Chapter 3: Weightless

All Time Low’s, Weightless blasts through the speakers of my electric green Kia Soul and I can’t help but rock out at the stop light. This song always puts me in a “get it done” mood. I’ve always said it was the theme song to my life because I’m never satisfied, constantly craving life experience.

The second I notice a car easing to a stop beside me I stop thrashing around and act like a normal human being. Since my sunroof is open I can hear them laughing, my skin flaming in response. It doesn’t really matter if they’re laughing at me or not that’s the way my brain processed it. Thanks anxiety.

This is why my black asṣ doesn’t leave the house. Can’t a girl head bang to her life’s soundtrack without judgment. I make the mistake of looking over at the other car and the driver is still laughing. I guess not.

Pulling off the second the light changes I’m more embarrassed than ever.

~*~

“You’re late Duncan,” a voice comes from behind me and I roll my eyes before turning around.

“I know sir, I’m really sorry. I got caught in traffic,” I lie and luckily he believes me.

I hardly ever tell lies, in fact this is the first in years, but I don’t need him up my ass today especially not after the red light incident.

Mr. Manus, my boss, reminds me so much of Mr. Miyagi sometimes I have to stop myself from calling him by the name. He’s fair and pays me a dollar above minimum wage plus he gives me the hours I want. Working in his clothing boutique is perfect since I get a discount and I can peruse all of the new shipments before anyone else.

Yadira, my coworker, a petite Hispanic girl with the longest raven black hair I’ve ever seen, comes out from the back and smiles at me before heading to her register. She doesn’t speak much English but then again neither does Mr. Manus. I deduced I’m here for the few English speaking clients that come in the store which is why I can work any hours I want.

I look up to the sound of the bell on the door and see the group of teenagers rush inside laughing and talking loudly. One knocks something over and instead of picking it up he just leaves it. A couple of the girls pick up items and then put them down in places they clearly didn’t get them from. I fủcking hate summer vacation. I hope I wasn’t this annoying when I was their age.

Sighing deeply, I plaster a smile on my face and walk over to them. “Can I help you guys find anything?”

A caramel skinned boy, who can’t be any older than fifteen, steps forward licking his lips. “A way into your pants would be nice,” he replies in a tone I can only assume he thinks is suave.

His friends laugh and give him dap. I breathe out, trying to control my temper and glare at him.

This is going to be a long eight hours.

~*~

“Bailey wake up you have to head to work,” I hear my mother’s voice but I don’t want to get up.

I close my eyes tighter and try to go back to the One Direction concert from my dream groaning when it doesn’t work. That’ll be the last time I listen to ‘Four’ while I go to sleep.

“I’m up,” I grumble, sitting up against my headboard slowly. I watch her nod and walk out of my room closing the door behind her.

The clock on my phone reads nine fifteen as I check my text messages. No one’s texted me but I’ve gotten ten comments on the last chapter of my book ‘Awaiting Forever’ all of them asking me to update again. I don’t really have the time to update with how busy I’ve been.

It’s been a month since I graduated college and I’ve been working non-stop just not anywhere where I actually use my Business degree. Monday through Thursday, I work at Mr. Manus’ boutique from nine in the morning until five in the evening. I come home and nap until nine at night and then from ten until six in the morning I’m stocking shelves at Wal-Mart. I rest on Fridays once I get home from my night shift but for four hours Saturday and Sunday mornings I’m back at it doing transcription work for different online companies.

I never intended for the past year and a half to be this way but when I got the pull to move to Los Angeles, when I was nineteen it wouldn’t go away. I knew my parents wouldn’t be able to foot the bill so once I got my license when I turned twenty I got to work. I was able to full out buy my car brand new and still managed to have a little over twenty thousand saved. Who says living rent free with your parents is such a bad thing. Once the New Year comes in I’m quitting my jobs and making preparations for the big move.

~*~

The squeak of my shoes against the white floors of the brightly lit Wal-Mart taunts me with every step. I know who’s going to be here tonight and the knot in my stomach tightens with the thought.

“If I can avoid him I’ll be fine. This is a big store Bailey, if push comes to shove just hide,” I mentally coach myself, looking down at my cell phone.

Warm hands grip my shoulders stopping me from walking any further and I look up into the eyes of the dịck I wanted to avoid.

“Bailey, I didn’t know you were working tonight,” Charlie states with a smirk.

