Charlotte
With a sigh, I collapse on my ancient IKEA couch in my small apartment above the bookstore.
The cushions sigh, likely with pain, as my body melts into the crevices.
Thelma is slurping up food in the corner, content now that I’ve fed her.
Closing my sore eyes, my mind quiets and the heaviness that comes right before sleep settles onto me.
I try not to let the events of the last couple of hours keep me up any longer.
If I sleep, then I won’t think about how in the world I’m going to keep my business afloat if I lose a large part of my revenue.
I can just let myself escape into oblivion until tomorrow.
Oh fuck, I need to get my contacts out. I’ll just lay here for a few minutes and then take out my contacts.
Who am I kidding? I’m going to fall asleep with my contacts in and get an eye infection.
But before I settle back into my little doze, my phone vibrates on my coffee table, and I’m jerked back awake.
“Fucking shit, what do you want?” I mutter and grab it, fully expecting it to be one of my Hinge matches sending a dick pic or asking me for nudes. I really need to delete that app.
Nicole: You get home ok? Call me when you get home. It’s soooo dead here and I’m bored…
A weak smile creeps up my face.
Nicole answers on the first ring. “When is the wedding?” I hear a loud yell in the background. “Georgie just lost Connections.”
“Wow, it really is quiet. Why are you working?” I ask. Nicole has two jobs. She works at Triple C Café in the mornings, and Little Bennett’s in the evenings.
“It’s fun to help Georgie with The New York Times games. It’s like I’m doing them, only I don’t have to pay for the subscription.” Her voice crackles back through with a long drawl.
Nicole comes from a family of entrepreneurs.
Her mom and stepdad own a bar in Rehobeth Beach, and her uncle is the proprietor of Little Bennett’s.
It’s been her dream to open a café since we graduated from high school.
“Hey can I pick my own maid of honor dress? I’m thinking an emerald dress with a low cut back. ”
“You do look great in emerald.” I let my head rest against the back of the couch. “But there won’t be a wedding.”
“Why? Does he like the Red Sox?”
“No, he’s not into me.”
She scoffs. “What makes you think that?”
I tell her about the awkward walk back to my apartment.
“He did walk you home,” Nicole says. “If he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have done that.” She sighs. “Hold on, Georgie, i before e, except after c.” Georgie’s grumbling comes through the line, and I stifle a chuckle that evolves into a yawn.
I rub the bridge of my nose with my fingers, my movements slowed by my need for sleep. It’s not even that late, barely nine. Normally, I wouldn’t be so tired, but Thelma hawked up a hairball at three in the morning, and then a shipment of books arrived before opening.
It’s also possible that the news of the meeting is wearing me down now I’m home. I’m barely holding onto this bookstore as it is. While I can handle the financial loss if I’m forced to close, I’d be losing my dad’s legacy.
My father’s dream was to open a bookstore, and he used his retirement to purchase this store from the previous owner when I was in high school.
I worked on weekends and after school before eventually transitioning to a full-time employee and living in the apartment above once I graduated from college.
His dream became my dream. I don’t even know what I would do with my life if I lost the store.
Nicole’s voice comes back with a screech, scattering my thoughts. “Hey, have you taken out your contacts yet?”
“How did you know?” I groan.
“I can hear it in your voice.”
“You know me too fucking well.” I peel myself off the couch and make my way into the bathroom. Thelma glances up as I walk by her, lets out a garbled meow, and goes back to her food.
Nicole chuckles. “How is Miss Thelma?”
“Same as she was when you saw her this morning.” I pad into the bathroom. “Pissed off because I was late.”
“Oh, that poor starving creature. How ever will she live?” She mocks.
“She almost perished from starvation.” I set the phone down on the sink.
“Poor baby; so back to Aidan. What are you going to do about him?”
“I don’t know.” I turn on the water and wash my hands. “Just because he walked me home, doesn’t mean we’re heading to the altar. He was just being polite because I asked him.”
“But he didn’t have to. Summerville isn’t exactly the most dangerous of towns.”
“You don’t know that, remember, the Bat Invasion of 2013,” I remark as I manipulate the contact and pull it out. Blinking, I move to the next one. It doesn’t come out immediately, and I swear softly under my breath.
“I blocked that out.” She groans before shouting, “Georgie! I’m running this curbside out.” The phone grows quiet and Nicole lets out a sigh. “You know, I could ask Aidan what he thinks of you when he comes in. Or we could get Xander to ask?”
