Just Like Me

by Dani Hall

  “How are you going to treat him?” Lisa cut into my daydream.

  I considered that for a second.

  “Well…if it was an actual date…”

  “You would offer to pay for your own stuff. I know you, and that’s exactly what you do. You don’t like guys paying for your crap.”

  “So the question is whether I milk the celebrity thing and let him pay for anything…or do what I’d normally do.”

  “But they don’t want you to milk the celebrity. He’s just normal.”

  “But a normal guy would pay for the girl’s meal.”

  “But normally you’d offer to pay.”

  “Yea…that’s true.”

  “But what if it’s like a restaurant that has $50 dollar meals?”

  “Then he’s paying.”

  We finished eating and dropped our empty boxes and drinks in a trash can. I wasn’t ready to go back to the dorm, so we walked over to the bridge. We both leaned against the railing, resting our elbows on the top. We watched the fish swim around and people walking around campus.

  “It’d be so weird if ya’ll ending up, like, actually dating.” Lisa said, finally breaking the silence.

  “Oh please,” I said, starting to pick at the paint on the railing. I tried to contain my sour face. “I don’t grovel at his feet. I don’t go looking at his biography and memorizing every detail of his life.”

  Lisa cleared her throat. “So…”

  “So, I’m not his type.”

  Silence encompassed us again. It’s a weird thing, silence. Out here, of course, there are sounds of nature. The water flowing beneath us, wind in the trees, sound of steps on the pavement. But actual silence, it’s louder than anything else you’ll ever hear.

  “It’d be weird.” Lisa repeated, gripping the railing and straightening up. “You’d always be in the news, be living the high life. You wouldn’t even need college. You’d be set for life.”

  “Right. Like that’ll happen.” I searched desperately for a topic change. “Remember when you wanted to drop out to be a professional gamer?”

  She laughed, shaking her head at the memory.

  “Yea, but you convinced me otherwise. I guess I kind of owe you for that. Maybe. I could’ve been an awesome gamer.”

  “Yea, I might owe you; you never know how far you could’ve gone in competitions.”

  “Oh please. I’m a girl; they never would have taken me seriously.”

  We stopped talking as two girls made their way over the bridge. One was a blond in a red jacket, the other a red head in a purple scarf. Of course, they were gossiping about what the whole rest of the campus was buzzing about.

  “I heard she’s going to try to get pregnant so he’ll be stuck with her.” Red jacket said.

  “Oh man! That’s a real bitch move.” Purple scarf scoffed.

  “Yea, apparently she told her friend or something and she told me.”

  “Hey!” Lisa yelled right as they were at the top of the bridge. They both stopped and looked up at her. “I heard that there are repercussions for talking bad about that Kale chick.”

  “What?” The one in the red coat sneered.

  “I was talking bad about her, and they told me that I wasn’t able to see Zombie Grave in November.”

  “…what?” Purple scarf looked like she was going to blow a fuse in her brain. I wasn’t sure what Lisa was getting at.

  “Because they’ve got the campus bugged, everyone talking bad apparently is going to be banned from the new movie coming out in November. I was banned for calling the girl ugly.”

  “Zombie Grave?” They both chimed, looking absolutely horrified.

  “Yea, they say talking bad about her pretty much means you’re talking bad about Taylor Jett. So he’s put up bugs everywhere, he’s voice identifying people on campus, and is banning anyone talking badly about the competition.”

  The girls exchanged a look.

  “Oh my God.” The girl in the purple scarf said. “That’s horrible. Oh my God, do you think they heard us?”

  They hurried off the bridge, looking around at lamp posts and trash cans, probably looking for the apparent bugs. I heard good remarks about myself as they trumped off, overly nice remarks like how beautiful I was and how I deserved to win. I couldn’t believe how gullible people were. Lisa snickered.

  “Hopefully that rumor will get around fast.”

  “Have I told you lately how much I love you?” I asked, batting my eyes and grinning at her.

  “Be careful, soon they’ll be calling you a lesbian.”

