18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
N early a week had passed since that night with Grey, and I was doing my best to push it aside, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it at least once a day. I hadn’t heard a single thing from him, and it seemed like I wasn’t going to.
Moseying to my room, the open computer screen caught my eye. I desperately wanted to write, I needed to write, but I still wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to write about. There were some ramblings of different ideas here and there, but nothing that stuck. And that frustrated the hell out of me.
When I was younger, I used to write all kinds of short stories. I could put something together in a week. You want a rom-com? How about a fanfic starring your favorite band member? Or even better, what about an emotional story of loss and love? Great, because I could’ve given you any of those at any given moment.
And now I spent hours staring at this stupid-ass screen with a bunch of nonsense typed up and all I wanted to do was scream. It was no coincidence that my writing had suffered after the accident. Hell, it’d taken me years to even warm up to the idea of writing at all, let alone think it was a good idea to try writing a full-blown novel.
My fingers touched the cold metal, slamming it shut. “Fucking useless,” I mumbled.
I clicked on a summer playlist on Spotify and laid my phone on the bathroom counter, hoping the music would lighten the mood that I’d found myself in. I dropped out of the matching sweatsuit I’d been wearing.
My music jam session worked, and I was feeling a bit lighter after my steaming hot shower. And thankfully so, because I was headed to The Wharf for my shift and didn’t need Sam, or anyone else for that matter, suspecting a single thing.
I opted for a royal-blue sundress. A surprising choice in comparison to my usual jeans ensemble, but it was supposed to be hot as hell and the bar didn’t tend to have the best air circulation. It most certainly wasn’t because I wanted to look the part in case a tall and dark someone happened to grace us with his presence.
Wallet, check. Keys, check. Phone, check.
I grabbed my stuff and headed out. My mood had already shifted a bit, but it lifted even more so after I made my way onto Reef Road and the town’s energy surged around me.
“MJ, just let it go,” I muttered repeatedly to myself as I made my way across the street.
The patio was aglow from twinkling lights and music floated through the air, drowning out the conversations. There wasn’t a single open seat, and inside wasn’t much different.
Dad bombarded me as soon as he saw me come through the front door. “Shit. MJ, I’m glad you’re here. Sam is getting slammed behind the bar. This crowd is nuts. I haven’t seen anything like for years, but I love it.” His smile stretched from ear to ear.
This place meant so much to Dad, to our entire family, so seeing The Wharf brimming with people spilling onto the patio made my heart so full.
“Ah! Me too.” I smiled back.
“By the way, I love the dress. It looks very nice,” he said, winking in my direction before disappearing behind the door that led to the kitchen.
I was feeling extra grateful to all the people here, and also a little grateful that Dad noticed the more than normal effort I’d put into my outfit choice. His comment gave me the affirmation that I needed.
I wiggled my way through the bustling crowd of people engulfing the bar, sneaking glances every now and then just to see if I could catch a glimpse of anyone familiar. No such luck. Finally, I made it to the bar, flipped up the countertop, and stepped through before taking up residence on the opposite side of Sam.
“Shit. This is wild. You should’ve called me, I could’ve come in sooner.”
“No worries.” She slung three shot glasses out of the dishwasher and poured what I suspected was a Washington Apple into each glass, peering over her shoulder. “Based on your texts earlier, I figured you needed a good couch rot before coming to this madhouse.”
“I appreciate you for that. The couch rot was top notch. But it’s probably good that I have to work because if I sat there any longer, I might have become one with the couch.” We both giggled simultaneously. “Anything eventful happen yet?”
“If this is you casually trying to ask if there have been any handsome city boys in tonight, then no. Nothing eventful on that front. However, Chris over there is about to have himself an eventual night by the looks of it.”
I followed the direction of her finger and ended on Chris and some girl I’d never seen before aggressively making out against the wall of the bar. “Lovely. I’m sure Dad is going to be thrilled to see one of his employees sucking face while on the clock.”
“Let the man live,” Sam said. “He’s desperate for some female attention, and it looks like he found it in the form of a blonde from the city.”
I took a few orders, doing my best to multitask. “Hey now, didn’t you find yourself a flashy summer hookup from the city as well?” I pressed.
Sam was at the far end of the bar, taking care of her own customers. “Speaking of flashy summer hookups…” The words left her mouth, and my stomach immediately sank while my heartbeat rapidly increased.
I thought she’d spotted Grey, hence the wild body reaction, but instead, I looked up and saw Anthony strolling to the bar. A wave of disappointment pounded against my insides, returning my stomach to its rightful location and my heartbeat to a normal pace.
“Hey, girls!”
“Hey, Anthony,” I responded.
“Hi.” Sam bounced over to where he stood, her face immediately lighting up. I’d never seen Sam so head over heels for a guy. She wasn’t usually one to get attached, but who was I to judge.
I had a one-night stand and now I was showing up to work in sun-dresses and scanning the room for any sign of the guy.
“Hey, MJ, have you seen Grey?” Anthony’s face was as casual as could be.
“Uhm, me?” I paused. “No. I haven’t seen him since the night of his party.” Which wasn’t a lie. Although, it’d technically been the early hours of the following morning when I’d last laid eyes on him.
“Weird. He left his own party that night and no one’s really talked to him since, except for a few random text messages in the group chat,” he said.
“He probably left with a girl,” I blurted out.
Anthony shook his head. “I doubt it. Grey doesn’t waste his time on random hookups. He won’t go after a girl unless he’s really into them, and I can count on one hand how many times that’s happened in the ten years I’ve known him. It probably had something to do with his family, but it was sort of odd that he left his own party…”
My cheeks felt red hot from Anthony’s comment. Sam kicked me behind the bar before clearing her throat and pulling me back into the conversation.
“Oh. Yeah. He left with me to give me a ride back to my apartment. But he got a phone call shortly after we got there. Seemed like something important,” I said.
Anthony’s face brightened. “Ah, makes sense. The phone call, I mean.”
“It does?”
“Yeah. I’m sure it was some family emergency ,” he said, emphasizing the word with air quotes.
The confirmation that it was probably family-related and not girl-related had the butterflies in my belly drying off their wings.
I went back to taking orders. Some rum and Cokes, vodka sodas, a handful of beers, and a few rounds of shots later and the night was moving faster than expected.
“Dude, look!” Will shouted, motioning to the TV that hung above the crowd in the corner of the bar. He was part of Anthony’s group, most of whom were still lingering, which was fine by me because their tips were better than anyone else I’d served.
“What?” Anthony and a few other guys responded, turning to see what he was gawking at.
Intrigued, I looked too.