Beautiful Agony

"But then you saved me darling with a turn of your head."
-Taylor Berrett

Chapter Two

The rest of the day passes by quickly and before I know it, it is time to leave. I look at the clock that hangs on the back wall and see its 17:30. Liv and I both start to clean up our area that is full of flour and what ever other substances we have used today. I sweep the floor diligently while listening to the loud conversations of the other bakers. I smile at some of the humorous things that are said while everyone else laughs full heartedly.

Everyone here is like a family. We are all so close and comfortable with each other that we have each other's backs and never let anyone have a bad day. We always have fun and enjoy spending the day with one another. There's never really a dull moment to say the least.
After sweeping away all of the excess flour, I put the broom back in the closet and get the mop out, ready to disinfect the now flourless floor.

"I'll do this Aria." Jacob, one of the head bakers who has been here the longest out of anyone, says with a big smile that shows off all of his perfectly white teeth and grabs the mop out of my hands. "I'll mop tonight."

I give him a grateful smile and head back to the counter where Olivia is. I look over the counter and the area around it again to make sure there is no leftover messes that did not get clean. I do not want to get in trouble for leaving an area unclean.

"Okay, I'm done Aria. Are you?" Liv asks me after she turns towards me.

I nod my head and we head to the employee lounge. I go to take off my apron and I inwardly groan at the sight of flour and other ingredients on it. Well I guess I'm taking this home to me tonight. I shove it straight into my bag after opening my locker and pull outmy notebook and pen. I always carry a notebook with me so I can communicate to someone if I have to. I try not to do it often because people always look at me weirdly and don't understand when I do that, but I do it for Olivia because I know that she won't say anything about it. I can feel Liv's anxiety from when she rushes out of the room and I make myself hurry up so I can walk out with her. I slam my locker closed with a loud bang and scurry out into the hallway.

"Come on, let's go! I have to go to my parents house tonight at 18:20 for dinner and I can not be late. They'll kill me if I'm late again." She says and is already out the door before I'm even halfway across the room.

'You're still going to be late.' I write in my notebook.

She rolls her in irritation. "I know."

I snicker at her words as we start to walk down the sidewalk towards my apartment. Liv has an apartment three blocks over from mine so we walk home together most of the days, the days when we work the same shift which is almost all of the time.

Liv does all the talking. Which is no surprise because she is the only one out of the two of us that actually talks. It doesn't bother me too much, but sometimes it's a little bit awkward with her talking and me never saying anything. She always has to start the conversations and from afar, it looks like she is talking animatedly to herself.

"I don't understand why they would want to go skiing in Switzerland when they can go to the Bahamas where it is hot and be surrounded by white sandy beaches for a week," She rants on about her parents and their vacation that they are going to take.

"But you like to ski Liv." I write.

"I know, but I would much rather go lay on a beach for eight days in my sexy white bikini and look at all of the fit men that would be there instead of looking at 10 inches of snow that we can see here."

I push her shoulder at her ridiculousness and she stumbles over her feet.

"Hey!" She yelps.

I cross my arms over my chest and shrug my shoulders with a smirk on my face.

"You bitch," she grumbles and fixes her discombobulated shirt.

I stick my tongue out at her and she rolls her eyes.

"Real mature Aria."

We continue to walk down the street and chat more about her family who is very irritating, in her own words. She says that they always disagree with her and try to control everything she does, even though she is 19 and living on her own, but I think that they just care and love her too much.

'Just be thankful that you actually have a family.'

"Oh Aria," she says and wraps her arm around my shoulder. "I'm sorry. It's so inconsiderate of me to talk about my small family problems when you don't even have one parent, let alone four other family members."

I shrug off her apology like it doesn't actually hurt to think about me being all alone in this world.

"But don't worry, you're not completely alone. You still have me." She smiles a big goofy smile and buries her face in the crook of my neck and playfully bites down on the skin.

I chuckle and push her face away from my neck and she laughs as we continue to walk down the sidewalk towards our houses. We pass by a small bookstore on the corner of the block and I stop walking, remembering that I wanted to get some more books to read.

'Hey, I'm going to go in here and get some more books.'

"Do you want me to wait for you?"

I shake my head. 'No, I'm probably going to be in their a while.'

"Okay, I'll just see you tomorrow then?"

I nod my head and she walks past me down the sidewalk. I clutch the strap of my bag and walk up to the bookstore, opening the door and stepping in. There is an old, dusty, rustic tone to this bookstore and even though it's not a very big library, it has a homey feel to it and it's a comfortable haven for me.

"Hello Aria." Margaret, the owner of this bookstore, greets from behind the counter.

I wave at her and then head to the back of the store to the small sitting area and go right to the second to last shelf in the back.

The classics. I love classic literature novels. From Withering Heights, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter and Pride and Prejudice, I love getting sucked into the timeless world of history and romance. You can learn a lot about world history from these time pieces. I have learned more about the world and it's history from reading these books than I ever did in school. I may be a sucker for a good romance story, but I love learning about the history of things, especially art.