  This was why she was my best friend. She could make me smile right when I thought my mouth would become a permanent grimace. She’s crazy, lovable, and a lot of the time I wondered why in the world she would choose to hang out with me.

  I glanced at my phone and realized I needed to get ready for work. Great.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Hello Ms. Delaney!”

  As I slammed my car door I glanced up to see Hector and one other body guards walking towards me. I looked at my phone, it was ten till.

  “Hey Mr. Hector!”

  As they strode over I grabbed my two sets of keys and my purse, making sure to keep my hood on.

  “You can drop the ‘Mr.’ Ms. Delaney.”

  “Then you can call me Kale.”

  Hector smiled.

  “This is my partner, Gideon.” I extended my hand, and he shook it firmly.

  “Hello, Gideon.”

  “Hello, Kale.”

  I glanced hesitantly at the doors to the theatre. I saw one of our box office employees leaning over the counter, trying to see around the corner behind the glass. I sighed.

  “Shall we?” I asked. They took their places by my side, and I trumped in.

  I quickly walked through the lobby and went over to the concession counter. Computers lined the counter tops as well as fountain drink machines and printers for receipts. All of the employees were staring. They were all in the black collared shirt uniforms with black dress pants. I noticed ushers staring over from podium where tickets were ripped. I was very thankful that all of the current movies were still in progression or else I would have had multiple auditoriums worth of customers staring as well.

  I took a moment to admire the new posters and standees in the lobby. New exciting movies were always coming out, and we are one of the most popular theaters on the east coast. I see posters for chick flicks, action movies, and comedies. My eyes stop at Zombie Grave with Taylor Jett’s face plastered huge over it. I quickly turn my gaze back to concession and pointedly avoid looking at that poster the rest of the night.

  I almost slammed into the swinging counter door. I fumbled with the door, finally opening it, and then brought out my theatre keys. I quickly punched in my user name and password into a computer to clock in. I dodged the long island running in the middle of the concession area that held fridges with bottles of water, cheese, butter machines, and microwaves. I finally got around where the concession opened up into the entrance to the back kitchen, the candy room, and the office. The body guards followed as I jammed my keys into the office door lock and shoved my way in. Technically only employees were allowed behind the counter, I wondered what Mr. Bolt would say about the body guards.

  Mr. Bolt was sitting at his desk in the corner, facing his computer, away from the door. He was on a social network sight and turned around at the sound of the door opening. I quickly removed my hoodie and sunglasses. Parker, a fellow manager, was at the desk in the opposite corner. He didn’t look up from that desk’s computer when I walked in.

  With the two desks, three chairs, and the five of us…it was pretty cramped in the office.

  “Well, hello there Ms. Kale.” Mr. Bolt greeted, eyeing the bodyguards. “Glad you could show up to work today. Gentlemen?”

  He stood up, his small frame looking miniscule in comparison with Hector and Gideon. He shook hands with them and finally Parker turned around. He raised an eyebrow, th
en uninterested, turned back to his computer. I rolled my eyes at him.

  “So,” Mr. Bolt sat back down in his chair, but didn’t take his eyes off of us. His balding brown hair was starting to show a little slickness with sweat and he was wearing a red dress shirt with black pants. Parker, with his blond hair, was wearing a too-small black dress shirt with black dress pants. I could tell his tie was a clip on, but that wasn’t uncommon with Parker. He was the definition of lazy.

  “You won some kind of contest, Kale?” Mr. Bolt’s high pitched voice sounding meek.

  “Yes, sir. A um…celebrity competition…thing.”

  “Huh.” He nodded and awkwardly tapped his fingers on his thigh. “You gentlemen will be spending the entire evening with Kale?”

  The two guards exchanged a glance.

  “Mr. Jett’s staff thought it best,” Hector replied. “So yes, sir.”

  “Alright.” Mr. Bolt kept nodding; he looked like a bobble head.

