CHAPTER THIRTEEN
This morning Alyssa wakes up about the same as yesterday. She isn’t motivated and she drags herself out of bed. She mindlessly gets ready for work, but forgets her coffee. When she gets in the car she curses herself for forgetting the coffee and shrugs it off. I’ll just grab a latte or something on my way in. As she’s driving, she stares at the car in front of her, and almost passes the coffee shop. While she would normally get annoyed at the line of cars in the drive thru, today she doesn’t care, she just sits in line, pulling up ever so slightly as the next car pulls up. Her mind keeps wandering back to Vincent.
At work, she opens her shop in the same manner she did the day before. When she spills her coffee she just shrugs and half-heartedly cleans it off her counter. Normally, she’d have been cursing up a storm. She feels about the same about work today as she did yesterday, but today she has convinced herself to be a little peppier so the day doesn’t trudge by as slowly. Jewel starts texting her through, so it helps get her mind of Vincent. I can’t believe he told me he doesn’t want to be with me and just drives off. Alyssa huffs.
Jewel: Hey, there’s a show tonight. Wanna come? It’ll be like last time!
Alyssa suddenly realizes that texting Jewel won’t get her mind off Vincent.
Alyssa: I’m not so sure. I gotta work.
Jewel: I was in the middle of a date when you invited me. I dropped it and came straight to – after working all day.
Alyssa: Yeah, yea-
A customer comes in and Alyssa puts her phone down on the counter. She waits until they bring their items to the counter to check out. When she processes the transaction and they go to leave, she picks it back up.
Alyssa: Yeah, yeah.
Jewel: Commmmmmmee onnnn.
Alyssa: Alright. I’ll go, you don’t have to pull teeth.
Alyssa shakes her head with a smile on her face. Though she doesn’t like the idea of having to see Vincent again, and being reminded that she’s in love with a guy that she can’t have, she’s doing it for a fun night out with her friend.
At the end of the work day, Alyssa happily closes up the store. At least I get to go see a concert. She makes her way to the concert with a strange feeling in her gut. Jewel is waiting for her inside and immediately gives her a hug when she sees her. “I’m glad you came. It’ll be fun.”
Standing in the distance is Wolfe who comes up to them, “Oh hey, Alyssa. Haven’t seen you in a while. How ya been?” he asks. “Jewel.” He says with a nod.
Alyssa gives him a nervous smile, “Hey there.” She says. He wants to act like he’s remembered me this whole time, huh? Alyssa scoffs silently, Right. “I’ve been great, you?”
Wolfe just nods before turning away to take care of something else. Alyssa turns to Jewel with wide eyes. “Did he just..?”
“ I’m ’fraid so.” Jewel responds.
Alyssa laughs, and notices a couple of familiar looking guys over at the bar. “Hey. Aren’t those the managers of the club? We gotta go say hi.”
Jewel turns to look, “Oh yeah, Dan, and uh, what was his name… Greg? Man. We saw them get their asses kicked. Poor guys.”
Jewel leads the way over to them and sits on a stool. “Can I get you guys a couple of Manhattans? You’ll appreciate them better than beer.” Jewel scoffs and then laughs, Alyssa sits next to Greg and nudges him with her arm. Greg is a blonde haired guy with brown eyes, he’s wearing a dark blue collared shirt and dark pants. Dan has short brown hair, dark green eyes, and he’s wearing a white dress shirt tucked into grey pants. Both men are medium sized, and just slightly taller than the girls.
The guys look over at them and their eyes widen, “Oh hey girls. Mrs. Steele… how are you?”
Alyssa and Jewel share a glance with a sly smirk. Alyssa knows that Jewel noticed the slight tremor in his voice too. The guys are clearly afraid of them.
“Well, I’d be doing better if a had a better view. What do you think Alyssa?”
“Oh yeah, I think so too. It’s just so drab down here. An office might be better.”
“Oh uh- uh, of course. Yeah… Right this way.” Dan says as he gets up from his stool, Greg follows. Both of the men look terrified of Jewel and Alyssa.
Dan and Greg make the way through the crowd and Jewel and Alyssa follow. Once they reach the office the men open it up to them and step inside. The office has a giant slightly tinted glass wall opposite of the entrance. It’s so the managers can see out but no one can see in. A couple feet before the glass is a ledge where the floor lowers about six inches and has a couple of leather couches facing the stage. There are two reddish brown, wooden desks on each side of the room with comfortable looking chairs behind each. The office is adorned with fancy decorations to give it a bit more class.
“Do you got any beer up here?” Alyssa inquires. “Cause I think we’d be doing much better if we had beers. You know fizzy water.”
“Erm.” Greg clears his throat. “I’ll go get some.” He says as he hastily leaves the office to go get them.
Alyssa and Jewel walk around, getting a feel for the room they haven’t seen in a while. “It’s still pretty cozy up here.” Jewel states as she walks over to the glass wall and takes a seat on the couch. ‘Still comfortable.” She states and Alyssa joins her on the couch. In the reflection of the glass, Alyssa can see that Dan is just awkwardly standing by the door.
When Greg returns with the beers he sets them down in front of the couches for the ladies and backs away to stand with Dan. They both appear pretty skittish.
“We think you should go. We don’t want you hanging around. I don’t think the band members would take too kindly to you eyeing their prized women.” Jewel states as she makes herself comfortable on the couch with her beer. Alyssa turns to see what they men will do.
“Yes ma’am. Of course. We wouldn’t want that…” Greg states as he grabs the reluctant Dan by the arm and drags him out of the office. “Uh. Enjoy.” He says as he closes the door.
“Man. That was terrible of us, taking advantage of those poor terrified men like that…” Alyssa starts off. “You think we shouldn’t have done that?”
“Of course we should have.” Jewel replies and both women burst into laughter. “The Grimms really have those boys whipped.”
From here the girls notice that the show is about to start. Alyssa tries not to look at Vincent, she tries to keep her focus on Ash, but every time she does the band members are running around stage, switching places and doing crazy things to each other while they play. Alyssa takes another sip of her beer and tries to ignore her feelings. The more she tries to ignore it the more it begins to nag at her. I want to be with Vincent, but he won’t let us be together… because of the Grimms… because of the double life he leads… Alyssa stops for a moment looking at Jewel, and she puts her beer down.
“Jewel?” Alyssa asks “Are you okay with the double life that Ash has? I mean… I know it’s hard but, are you okay with it?”
Jewel takes another long sip of her beer before responding, “Not really. But you know, it’s only temporary so, I can deal with that. All the guys are dealing with their past, and… really, he’s just dealing with his past so that he can have a future with me.”
Alyssa nods and finishes off her beer. “Yeah. That’s definitely one way to look at it.”