“No!” I reply with a stern voice, trying again at the second contact, shifting it on my eyeball and prying it out after another try.
Finally, my fingers gain some traction, and it comes out.
I rub my eyes and feel the relief of not having plastic lenses on my eyeballs.
Shoving my glasses on, I say into the phone, “Eyeballs are out!”
“Good girl. Now doesn’t that feel better?”
“Never say that again.”
Nicole cackles but doesn’t reply. Through the phone I hear her exchange with a customer.
I plop down on my fluffy, cozy bed, closing my eyes and shifting my head against the pillow; the heaviness of sleep starts to hang over me. Not to mention the ever-present loneliness.
I’ve been using dating apps with the hope that I could find someone to spend a life with. Someone to bring me tea when I’m tired and working. Someone to discuss life and literature with next to my fireplace.
All I’ve found is stifled conversations with men who rarely end up in a date. When they do, I end up having mediocre meals with dudes who never ask me questions and then get upset when I don’t want to have sex with them.
I’ve currently got a match with a guy in Columbia named Crunch that might lead to dinner. Mostly, I’m just curious to see if he lives up to his name.
“Should I get another cat?” I ask once Nicole comes back to the phone.
“Get two,” she remarks. “Thelma needs to instruct the next generation in the art of being a bookstore store cat.”
The cat in question pads into the room and looks around. She starts meowing loudly. Her yowls fill my small bedroom. I pat the bed, and she beelines straight for the crook of my arm. She loafs and the purrs vibrate into my shoulder and chest.
“Did she forget that you exist?” Nicole asks.
“Yes.” I scritch my fingers along the top of the cat’s head. She presses up against me. “Do you think we’ll keep this library open?”
“Yes,” Nicole replies with a quickness that seems a little too confident. “We’ve got Johnny and the Lisas. We can do anything with them behind us. It’ll be ok.”
“I’m going to have to see Stephen Gott,” I moan and take off my glasses to rub my palm against my eyes. “That’s going to be so awkward.” I let my glasses rest on the bedspread, letting my vision stay blurry.
“Wait!” Her voice cuts through the line and it jerks me awake. “You should totally reach out to him.”
I roll my eyes. “Why? Just because I’m striking out with Aidan—”
“You are not striking out with Aidan.”
“Then why are you suggesting that I reach out to my ex-boyfriend? You better not tell me to get back together with him!”
I can hear Nicole’s recoil, even though I can’t see her. “Eww, no! But you could use your connection with him to convince him to change the budget. Why not? There’s no harm in trying, at least.”
I nod. “You’ve got a point.” We’re going to need all the angle we can get.
He still remembers me, I think. His office sent me Christmas cards every year.
“I could at least text the old number I have for him and see if it’s still his.
Is it weird to text your high school ex-boyfriend fifteen out of the blue? We didn’t exactly end on a good note.”
“For him. You had every right to scream at him after you caught him in the bathroom with Bridgett Hartlett.” She pauses. “You were completely justified.”
“I’ll think about it,” I say to her and mean it. “It’s not a bad idea. I’m just not sure if I feel comfortable doing it. Could you or Xander do it?”
“Oh, hell no! We may or may not have accidentally put a bag of burning dog shit on his porch and ding-dong-ditched him.” Nicole swallows audibly. “He’ll have us arrested on the spot and thrown into the dungeons.”
“Douglass County does not have dungeons.”
“That you know of.” She sucks on her teeth. “Also, there was that one time I switched his milk from nonfat to two percent when he came to campaign last September. I wouldn’t have done it if he had ordered nondairy milk, but I figured switching the amount of fat wouldn’t hurt him.”
I palm my forehead, wincing. “You really showed him.”
“I know, right!” There’s some shouting behind her, and I assume Georgie is begging her to come back in. “Hey, I gotta go. Just think about it. Talk to Aidan about it tomorrow on your coffee date. It might make a difference.”
“What if it doesn’t?” I ask, twirling a piece of my hair in my fingers. “I’ll have to sit in the same room as the asshole who humiliated me on fucking Prom Night!”
“But imagine his face when he sees you holding on Aidan’s hand, looking all gorgeous and shit. Then he’ll realize that he lost you to a hottie. Oh shit, Georgie’s yelling at me. I think he’s close to getting Queen Bee. Bye!” She hangs up, and I let my hand flop against the bed.
I run my fingers over Thelma’s soft fur. “I should’ve asked her to send me some food.” I go to order delivery from Asian Court, but before I can click Place Order, I fall asleep with the phone still in my hand.