“This motherfủcker is lying,” I think to myself dragging out the last word. I look down at his grubby mitts still on my shoulders until he drops them.

Without saying a word I walk right by him into the break room to drop off my purse and midnight snack.

Flexing my hands in and out of fists I breathe in through my mouth and out through my nose like I learned in therapy. My entire body is shaking and I hate it. I hate that he still has that kind of effect on me. It’s been years since we dated but I still get caught up in a mix of emotions anytime he’s around.

“You clock in yet Duncan?” my manager Marcus asks. He’s tall and lanky and not much older than me. He’s nice and all but he always stands a little too close for comfort and his hands are literally always ashy which just annoys the hell out of me. I mean we work in Wal-Mart for Christ’s sake, buy some fûcking lotion and use it!

“Not yet Marc, I’m on my way now,” I reply with a nod and walk out before he can respond.

On the way to my station I pop in my ear buds and turn on Weightless again trying my best to submerge myself in the guitar riffs as I get to work for the night.

~*~

Christmas came faster than I thought it would and left even faster. As usual everyone came down to spend the holidays at our parents’. Spouses and children were in tow meaning I had the worst headache for a little over a week but at least I got to see my family. And to top it all I got some sweet gifts. My parents got my mom and I tickets to fly to LA so I can look at apartments and my sister got me another cool watch and The Amazing Spiderman series.

We were sitting around with our stomachs full and watching TV when my sister asked me how much longer I was going to be at my jobs so she could use my discounts. I laughed and told her the first week in January I was out of there and glad to be especially from Wal-Mart. Of course my brother James brought up my ex and asked why I was playing hard to get when I was already hard to want, which caused me to flip him the bird. We both got in trouble with our mom and she made us hug and say sorry like she used to when we were little.

A few days have passed since then and now my mom and I are sitting on a plane, LA bound. I’m nearly bouncing in my seat, the three hour flight is going to be too long to contain my excitement.

“I can’t for the life of me figure out why you want to move to a place across the country that you’ve never even been to,” she mumbles so we aren’t overheard on the packed flight.

“I’ve seen enough in vlogs to know it’s where I want to be. The sunshine and beaches, the weather is always perfect, and everyone I met in high school that was from there was so chill and laid back. It’s perfect,” I reply with a huge grin.

I didn’t even sleep last night I was so excited. I stayed up with a glass of wine and updated my book three times in a row, finally ending the story. My main character Zendaya finally married her longtime boyfriend Jamison. My followers were on the edge of their seats for a while because it seemed they wouldn’t get back together after Zendaya cheated but Jamie took her back anyway after months apart and countless attempts to make it right from Zena. I hated to end it but I’m ready for a fresh story, now if only I had a dḁmn idea.

“You and those blogs. You do realize you don’t know those people on that, what is it? Who-tube?” she remarks sarcastically.

I burst out laughing causing people to turn around and stare with their nosey asá¹£es.

“Mama first of all they’re called vlogs, it’s short for video logging. Second of all it’s not,” I stop to giggle again, “Who-tube, it’s YouTube. I don’t have to know them to know I like what I see behind them when they walk around.”

She shakes her head and mumbles a reply I don’t catch because I stick in my ear buds.

~*~

Three hours and a trip through LAX later and we’re finally here. Everything seems perkier and more vivacious, even the air smells better. The more we travel the more I feel like this is where I should’ve been my entire life. We arrive quickly at the hotel and settle in. My mom wants to take a nap but I’m too pumped to sleep. While she relaxes I use my laptop to look up the apartments and condos I want to take a look at as well as a couple of possible job locations. We’re only here today and tomorrow so I don’t want to waste any time.

By the time she wakes up it’s five in the evening and I’m hungry and annoyed as hell. Every attempt at waking her up failed so I was stuck here because I didn’t want to leave her by herself.

“I’m sorry baby I’ve just been really tired lately and I had a sinus headache, it was probably the elevation change,” she explains as we hop into our Uber.

“Can you take us to Winston and Associates downtown?” I ask the driver before turning to her, “It’s fine ma I just wanted to get this stuff done earlier in the day, we leave day after tomorrow.”

We pull up to a small brick covered building that I can barely see thanks to the impending darkness around us. Some people are there, still working I assume. BMW, Mercedes, and Audi emblems adorn every car in the parking lot, all in standard white, black, or silver. I sigh knowing me and my lime green Kia Soul would stick out like a sore thumb here. The same can be said of the next three places of employment I have the driver take us.

