Girl In Pieces Read Online Free Page A

normal job had felt a lot like failure.
    A week after the horrible Halloween party, my landlord showed up with a notice. Pay all back rent or I had 30 days to get out. My clients were drying up and several hadn’t yet paid me for the work I’d already done. I’d finished the South River website but had no intention of charging Josh for it. It became painfully apparent when I hadn’t eaten in two days that something had to give. So I gave.
    It was actually painless, applying. No one pointed out that I was selling out my dreams to work at someone else’s desk, making someone else’s dreams come true. Two days after I dropped off the application, they called. The sun didn’t explode. The earth kept spinning. The whole process had been painless and unremarkable. Trade in your dreams here kids. Punch a clock, abide by the dress code, get health insurance and a parking spot.
    “I’m barely making rent again this month. I have no food in my fridge. None. Poverty is the best diet I’ve ever been on. And I’ve been dodging Brian’s phone calls about how much I owe him. I can’t deal with the bar and so by default I can’t deal with him. I’ve got to figure out a way to get on top of my bills if I want him to stay on his side of the street.”
    Three weeks and I hadn’t stepped foot towards the South River Bar. I’d watched it some nights through my curtains, especially on the weekends. I could feel the bass through my walls and I could hear laughter of people saying goodbye or hello on the street. Sometimes, if I was lucky, I could catch little glimpses of him behind the bar when the door opened and someone came or went. He tossed bottles, poured shots, and laughed like he had his whole life ahead of him and thank god he hadn’t let that crazy girl across the street get him tangled up in something serious. It wasn’t fair. In my whole life I couldn’t remember going more than a few days without clamoring through the doors for a piece of the music, my friends, the two most important boys in my life.
    Sometimes I even missed my annoying brother.
    Josh had taken more than his friendship with him when he replaced me. That loss yawned wide and aching inside me and I had nothing to fill it but time and obsessive overthinking.
    “I was considering,” I said quietly. “Maybe this is a good time to downsize to a place across town.”
      Julie sobered, watched me picking at my jeans, and then nodded a little. “Still no word?”
    “Nope. But the gorgeous red head’s car has been back a couple of times.” I hesitated. “I’m trying not to pay attention. I swear. I’m not starting down the crazy stalker girl road. It’s just, it would be a lot easier if I couldn’t see into his bedroom after I get out of the shower, you know? The stalking is completely unintentional. Most of the time.”
    “Ugh, that woman.” Julie stood and crossed the room to the little kitchen nook. I watched her bang some cabinet doors before starting a kettle of water on the stove. “I asked Tyler about her finally. I wasn’t sure about the protocol, asking about the others in the community. But he said he’d tell me anything so…”
    She turned, two packets of hot chocolate mix between her fingers. “Do you want to know who she is?”
    “No.” I sat up, gave my heart five seconds to slam against my rib cage and try to knock itself out. “Yes. No. Yes. Ok, yes.”
    “ Mi-chelle .” She pronounced each syllable as if the redhead was one of the bacteria strains she studied at the hospital. Looking at the tiny blonde, you’d never guess she spent her days bent over microscopes, saying things like - This Escherichia coli looks just like grape Skittles.   “She’s a performer, I guess, at some of the local clubs. She makes corsets and does some leather work, too. She used to be a wedding dress seamstress before catering exclusively to the alternative scenes for their costumes and props. Apparently drag queens adore her work. Tyler