Next to Me (3 page)

“Where are you originally from, Whitney?” It had been a while since a guy was interested about anything but her measurements and the color of her underwear. She was elated, suspicious, and overwhelmed.

“I’m from here. Lived here with my family since I was born doing nothing much. How about you, Mr. Morris, are you from somewhere exciting?”

“I wish,” he said. “I’m from Stanley County, and I’ve lived there my whole life.” Stanley County was only a thirty-minute drive from Ruftin, so he lived close.

“What are you doing in Ruftin if you live in Stanley?” Whitney said. She couldn’t help her curiosity and wanted to know as much about him as she could. Their food came at that moment and they spent a few minutes situating plates and applying condiments. She wasn’t hungry at all, her stomach was angry with all the coke and liquor she’d made it take, but she didn’t want to look anorexic, so she nibbled her fries.

“I was just passing through and got a little hungry. I was hoping for a stiff drink, but you’ll do just as nicely.” Whitney wondered if that was a compliment or not and continued barely eating her fries. “Would you like to go for a ride after your shift?”

Secretly she was hoping he would ask, but didn’t want to be too eager. “That would be cool.” Time to try and eat the burger without looking like a pig; it was hard to take a dainty bite of the monster. Before she’d taken two bites he was already almost completely done with his meal. They spoke a little more about their likes and dislikes, but didn’t go into anything too deep, and made plans to see each other later.

Smiling, he finished off the last bite of his burger and held his arm up for Sophie to bring the check. “I have some things to take care of in town, and then I’ll come back and pick you up around ten. Will that work?”

“Yes.” Whitney was excited. She knew she wouldn’t look her best, but the thrill of riding with him overrode her vanity.

The jealousy of her co-workers couldn’t touch her as she went through the rest of the shift with a smile on her face. Tonight was going to be an amazing time, and she was thinking Walter might just be worth a second or third night.

It was almost time for closing and Whitney was anticipating going out with Walter when she felt a tug on her hair. She’d been counting her money down at a booth when someone came up and pulled her hair. It was more than a tug. It actually really hurt. Whipping her head around, she saw a skinny girl with red hair piled on top of her head and huge hoop earrings. The chick wore a tight tank top that said
Sex Kitten
and shorts that were so short her pockets stuck out.

“What the hell?” Whitney started, but the girl grabbed her hair again and pulled her out of the booth.

“I don’t know who the hell you think you are.”

“I’m sorry, but why do you keep pulling my hair?” she asked, noticing that they’d pulled in an audience and all the waitresses were watching.

“Don’t pretend you don’t recognize me. You came into the bar I work at and you took my boyfriend home with you. What kind of trashy whore does that? Even after you saw that we were fighting, you went home with him. You don’t think I know, but my friend saw you get picked up at three in the morning, so I know you went home with him.”

“Jason?” Whitney didn’t remember seeing the couple fight, or knowing that they were together at all.

“Don’t say his name.” The girl slapped Whitney and it took a lot not to pull the hoop earrings right out of her ears.

“I’m not going to fight you here,” she said, looking around and seeing her boss was watching. Hannah would probably write her up just simply because the girl was there talking to her, she didn’t want to get in trouble for fighting as well.

“You will fight me, though. No one gets away with sleeping with my man.” Whitney thought it was insane that the girl wanted to fight her. The guy shouldn’t have taken another girl home from the bar his girlfriend worked at. It was clear he didn’t give a shit about her, but Whitney didn’t say so.

“Okay, but I have to finish up at work, so can you leave?”

“This isn’t over,” the girl said and looked around at everyone, finally realizing they had an audience. She smiled and left. All the waitresses smiled at her like they’d learned some big secret they could use against her.

“I told you she was a slut,” Lisa whispered under her breath when she walked by. Another waitress named Tina cackled like that was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Finally, when she was done and able to leave, Walter was waiting for her. She hopped on the back of his motorcycle, assuming the girl was probably waiting for her outside. Trying to push that out of her mind, she was happy to wrap her arms around Walter’s waist and just ride for a little while.

Tuesday morning, Zane stared at the computer screen and watched as it took forever to load. He would be able to get a new one if he landed this job. When the screen finally loaded, he eagerly started filling out the general information about himself. As he started writing his job experience, he tried his best to make it look good.

