I See You

31

Lena looked down at her watch for the hundredth time that day; she wanted to get home as soon as possible and each second she spent in the Frozen Paradise, was another second that she couldn't spend in the safety of her room.

Meghan had been eying Lena all afternoon, her concerns about her best friend were growing with each passing day, because it was obvious that something was going on in her head, something that she couldn't tell Meghan, but worse than that, it was something that Meghan knew that Lena couldn't handle.

Meghan watched as Lena looked down at her watch and as she tapped her fingers over the register, anxiety flowing from her body. Meghan looked down at her own watch and bit her lower lip, just a few minutes until Sophia and Laurel got here so they could go home.

But Mr. Morely walked in the Paradise first and Meghan felt her heart shrink.

Greg Morely had always been a handsome man, with his blonde hair and light eyes, and that persistent aura of dangerousness that followed him wherever he went made him a man to attract looks everywhere he stepped a foot on. But that day, the dangerous side of his nature had taken over most of his looks; the broken skin over his nose was no longer red but was turning purple, and the few scratches that Jake had given him from the two punches to the face seemed bigger than they had a few days back.

"Mr. Morely" said Meghan, her eyes frozen with horror as she looked at her boss.

His light blue eyes looked at Meghan and he gave her a soft smile with a gentle nod, Lena looked up from the register to Mr. Morely and just like Meghan, she was horrified by the damage that Jake had caused.

"Ladies" he said, he headed towards his office and stepped in without another word, closing the door behind him.

Lena turned to look at Meghan, and Meghan turned to look at the blond young woman; both of them looked worried and terrified.

Before Lena could ask Meghan if she thought Mr. Morely had pressed charges against Jake, the door of the Frozen Paradise was pushed open and Sophia walked in with Laurel, both of them talking and smiling, Meghan and Lena looked at each other, both of them knowing that Sophia and Laurel had no idea of what had gone down on the Paradise between Morely and Jake.

"Hey" smiled Sophia as she walked up to Lena and Meghan.

"Hey" said Meghan and Lena at the same time as Laurel smiled at them.

"Ready to go home?" asked Laurel.

"Yes" answered Lena rapidly, she looked down at her watch.

"I broke up with Ryan" said Laurel as she looked at Meghan.

"What?" said Lena as she looked up at Laurel "Why?"

Laurel shrugged "I don't know, he seemed distracted lately" she explained "Always had something else to do, and I'm not really into waiting around for anyone"

"Huh" was all Lena could really say, she didn't really care about Laurel's love life but she felt bad for Ryan, it had been a while since the last time she had seen him invest any kind of time on a girl.

"Oh" Meghan sighed "That's sad" she made a pause "But, if it's the right thing then you go Glen Coco"

Lena chuckled at the Mean Girls reference and rolled her eyes playfully, she had forgotten how nice it was just to chat with other girls.

Mr. Morely stepped out of the office as he heard the girls chuckle, he wanted to have a short word with Lena before her shift ended.

The four girls turned to look at their boss, Laurel and Sophia lost all their color as they saw Mr. Morely's bruised face. He gave a smile to Laurel and Sophia, but rapidly turned his attention to Lena, Meghan didn't like the way he always seemed to only have eyes for Lena; it scared her.