“Al!”
Al glanced up from the counter to see Scottie trotting towards her.
“Hey Mo.” Al pretended not to see Scotti falter and press her lips together as if the old nickname stung. “How’s your boyfriend lately?”
“Being a jerk,” Scotti huffed “Guys can be such idiots.”
Al nodded in silent agreement, turning her attention back to organizing the receipts in front of her.
“Hey Al,” Al could feel Scotti’s fingers stroke through her hair. She tilted her head forward, pulling her hair away from the too-familiar touch. Scotti sighed, sitting on the counter next to where Al was working. “Al, I’m feeling lonely. I thought I loved that guy, but he was nothing I wanted.”
Al didn’t respond, didn’t tell her how achingly lonely she had been too.
“Al, I miss you. I miss being together. I miss… us.”
Al felt Scotti’s light touch on her arm and finally looked up. Gods, Scotti had never looked more beautiful than she looked then, with her dark hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans, dirty from working in the garage, a smudge of oil on her cheek. Al had to close her fingers tightly around a receipt to keep from reaching up to wipe that smudge away.
“Scotti…” No nickname this time. Scotti’s lips pressed tighter together. It was Al’s turn to sigh. She stood up, pushing her chair back. “Sorry Scotti, not this time.” The words came out as barely more than a whisper as Al brushed past her and walked away. Didn’t turn back, didn’t see the tears gather in Scotti’s blue eyes, didn’t see her knock the pile of receipts to the ground, didn’t see her collapse in the chair and sob. Al was too busy trying not to fall apart herself.
 Faith-Hoping-Love · Sun Aug 15, 2010 @ 10:28pm · 0 Comments |