My eyes scan the shelves for a book that I have not read yet and immediately land on the first book that I see.

The Great Gatsby

From the description on the back, its sounds interesting and worth a read. I heard that there is also a movie coming out about it with Leonardo DiCaprio. I continue to search for something else that catches my eye and become lost in the sea of classic history romance novels.

**

I end leaving the store an hour later with three books, instead of one like planned. What can I say? I have a weakness for good books. They all sounded so interesting though, I had to get all three of them. The Great Gatsby, Water For Elephants, and Jane Eyre. Well that is three more books to add my floor to ceiling bookshelf that is in my bedroom and is stocked full of books that I have read over my lifetime.

I clutch the plastic bag that carries the three books and after waving goodbye to Margaret, I step out into the brisk winter night. There's quite a bit of people still out and about and traffic of people getting off work and trying to get home. I walk down the sidewalk with one of my hands stuffed into my coat pocket for warmth and my head faced down to the ground to avoid eye contact with other people.

I look up as I come to a big group of people at the cross walk and wait until the light turns green for us to cross the street. I walk along behind the group of pedestrians and right when my feet hit on the other side of the street, I feel a large force hit my body and I fall to the ground on my back. I feel in a daze for a second and when I get my thoughts back, I let a out a small whimper when I feel a sharp pain in my head and hands. I see my three books scattered around me and the plastic bag torn. I look up to see what knocked me down and I see a huge shadow above me.

It's a tall man that has his hands in the front pocket of a black sweatshirt and has the hood up. The dim lighting from the street lights are obscured by the hood that goes a few inches over his face and covers his profile in darkness. I rise up onto my elbows, feeling my heart rate speeding up, and stare at the pit of darkness, waiting for his next move. His heavy breathing comes out as short breaths that are seen due to the cold winter temperature, reminding me of a ravaged predator that is waiting for his next kill. I feel like my eyes make contact with his and even though I can't see them, I can feel them. I can feel them searching down into my soul and finding out all of my dark, hidden secrets that have been locked away in eternal midnight.

He suddenly bends down closer to me and I cower away from him and close my eyes, waiting for him to make contact with my body. When I don't feel any intrusion, I open my eyes and see that he's holding out one of my books to me. His large, calloused hand is clutching Gatsby and holding it out for me to take. I gingerly take the book from his hands and our fingers touch. His long, skinny fingers are cold and I see swirls of tattoos that peek out of his sweatshirt and onto his wrist. He stands back up, with his shadow completely covering me, and puts his hands back in his pocket. I wait for him to say something but he turns and quickly walks down the street in his intended direction before our meeting and never looks back. Once he crosses the street, he blends in with the night and I only see his large shadow turn a corner and go out of sight.

I quickly grab the other books and stand up. I hold all three of them in my arms and walk towards my apartment like nothing ever happened.

Once I step inside the lobby, I see Josh Denar stepping out from his office and he looks up at me. "Aria! Just the person I wanted to talk too."

I smile at him and walk towards him, but really I just want to run the opposite direction and never come back.

Josh Denar is the type of man that you either love or hate. He's in his late thirties, but you would think that he was older by the way he talks and acts. He's a tall, but stout man with a mane of short brown hair that is already turning grey. He always has a five o' clock shadow and wears long sleeve shirts no matter what the temperature is outside. He seems very focused on his work and I rarely see him out of his office. He's a nice guy, but I have never seen him enough to actually give a better description of him.

I step into his office with him and stand in front of his desk. I already know what he wants to talk about.

"Please take a seat," he says and gestures towards the two chairs in front of his desk.

I sit down on the chair on my right side and grab my notebook out of my bag and set it on my lap.

"Aria, we have to talk about your rent again," he starts and places his hands on his desk. "You are behind payments of three months and if you keep this up, by spring time you're going to be out of an apartment."

I nod my head slowly. 'I know that Josh, I'm trying.'

"I know that you are Aria, and I would hate to throw you out." He runs his hands through his hair once and places them back on the desk. "You've never given me any trouble and I know how hard it has been for you, but its our strict policy. I can't have people living here when they are so behind on their payments."

'I get paid this week, so one of them will be paid.'

"But you'll still be behind by two months."

I close my eyes and sigh. This can't be happening. I can't get thrown out. I don't have anywhere to go. All of the extra shifts I have been taking for the past month seem useless now. I can't get extra time and I can't ask to keep living here knowing that I am not paying my dues.

"I'm sorry Aria." Josh sympathizes. "I have to. If I let you stay here then I have to let everyone do it and I can't do that."

I nod in understanding. I know that he's just doing his job.

'Are we done?'

He sits up straight in his chair and rubs his unshaven face. "Yeah we're done."

I stand up from the chair and start to walk out of the room. "Aria." I hear behind me.

I stop in the doorway and look back at him.

"You're a good kid."

I nod slightly and walk out into the lobby towards the elevator.

"If only you knew." I mouth to myself.

Notes