tate, not Shenanigan. And he’s on vacation with his family for the week so I’m running this ship.”
“Impressive.” I said, nodding respectfully.
“You should be impressed. I’m very trustworthy and multi-talented. Anyways, since I didn’t get an S.O.S. text from you or Em, I’m guessing it went well?”
“Jason.” I folded my arms on the table and leaned forward with mock seriousness.
“Marisol.” He imitated.
“You have, quite possibly, the coolest sister in the world.” I smiled.
He leaned back into his seat and put his arms behind his head, causing them to flex. Stupid muscles. “I like her.”
“Dude, you have no idea. I am girl crushing so hard right now. You have major competition for the position of best friend. I like her so much better than you.” I grinned.
