Chapter One #2
“The more bearable Rawlins’ sibling.”
“Heard that.” The two brothers chorus.
“She has a new obsession every week, I guess this week it’s - Stanley cups.”
“We should have won that this year.” An older gentleman who I hadn’t noticed sitting next to me, grumbles into his beer. And the way Odessa rolls her eyes at him tells me he’s somewhat of a regular here.
“Billy, we’re not talking about hockey right now.”
“No one ever wants to talk about hockey.” Billy sulks and slides off the barstool and into a booth as far away from the bar as possible.
“He’ll get over it.” Odessa tells me once I turn back to her, trying to erase the image of the sad old man hunched over in the corner, alone.
My emotions can’t handle that right now and they have been all over the show recently. So it was no surprise when I started to tear up.
I’d already cried once today due to an elderly couple sitting on a bench in the coach station sharing an ice cream.
But the funny thing was, I hadn’t shed a tear about Elijah.
I think both the baby and I had agreed that crying over him would only be letting him win, and so we’d remain angry and only angry at him. I also think a part of me shut off prior to Elijah leaving and maybe I can’t blame him for leaving me if I was as heartless as he claimed. But I can blame him for leaving me knocked up, jobless and carless. Elijah and I were once attached at the hip and further than anyone around us in our own bubble.
Can bubbles suffocate you if you are in one?
Or was the said bubble already damaged?
I’ve got to write that down.
I grab a napkin and a pen out of my bag before scribbling down possible lyrics.
Bubble. Isolated? Popped? Slow deflation??
I wasn’t one of these songwriters who could sit and stir up an entire song in two hours. Instead, I was the songwriter who often dissociated from real life and when certain things came to mind, I’d find myself scribbling them down for inspiration. Though I’d had none for a few years now. In fact, it was ever since Elijah and I began arguing a lot more frequently.
And for the first time in a long time, I’d finally gotten something.
“Forgot my beer.” Billy mumbles as he reappears, grabbing the bottle from next to me. I watch as he drags his boots back over to his booth, slumping down in it with a grunt.
“Are you okay?” Concern laces Odessa’s voice and I wave her off in an attempt to reassure her just as a tear slips away from me.
Damn you pregnancy hormones.
“I’m fine.” My voice cracks. “Just hormones.”
“Billy’s fine. Thinks if you pity him you’ll buy him a beer. He’s harmless, like a spider.”
“Some spiders are poisonous, you know.” Mack reappears with his brother by his side. I’d been so zoned out that I hadn’t noticed them huddled over by the jukebox, as far away from me as possible.
“Yes, but they wouldn’t willingly attack you, not unless provoked.” Odessa counters.
Provoked.
I scribble it down on my napkin just as she peers over inquisitively. “What are you doing?”
I look up to three curious pairs of eyes staring at me. “Inspiration. Us songwriters get it at the most random times.”
“You write songs?” Mack asks and I don’t miss the wide eyed grin he shoots at his brother, who doesn’t share the same excitement. In fact, I’m beginning to think this man doesn’t know how to smile.
“Yeah. I was the lead singer and I played guitar - Fuck.” I slouch forward at the sudden realization. “That asshole took my guitar.”
“You weren’t the only one who he took from. Elijah has a habit of taking things that aren’t his,” Mack informs me, and suddenly the person I was so sure I’d spend my life with, I don’t recognise.
That man knew practically everything about me, I was an open book for him. But I realized that I knew hardly anything about him and the cards he played so close to his chest.
“I’m so sorry.” I felt an obligation to give an apology on behalf of Elijah. Quite frankly he’d never been good at them. I’d often find myself begging for him to apologize for things he did, though I would never get the full satisfaction knowing it was always half-assed and because I’d asked him to. It was never off his own accord.
“It isn’t your fault.”
My mouth is suddenly dry and I reach for the glass of water in front of me, taking a few sips. “What did he take from you guys?”
Mack shoots a glance at Thayne, who sighs heavily in annoyance. “Let’s just keep on topic. Did… Elijah mention to you about where he was going?”
“No.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Thayne. She doesn’t know anything.” Mack says.
“That’s what she says. For all we know, he could have asked her to come here to distract us.” Thayne was clearly the distrustful type and perhaps for good reason. However I hadn’t done anything wrong towards him and was getting treated like I had.
Not to mention that his attitude towards me was agitating and all of my emotions were heightened to the hills.
“Distract you from what?”
