Next to Me (4 page)

Whitney sleepily got out of bed and came over to hug him. “It’s just a dream, but tell me how it happened this time.”

Zane had been having the same dream since his mom had died a year earlier. She was fixing dinner and his dad was at the table. For some reason Zane wasn’t there yet, and they were waiting for him to put dinner on the table. There was a knock at the door and a horrible monster with tentacles and red eyes was waiting for them outside on the porch.

It always killed his mother first, and she was screaming for Zane to save her, but he wasn’t there. There was no way to know where he was. He just wasn’t there to help his mother. His father was next, and the same thing happened. He called for his son, but he just wasn’t there.

“This time the monster had a top hat,” Zane said.

“That makes it way less scary, doesn’t it?” Whitney asked. “A top hat on a tentacle monster is silly.”

“No, it was still very scary and I didn’t like it any more than I’ve liked the dream any other time I’ve had it.”

“Here, I’ll read to you.” Whitney went and got a book off the shelf and started to read. It was what they did to calm each other down and it helped. They loved to read to each other.

Zane was actually looking forward to seeing Whitney and sharing the good news with her. His best friend could always show the most enthusiasm for his accomplishments and make him feel good about himself. As he pulled up into the parking lot of Ren’s, he noticed there were already people pulling in for dinner. He had left straight from work to catch her as she was getting ready for her shift so he could actually talk to her.

As he walked into the double doors he saw a larger guy walking toward him and thought he would go around him. The guy walked right into Zane, pushing him back a little bit like he wasn’t even there.

“You asshole, watch where you’re going.” The guy looked like trouble, and it wasn’t the tattoos or the motorcycle helmet but the threatening look in his eyes. Zane wasn’t one to be pushed around, though.

“Dude, I just walking here, pay attention.” The guy continued to glare at him as he made his way outside, and Zane just shook his head at the ignorance, heading in to look for Whitney. Sophie was the first person he saw. She was a pretty little blonde and was always in a good mood. She smiled wide at him and started twirling her hair as she walked up to him.

“Hi, Zane, how are you?” She rolled her eyes and leaned in close to whisper, “Did you see Whitney’s new man walking out of here?” Surely, she couldn’t have meant that jackass he ran into.

“The cool rider out there? You have to be shitting me.” Sophie giggled like he had told a joke.

“Nope,” she said, “this is the second night he has been in here to see her.” Sophie was going to keep talking, so he smiled and interrupted her.

“Will you go get Whitney for me, Sophie?”

“Yes, but be prepared when you see her.”

He wasn’t really sure what that meant until Whitney came out with sunglasses on. Was she high at work again?

“Hey, Zany-poo.” Whitney hugged him, and he punched her in the arm lightly.

“I hate it when you call me that, Whit.” She used it mostly when she was drunk and being a smart-ass. He reached over and took the glasses off when he noticed her lip was swollen. His heart sank when he saw her eye black and swollen with a cut underneath it.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“She got jumped in the parking lot,” Sophie said. “Three girls.”

“I’m okay, Zane, just that guy you picked me up from the other morning had a girlfriend, and she didn’t like me staying over.”

Zane gently held on to her chin and tilted her face up. “Are you sure you don’t need a stitch in that, Whitney?”

“I’m sure, Zane, I know it looks bad. I’d probably do the same thing to someone if they slept with my boyfriend, if I had one.”

“No, you wouldn’t, Whitney. You’re a pansy,” Zane said.

“I can be tough.” Zane felt horrible for her. Her face looked really bad, and he knew it had to hurt.

“So guess what.” She was smiling at him with wide eyes. The small twitch in her jaw told him she was probably high, but not completely tweaked out. Of course she probably didn’t know what was going on after getting her lights punched out.

“What?” he said as they walked over to a booth and sat across from one another.

“I met someone.” Zane decided to let her tell him all about it. “His name is Walter. I like him. He’s funny, and he has a motorcycle.” All her words came spilling out at once and she was a lot more excited than he had seen her in a long time. He already didn’t like the guy from the brief exchange he had with him and couldn’t see what she liked about him either.

“You don’t say.” Whitney tilted her head, noticing his jaw tightening. That only happened when he was frustrated and wanted to say something, so he knew he couldn’t hide it from her.

“What is it, Zane, you don’t approve? You haven’t even met him yet. There’s no way you already have an opinion.”

“I ran into lover boy on the way in. He was rude.” Zane shrugged and wondered how much of a jealous ass he sounded like at the moment.

“Really, you must have read him wrong. He is so nice and treats me so well, Zane. We haven’t even slept together.” Zane rolled his eyes at what her idea of being treated well must be.

“When did you meet?” he asked.

“Last night.” He could tell she was hesitant to tell him that, and she should be if she thought she knew how he would treat her after one day.

“Well, that is a record, Miss Whitney.” He laughed as she threw the ketchup bottle at him and he caught it. “I’m just kidding. Let’s do movie day tomorrow at your house, and you can tell me all about him.” Wednesday was Whitney’s day off, so Zane would usually take off around three, go over to watch whatever struck them, and talk about life. Mostly he listened to her talk as she chattered on.

“I actually have to cover Sophie’s shift tomorrow while she takes her daughter to the doctor.” Whitney hadn’t spoken with him to tell him this week’s friend day was canceled. He bristled a bit.

“Sophie has a daughter?” His mouth hung open as he realized this.

“You knew that, Zane, you have seen her with her daughter.”