  “Would you like me to help in concession, Mr. Bolt?” I asked, dreading the reply. I could just imagine helping them shovel popcorn into bags with two body guards on either side of me. I hoped they wouldn’t try to follow me around; they would get in the way during a rush.

  “Um…” Mr. Bolt hesitated. “Are you folks going to be following her around back there?”

  “If it would be more of a convenience, we’ll stand out of the way in the back. Of course we’ll step in if we need to, but we don’t wish to cause a scene. We reason that no one will even recognize her tonight.”

  Mr. Bolt continued nodding, and glanced back at me.

  “Sure, you can assist concessionists tonight, if you think you can.”

  “I’m not on my death bed or fragile, Mr. Bolt. I just don’t want to get shot by a heart broken teenager.” I cringed, that sounded harsh. Mr. Bolt raised his eyebrows at me. “I mean…sorry, that was....” I trailed off, not knowing how to recover.

  “Guys, Kale is safe in here, would you mind if I had a word with her real quick?”

  Hector considered, and finally nodded.

  “We’ll be outside, Kale.” He winked before he and Gideon exited. Mr. Bolt glanced over, annoyed, at Parker. He was absorbed in a document on the computer. Mr. Bolt cleared his throat and Parker looked up. Mr. Bolt looked at him, then toward the door.

  “You wanted me to leave, too?”

  “Yes.”

  “But I was in the middle of-“

  “Shit. Out. Now.”

  Parker grumbled, but grabbed his keys and exited the office. Mr. Bolt waited until the door was closed before directing his attention to me.

  “Now, Kale.” He motioned to a chair beside him. I took it, hesitantly, uncomfortable with the short distance between us. He faced me, a serious expression on his face. “If this thing is going to be a problem tonight, I can excuse you. I’m sure Gretchen will gladly come in tonight.”

  “No, sir. It’s not a problem.”

  He pressed his lips together indecisively.

  “Are you in real danger tonight, Kale?” He wasn’t worried about my safety; he was treating me like a gossip channel.

  “Well…” I thought about all the death glares on campus when Hector and those other guards and escorted me to my dorm. “No…not with the guards.”

  He didn’t look convinced. He finally relaxed back into his chair.

  “Now, what kind of contest was this?”

  “This stupid thing on campus.” I said, shaking my head. “They hid a celebrity on a college campus, I happened to find him. Lucky me. So now I’m stuck going out with him tomorrow night and every girl in the country wants to kill me.”

  “I think I heard about that. You won it?” He laughed at the prospect.

  “I know. Ridiculous, right?”

  He had received all of the information he had wanted, now he was turning back to his computer, researching the competition.

  “You can head out into concession now.”

  I silently got up, hooked my keys onto my belt loop and crossed the small room to the door. I glanced behind me; he was searching about the competition. I breathed out slowly, then opened the door and stepped out.

  All eyes came immediately to me. Everyone turned from cleaning up concession to look at me. Parker stood by the doorway, an annoyed expression on his face.

  “I can go back in now?” He asked, testily.

  “Yea, go back in and finish reading your trashy articles.”

  He shoved past me and started pulling his keys out. To my surprise, Hector stepped in front of the door.

  “Are you subtly threatening our client?”

  Parker looked up at the guy, startled. Parker is a big guy, but he is just fluff. Hector’s build is all muscle.

  “No.” He squeaked. “Never.” Parker gave me a furious glance and went around Hector, unlocked the office and scurried inside. Hector chuckled.

  “That was awesome.” I nodded to Hector.

  “If only I could be around all the time.” Hector said, winking at me. His bald head was glistening under concession’s lights.

  “Whoa.” A concessionist named Rick piped up. “That was freaking bad ass. Shoving Parker around like that?” He let out a low whistle. “My hat’s off to you, dude.”

  Hector raised an eyebrow to the kid. Rick quickly turned back to his register.