Charlie had given him the feeling that the job was his if he applied for it, but he still wanted it to look good as he filled it out. This opportunity was everything to him, his dad, and maybe he could convince Whitney to go back to treatment if he could pay for it. He wondered where she was, and why she hadn’t at least texted him something smart-ass. He decided he would go by the restaurant later that night to check in on her and catch up.

Once he read over everything three times and hoped his spelling was correct, he hit send. Sitting back in his chair, he felt relieved and nervous at the same time. Now it was time to get ready and go to work. His dad was up and moving around early today, so he was happy they would get to eat breakfast together. Going into the kitchen, he decided to make pancakes for them to eat with the fruit one of the neighbor ladies had brought over. His dad shuffled into the kitchen as he was plating up the last of the pancakes and grabbed the milk, juice, and syrup from the refrigerator.

“Dad, if I didn’t know any better I would say Miss Lovelace was trying to get into your pants.” He grinned at his father as he teased him about the old maid who lived next door.

“Son, Miss Lovelace couldn’t handle me. That daughter of hers, now that is more my speed.” He grinned as he loaded his plate up with pancakes and fruit. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice they were wheat pancakes if he covered them quick enough. Zane was sneaking in the healthier food whenever he could to help with his dad’s cholesterol.

“I don’t know, old man, she seems pretty feisty. Not sure you could keep up with her these days.”

Dustin Grier poked his chest out proudly. “You don’t know what I can keep up with, Son. I’ll run circles around you.” They ate in silence for a little while, as Zane debated on whether or not to tell his dad about the potential job. He didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up before he knew for sure that the job was in the bag.

“I think that Miss Lovelace has a granddaughter you might like too. We could double date.” Dustin nudged him and smiled like he was kidding. Zane knew his father wasn’t. He was the number one cheerleader for Zane finding a girl who wasn’t Whitney Boon. He had watched how destructive she was to his son and felt like he was too considerate to the girl who walked all over him. While Zane appreciated and even agreed with his father, he always had the hope she would come around.

“A double date would be a disaster and you know it,” he said as he got up to put his plate in the sink and put up the pancake mix.

“I’ll get that, Zane, you made me breakfast.” Zane wanted to let him do it, but he knew it was really hard for him. His dad was independent and didn’t like being taken care of, but it was necessary. Since he didn’t have full use of his body back yet, it was easier for Zane just to do it, but he wanted to let him do things on his own.

“Thanks, Dad, I’ll go finish getting ready!”

When he came back into the kitchen Dustin had spilled a couple of things, but had everything put up and handed Zane his lunch out of the refrigerator.

“You know, Son, all joking aside, I would like for us to go do more together. Even if we just go out to dinner, no dates. Okay?” he said, leaning on the doorframe.

“I would like that, Dad, we’ll make it happen.” Zane headed out to his truck feeling good about the day.

“Zane,” Whitney yelled at him. He was playing in the yard with a big stick and didn’t hear her at first. “Zane, come here. Hurry!”

He looked up at her and came running over. “What’s wrong, what is it?”

At eight years old Whitney didn’t know what alcohol was. All she knew was she couldn’t wake her mother up. She’d wanted her to play tea party and she was asleep on the couch, so she’d set everything up complete with two stuffed animals to sit in the chairs she and her mother weren’t occupying.

She shook her and heard a rattling, looking behind her body to see there were two different pill bottles and they were open. Her mom had a glass bottle in her hand that she was curled up with like a teddy bear, and Whitney couldn’t wake her when she shook her.

“I don’t know why she won’t get up, Zane. She loves to play tea party.” Zane had a look on his face. It wasn’t one she’d seen before and it actually scared her.

“I don’t know, Whitney. You remember that number they tell you to call in school if you’re scared or if something doesn’t seem right?”

“Nine-one-one?” Whitney asked.

“Yes, I think we should probably call it for your mom.” Whitney’s eyes widened, but just as she went to get the phone her dad walked in. He smelled like peppermints and looked like he needed to shave.

“Daddy, Mom doesn’t want to get up.”

“What?” Her dad stumbled over and moved her mom around, slapping her on the face a couple of times. “Teresa, you lazy wench, get up and watch your kid.”

Her mom didn’t move, and she started to become more afraid.

“What a stupid bitch,” her dad said and he went to get the phone, dialing the three numbers. When he was done he came over and kneeled beside her. “Daddy has to go. He can’t be here with law enforcement. Daddy has some warrants. Zane here will take good care of you and Mommy will be fine.”