“Just one more,” I state more to myself than the middle aged man driving us. “Reynolds Incorporated please and after that the nearest burger joint.”

My stomach rumbles in response to the mention of food but also to the nervousness I feel. If this place is as stuffy as the rest then I’m going to have to change a lot about myself to fit in.

“We’re here ma’am,” the driver says, a New York accent prominent.

The building catches my eye before anything else. It’s so tall I have to crane my head to see the top and it’s covered with mirrored glass and steel.

“Every office probably has a sick view of the city,” I say, getting excited again. Maybe I can deal with the dry atmosphere.

When I look to the parking lot my heart sinks. Whose aṣs do I have to smack for somebody to drive a Prius? The cars here are nicer than nice and all in muted colors like before. I’m just about to tell the driver to push on to the burger joint so I can drown my irritation in strawberry shake when a bright yellow Porsche Spyder zips into the parking lot. My breath catches in my throat not only at the gorgeous car but at the fact that finally somebody has some personality at one of these posh joints.

I wait with bated breath to see if someone actually gets out of the car. I’d probably cry if they were just turning around. Sure enough a few seconds later the door opens and long black pant covered legs make their way out and to the ground. It’s dark as hell but I can tell the man is tall and walks with authority. Like he’s used to saying things and people listening immediately. Deciphering he must be the boss I smile and tell the Uber driver to go ahead and leave.

~*~

The next morning my mom and I wander through different housing options until our feet are ready to fall off. The first apartment we went to the building manager told us the rent would be sixteen hundred a month. I was prepared for the price tag having been looking things up for years online, my mother however was shocked as all heck and asked the man if he meant sixteen hundred in pesos.

I’ve been laughing at her all day because of it and when the waiter brings us our check for the lunch we just had at EAT in North Hollywood I decide to mess with her.

I gasp and bulge my eyes causing her to look at me. “Is this in pesos?” I ask seriously but can’t keep myself from laughing.

“Ha ha ha. You could get an entire house for that in Texas so who’s really getting the last laugh?” she responds with a grin.

I roll my eyes and leave the bill money along with a tip for the waiter. She’s been trying to not so subtly convince me not to move all day. It’s comforting in a way to know she doesn’t want me to leave but I’m still going to. I can’t describe what being here is like. It’s an experience you have to have for yourself. To dream and fantasize about being in a place for years and to finally be there feels for lack of a better word, epic.

A few rent houses and apartments later and I’ve pretty much decided I’m going to try one of the rent to own options that we checked out. Dinner flies by and we’re back in our hotel room to sleep for the night before our flight back to Texas in the morning.

I haven’t been able to wipe the smile off of my face all day. Especially not after seeing those last two houses. Both of them are in North Hollywood which I read online is the nicest and safest area, not to mention it’s where most of the young people live. They’re both two bedrooms and two baths so if I wanted to get a roommate I could and both are comparable in price. The idea of owning my own place here makes me smile even wider.

It dawns on me that when we make it back to Texas it’ll be New Year’s Eve and I’ll be without anyone to kiss yet again. It makes me feel a bit better knowing that with 2016 coming in I won’t be in Texas much longer and maybe just maybe my luck will change here in Cali.

************

What’s up my good people!!!!

If you haven't caught on already, every chapter will have either a song that inspired the chapter or one that's mentioned. I'm going to title each chapter after the song and also link the song in the external links. I'm also going to try and add in a visual reference to something from the chapter whether it's an outfit or location or object. I want this to feel as real as possible so I think it's better to show yall exactly what I'm describing when the need arises.

Anyways...

I’m hoping you guys enjoyed the chapter! I’m absolutely obsessed with the amount of reads this has gotten so far. 65 may not seem like a lot but I posted this a month ago and to gain almost any attention in this category is nearly impossible because it’s so swarmed with stories.

I started writing Weightless because there’s a distinct lack of interracial stories involving the boys. Obviously there are some but not many and you know what they say about wanting things to get done.

I’m hoping yall are enjoying the chapters so far. I haven’t really decided how I’ll update this. It’ll either be alongside Revenge in hopes that people who are already reading don’t lose interest or after it like I planned before. If anyone has any input I’m down for it!

Thanks for reading!!!

Until Next Time,

WBN