  “This is going to be a good night after all.” I decided, walking over to start making more popcorn.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The 7 o’clock rush turned out to be uneventful. Hector and Gideon stayed at the back of concession, occasionally sticking their hands in the fresh popcorn and eating it. I’m sure that broke at least three health code violations, but I wasn’t going to say anything. I assisted with popcorn and drinks and no one seemed to notice I was there. I got the occasional confused look, like they knew me from somewhere but couldn’t figure out where. I had to deal with a few unhappy customers, but all the projectors worked tonight without a hitch. The employees kept giving me nervous glances throughout the night.

  At about 8:15 Mr. Bolt called me into the office and told me an employee complained that I was making everyone uneasy, so Mr. Bolt suggested I go home early.

  I bid goodbye to Hector and Gideon, my hood on and sunglasses in place as I headed out the front doors. It was dark out, I wasn’t sure if I could drive with the sunglasses on. I decided that the sunglasses were unnecessary, especially since it was dark out. I shoved them in my purse and hooked my theatre keys onto it. I held my car keys in my hand, walking off in the general direction of my vehicle. I was humming and being completely absentminded as I clicked the unlock button to my car. Suddenly, I felt something cold and hard jammed into the middle of my back.

  “Turn around, slowly.”

  Oh. My. God.

  I swallowed. The hard thing was gone and I slowly turned to face a guy in a ski mask that had a gun pointed at my chest.

  I’m going to die. This is it. I’m going to die without a college education. Without a life. This is it.

  “Give me your purse!”

  I hesitated. And then I was angry.

  I slowly pulled my purse off my shoulder. I think I saw on some T.V. program that a robber is more interested in your money than in you. Hopefully this wasn’t about the competition. He just wanted my money.

  So I lifted my purse up, and threw it as hard as I could in the direction opposite of my car.

  The robber, which I could see had cool grey eyes, looked over where I threw my purse. He was obviously confused. It’s like he didn’t know whether to tackle me for throwing it or go after the purse.

  “Oh come on-“

  But before he could finish what he was going to say, someone came out of nowhere, tackling the thief to the ground.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing, huh?”

  I recognized dark hair and tan skin, even if it was dark.

  “I think the better question is what the hell are you doing here?” I asked Taylo
r Jett.

  “Saving your ass from the look of it! Where the hell are the body guards?”

  I looked around, trying to spot Hector and Gideon.

  “Zeloni! Grant! If you don’t get your asses over here in 10 seconds you’ll never see another security officer job again!”

  I heard footsteps pounding on pavement as Hector and Gideon made their way to the scene. They both got there, shoving hands against the thief’s back. Taylor scrambled off the guy, standing up and brushing himself off. He was wearing a red t-shirt and jeans. Not trying to hide his appearance at all. He looked at me, he looked pissed. Apparently I needed to get used to this look.

  “What the hell?? Why do you think you have body guards, Delaney?!”

  “Apparently to give you an excuse for yelling at me!” He slit his eyes then looked at Hector and Gideon, slowly lifting the guy off the ground.

  “You two! Why the hell didn’t you walk Delaney to her car? What do you think we’re paying you for?”

  “Our apologies, Mr. Jett.” Hector said, trying not to grit his teeth. I’m not sure how in the world Hector could possibly seem so nonchalant. Hector seemed like a smart guy, he would’ve known if I’d been in danger. Jett wheeled on me.

  “You’re welcome.” He spit.

  “I’m not thanking you.” I retaliated.

  “The guy had a gun to your back, and you don’t think I just saved your life?”

  “No. I don’t think that guy would have ever followed me if I didn’t have body guards trailing me through the theatre in the first place. He probably thought I was loaded and wanted to follow me out and rob me. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for your stupid competition!”

  He ran a hand through his hair, and kept glancing behind him. A police car with lights on was coming around the corner. Taylor made his way over to the car; he talked to the police officer for a few minutes. He was very animated and threw concerned facial expressions. He made me sick. I kept staring, unable to make out what had just happened. The police officer turned to the body guards and began questioning them; Jett made his way back over to me. No one was arresting the would-be…robber? Thief? I have no idea what to call him. Jett stopped a few feet from me, assessing my face.