“Wait, Dad.” Whitney started to cry. “Don’t leave.” Her dad didn’t say anything. He just left, and Whitney was left to wonder what the heck a warrant was. Zane held her hand while the ambulance drivers came in and poked her mother. After a few minutes Mrs. Grier came over and made them both go stand outside. Whitney clung to her as her mother was lifted onto a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance.

Whitney woke up in her bathtub and looked around her. She had passed out taking a bath and the water had drained out, leaving her in an empty and extremely hard makeshift bed. Walter had made her feel amazing the night before, but it hadn’t stopped her from coming home and drinking until she couldn’t walk. There was clearly something wrong with her, after that motorcycle ride and an almost kiss goodnight. She felt almost like she used to on a first date before she had become such a mess.

It was probably close to being around work time again if she could judge by the brighter than hell light coming through the bathroom window. Getting out of the tub, she tried to stretch her body, feeling a headache starting to come on from the large amount of vodka. No matter how much she drank she was never able to beat a hangover, unless she kept drinking, but she was out of liquor and money.

Slowly, she got ready for the day after a shower where she fell asleep standing up. There were bruises on her legs that she didn’t remember getting, but she was sure it was from stumbling into the bathtub thinking a bubble bath was a great idea.

Walter had said he would be there to see her before her shift started and they would do something together after work. She took this as a good sign that he wanted to see her again. It was nice to have someone in her life who gave her butterflies again. She might actually be at work on time for once, which would be a nice change. Maybe getting some prep work done first would make the girls back off the shit talking for a little while. Smiling at that possibility, she grabbed her keys and headed out the door, but not before using them for a wake up bump to get her going.
Something had to,
she rationalized.

When she got to work, the girl was waiting for her in the parking lot. She’d completely forgotten about Jason’s angry girlfriend. She’d brought friends with her, and the three of them stood in front of her car, daring her to get out.

She didn’t really have a choice. Getting out of the car, she waited for the inevitable. The three approached her and she did her best not to look scared, standing as straight as she could.

“This the whore?” one of the girls with Sex Kitten asked.

“Yep, this is the one. Jason said she was shit in bed.”

“All right then,” the other girl said and the two henchwomen moved forward and took Whitney’s arms. The first punch hurt and she felt her lip split while the two girls holding her back laughed loudly in her ears.

The second one landed on her eye and it hurt a lot worse.

“Hey, bitches,” someone yelled at them. Whitney’s vision blurred and the pain spread from her eye to her cheek. She felt the warm trickle of blood down her face. Hannah was running toward them with the phone. “Leave! I’ve called the police. You better get the hell off her.”

“You’re lucky,” Sex Kitten groaned and hit her one more time in the stomach for good measure. Hannah helped her up and into the restaurant, taking her to her office and sitting her down. She came back with a rag full of ice and a first aid kit.

“Thanks,” Whitney croaked as the pain spread into her head and made the whole thing throb.

“What did you do to that girl?” Hannah asked, clearly knowing some of the blame was on her.

“I slept with her boyfriend. The guy didn’t say he had a girlfriend.” She pressed the ice pack to her eye and winced.

“They never do,” Hannah said. “You can’t work like this. If you insist on working tonight, you’ll have to go in the kitchen. You can plate salads for the girls.”

Whitney nodded. She just kept giving the waitress bitches ammo to use against her. She could have defended herself if the two wenches hadn’t held her back. Zane was going to absolutely flip out when he saw her.

“Whitney, Whitney, let me in.” Zane was at his best friend’s window in the middle of the night again. She’d started to sleep harder since her parents put her on some kind of medicine. They said she was too hyper or something. He hoped she would wake up.

“What is it?” A barely awake Whitney opened the window for him and let him in her room, crawling back into bed.

“I had that dream again, the one with the monsters and Dad.”

“It’s just a dream, Zane, your dad is going to be fine.”

“We thought Mom was going to be fine too, Whitney, and you
see how that worked out.”

“Come here and lie with me. I can’t keep my eyes open.”

“No, I’ll stay in the chair.” Zane’s dad told him since they were twelve now they shouldn’t sleep in the same bed ever. He said it wasn’t what you did when you became a man of a certain age. Zane respected his father and he wouldn’t break his trust.