“So next Wednesday then. Are we hanging out Friday night?” Sometimes they did, but most of the time she called him to come and get her from wherever she was once a weekend and that would be their time together.

“Walter and I are actually going to go to Lisa’s party this weekend. I think they secretly want to talk shit behind my back, but I’ve never been invited to a co-worker’s party before.” Lisa was one of the other waitresses who hated Whitney, so she had been shocked, but assumed they really just wanted to look at Walter.

“All right. Well, I’m going to head home, see if Dad wants to grab dinner. I’ll talk to you later.” Zane didn’t like Walter, and he wasn’t sure why Whitney was reined in so quickly, but he just wanted to get away.

“Tell him I said hello.” Whitney adored Zane’s Dad because hers had been so lousy, but he didn’t care for her, and Zane knew he wouldn’t tell him she said hello. As he walked out Sophie chased him down to tell him bye, and he noticed how tired she looked. He really needed to be more observant. Sophie worked hard, always smiled, and was a single mother.

“Bye, Sophie, hope your daughter is doing well.” She grinned at him and leaned against the hostess stand, waving frantically.

Zane turned around to look at both of them. “Take care of yourself, Whitney.”

“Stop waving like that, you freak.” Whitney grabbed Sophie’s hand and pushed it down.

Whitney watched Zane walk away. It was kind of dumb to think she knew someone in just a couple of days. She liked to think her judge of character was good, but past mistakes told her otherwise.

At first she thought he was flirting with Sophie, but then realized he didn’t even know she had a daughter. She liked it better that way. It meant she would never have to deal with watching Zane try to woo her co-worker. At least he cared about her face. Walter had pretty much asked what happened and then dismissed it.

“You look terrible,” he said. “It will heal.” That was it. That was all he had to say about it.

“Hey, Boon, my bank is short, what’s that about?” Tina, a much larger girl with long black braids, was in her face when she turned around.

“I’m sure I don’t know.” Whitney went to walk by her, but she pushed her into the hostess stand. Tina put her arm out to stop her and leaned down into her face.

“That’s a real nice shiner. You’d look good with a matching one.”

“What do you want Tina?” Whitney wasn’t in the mood.

“I know you stole my money, you little crackhead, so you might as well just give it back to me. I’m missing one hundred in my bank.” Tina had her hand wrapped around Whitney’s arm and it hurt as hard as the beast was squeezing her. She didn’t show any signs of pain toward her having already let one crazy bitch get the best of her.

“I didn’t take your money. Now let me go.” Whitney tried to keep her voice even and stand her ground. Sophie was gone, so she was fairly certain she’d gone to get Hannah. Tina squeezed her arm harder.

“Give me my money, Boon, or I’m going to make your life total hell.”

“Tina, let her go.” Hannah’s voice came from behind them, and Tina didn’t let go right away. “Now.” Hannah’s voice got louder, and she finally walked away.

“Thanks, Hannah,” Whitney said, holding her arm. Today had been pretty humiliating.

“My office, Whitney. You just can’t seem to stay out of trouble today.”

After she was reprimanded and Hannah told her she’d think of a punishment, Whitney just needed to relax. There was a flask in her apron, so she went to sit on the hood of her car and drink, hoping all the girls wanting to fight her were somewhere far away. She pulled her phone out and called Zane.

“Hey, Whit, what are you doing?”

“I’m drinking in the parking lot at work. You want to come get me? We can go to the park like we used to.”

“Yeah, give me a few and I’ll come scoop you up.”

Zane pulled into the parking lot a little while later and pulled his truck up right next to hers.

“You know who had the balls to try and call me today?” she asked, offering him a swig from the flask, which he turned down.

“Who?”

“That Jason guy. Apparently I did give him my number. He wanted to meet up somewhere for car sex. I told him his girlfriend knew and she’d showed up at my job with two other girls and beat the shit out of me. I wished him good luck. What an idiot.”

“It’s starting to look better,” Zane said, leaning back on the car so he could stare at the sky.

“No, it’s not, that stupid prick. Who treats their girlfriend like that?”

“I don’t know why you give your treasure to guys like that, Whitney.” Zane smiled.

“Ew. Why in the hell would you call it that? I’m not some type of troll.”

“Trolls don’t have treasure, Whit.”

“Yes, they do, they have that weird little jewel.”

“I just said that because I knew you’d hate it, but seriously, I don’t get why you end up with guys like that all the time. You need someone like me, someone who is trustworthy with a job and no romantic prospects.”

Zane always brought himself up, or ‘guys like him’ as a good option for Whitney. She couldn’t let him in that way. She was too messed up.

“I’d be very lucky to find a guy like you, buddy,” she said and patted his leg. He sat up and wrapped an arm around her, kissing the top of her head. He pulled a worn out paperback from his back pocket.

“You want me to read to you?” He held up the book, prepared to start. It was
A Clockwork Orange
.

“We’re too old for that stupid shit anymore, Zane.” Whitney thought she saw hurt in his eyes, but she dismissed it thinking it was probably her imagination. “Come on, let’s go to the park.”

Zane pulled her off the hood of her car and led her over to the truck where he held the door open for her. They used to always go to the park. It was their place to go drink, talk, and just hang out whenever they needed to. Ruftin Park was small. It had a tiny nature trail that just went in a circle around a single line of trees they called a forest. There was a pond and picnic tables. It wasn’t much, but it was a decent place to go hang out when the bars closed and you weren’t ready to go home. They started down the nature trail.