“Oh I don’t know. Stealing more money from the town?”
New information about Elijah kept surfacing and I didn’t know how to respond to it. Perhaps it was a bad idea coming here. It was obvious that I wasn’t ready to face the truth, nor was I welcome.
“I… I didn’t know.”
“So you’ve said.”
Okay. Definitely has trust issues.
“None of that matters now.” Mack says and this earns a grunt of disagreement from Thayne, who stands with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. “What matters is now .” Mack shoots his brother a look before turning back to me. “What exactly did he take from you?”
“My car and a couple hundred dollars.”
“Again, we don’t know she’s telling the truth.” Thayne pipes up and I snap my head towards him.
“ She is sitting right here.”
“Yes. Unfortunately she is.” He bites back.
“Here.” I rummage through my handbag before unscrewing the note Elijah left, slapping it down on the bar.
The three of them crowd around it before Mack inhales sharply. “That’s cold. I’m sorry.”
“Again, this doesn’t prove anything.” Thayne grumbles.
Andddd snap!
The leash of restraint I had on myself snaps. “Look. I’m here for the exact same reason as you are. I want my car back and I want my money back. That’s it. I’ve had a fucking long-ass journey and I’m tired and hungry and trying ridiculously hard not to break down about all this. So if you could quit acting like I’m the enemy, that would be great.” I inhale and take another sip of water to quench my thirst just as Thayne turns, his boots thudding across the floor before he swings the main door open and disappears .
“I apologize for my brother. He’s… not a people person.” Mack grimaces.
“No. He’s just an asshole.” Odessa corrects. “I’d offer you food, but I’ve got out of date peanuts or an opened pack of Skittles that’s been here since I started.”
Appealing… If not for the fact that she’d mentioned how she’d turned up in town a month ago.
A yawn escapes me. I’m exhausted.
It turns out that my once greatest ability to sleep on long journeys had met its end and because of that, I was beat.
“Look, I'm tired. I saw a motel on the way in. I’m going to crash there for a night or two in case something comes up. Can I give you my number?” I look between Odessa and Mack just as I feel another body behind me.
“You can give me your number, sugar.”
I look up to the ceiling. Someone in the sky was out for me, I was certain of it. Perhaps it was something I’d done in my past life. Regardless, I was being tested on the worst possible day to be tested.
“Beat it Joe.” Odessa snaps.
“I’d beat something from this pretty lady right here if she let me.” Joe whistles and I hear laughter behind him.
I turned to him. “Joe, was it?”
“That’s right sugar.” He winks down at me.
I had to hand it to him, he was attractive. But it was his overconfidence that deducted his points.
Yep . Someone up there was definitely out for me.
“Why don’t I take you for a spin in my truck? I could take you for a ride… or two?” He winks again.
Fucking fucker.
“Joe. I would not touch you even if you were the last man on earth and we were the only ones left to procreate. Do you understand?”
More laughter behind him, though Joe doesn’t find this very funny, and instead he resorts to trying to insult me .
“Alright lady, don’t flatter yourself now. I only came over because you’re easy.”
“Easy?” I inch closer just before Mack pushes himself in between us.
“You heard Odessa, beat it.”
“Yes, sheriff.” The bitterness in Joe’s voice is clear just as his eyes flick over me before he scoffs, leaving with his buddies trailing behind him. Mack turns to me with a relieved sigh.
“Why don’t I drop you at that motel?”
“Thanks.” I breathe out. “But I don’t want to put you out of your way.”
“Not at all. It’s just down the road. I’ll take you. Besides, it’s dark out and my brother would kill me if I let you walk.”
I raise a brow. “The brother who was here earlier? The one who looks as if he’s skilled in the arts of being a hit-man?”
Odessa and Mack find this humorous. But even as Mack nods, I struggle to believe Thayne had a caring bone in his body, especially towards me - the woman he barely knows, yet seems to despise. It’s rich coming from me. I’ve always been against judging a book by its cover, yet here I am doing exactly that.
“Thayne may appear prickly on the outside, but he’s a softie on the inside.”
“Like a… cactus?”
“Exactly like a cactus.”
“Huh.”
“Come on. I’ll drop you home.”
Home .
I’m aware it’s a figure of speech, something casual that he didn’t mean anything by, but something about this place was pulling me to it and I had nowhere else to be so I figured I’d stay for a few nights. Besides, apart from the off-putting grumpy bar owner, I finally had some inspiration for lyrics.