She has to feel this. Shehasto.
“See ya later!” She breezes right past me without slowing down. “Don’t wait up!”
Then the door is swinging shut behind her.
Hurricane DeeDee strikes again.
Work is futile after that—so futile that when Lisanne texts me to say her first official management shift at the bar is going to shit and three of the staff didn’t show up, I don’t even stop to consider the consequences to my business or how much I should say no before I’m slamming my laptop shut and grabbing my wallet and phone.
Nine
Zach
ON THE ROCKS: a drink poured over ice cubes
The chaosI walked into at the bar is all but over by midnight. The servers were fine as soon as they had an experienced employee leading them, and Lisanne assured me they’d be fine for the close when she told me to punch out.
I dig my phone out of my backpack after pulling my jacket on in the kitchen. I switch it off airplane mode, and a few texts pop up. The first two are from DeeDee, sent around 7PM.
Roomie couldn’t hang out very long. I’m almost home. You need anything at the store?
I got you chocolate, but I might eat it before you get home.
The third one is from Paige, sent at a quarter to eight.
Forgot to let you know my weekend set got cancelled. Coming home early. Should be there in fifteen minutes.
Oh.
Oh shit.
Just knocking on Paige’s door scares me. The idea of what she’d do upon finding a random stranger hanging out in her bedroom is beyond terrifying. I was planning on keeping DeeDee’s residency a solemn secret from Paige I’d take with me to the grave.
It’s been four hours since she was supposed to get home. That’s plenty of time to hide a body.
I jog all the way to my building, running through possible outcomes in my mind. I’ve never actuallyseenPaige get mad. I’ve just seen her look like shecouldget mad, and that’s bad enough.
I make it up to the apartment, panting for breath from bounding all the way up several flights of stairs, and pause to dig out my keys. That’s when I hear the booming bass beats of the kind of music Paige plays at her shows. The volume is loud enough that I’m sure we’ll have neighbours complaining any minute now, but above the noise, I can just make out the sound of—
It almost sounds like laughing.
Oh god, I knew she was probably murderous, but what if she’s full-on sadistic?
I get the door open and burst into the living room to find a sight even more unexpected and incomprehensible than DeeDee wrapped up in the shower curtain.
They’re dancing.
Beer bottles and chocolate bar wrappers are strewn across the coffee table. There’s a scarf thrown over the shade of the floor lamp to cast the room in a deep blue glow, and there, right in front of me, Paige and DeeDee are busting a move. Paige issmiling.
DeeDee spots me out of the corner of her eye but doesn’t say anything until she finishes doing what I think is an advanced form of twerking.
“Zachy Zach! Where’d you go?”
That gets Paige’s attention, and she immediately goes stock-still as a look of pure mortification comes over her, like this hit to her stone-cold reputation is the most embarrassing thing in the world. Two seconds later, she’s sitting on the couch with her arms crossed in the sleeves of her ever-present giant hoodie, typical stoicism back in place.
“Uh...I was at work?” My brain is still trying to figure out if this is actually happening.
Paige reaches for her phone, and the volume of the speaker set up on the coffee table lowers until it’s just background noise.
