Drop Dead | Sam Fender

Chapter Sixty Two

Sam

"Hey, darlin'," I mumbled into the speaker, letting out a puff of smoke from my lips. I was at work, spending my break on the phone with my girlfriend. It was the best I could do considering I couldn't be with her physically for her birthday.

"Hi," Rory replied.

"Have ya had a nice birthday?" I asked with a smile, even though she wouldn't be able to see.

"As nice as it could be spent in school," she laughed. "Did dad send ya the video?"

"Yeah," I muttered. "I wasn't planning to make ya cry like. I'm sorry."

"Don't be daft," she told me. "It was beautiful. Thank you."

"I'm glad ya liked it," I smiled as I took another drag of the cigarette between my fingers.

"I loved it. Ya know, you're so sweet when ya wanna be," she laughed. My heart warmed at her words.

"Sam! Your break ended ten minutes ago!" John yelled at me from the doorway, his face an angry shade of red.

"Shit," I cursed, quickly stubbing out the fag and discarding it in the ashtray on the windowsill. "I'm sorry, Scarl, I've got to go. I love ya."

"Alreet. Bye, Sam. I love-"

I didn't hear the end of her sentence as I quickly shut my phone off, not wanting to anger my boss any further. It was the fifth time in two weeks he had reprimanded me for something, my track record getting increasingly worse as the days went by. It was like my fucking up was inevitable. I hastily made my way back inside and behind the bar, ready to serve a customer that was leaning against the bar, clearly wanting to be served.

"Shan, d'ya mind serving him? I need to have chat with Sam," John asked Shannon, who nodded and moved to take the older man's order. "Sam. A word."

I followed my boss nervously out back and shoved my hands in my pockets to prevent myself from biting my nails, anxious about what he wanted. "What's up?"

"Cut the shit, kid," he sighed gravely, making my stomach drop. "Ya know I like ya but you're just about the worst employee I've ever had. I've held on for this long but I don't think I can much longer."

"John, please. I need this job," I pleaded. "I'll be better, swear."

"I'm sorry, son," he mumbled. "I'm gan have to let ya go."

"Please. Think about this," I begged him.

"I have. Long and hard, ya've left me no choice," he told me.

"Reet," I scoffed, desperately trying to swallow the thick lump at the back of my throat. "Guess I'll be off then."

"I'm sorry, kid," he repeated himself, but I couldn't hear his words over my anger as I stormed out. So much for a good day.

Aurora

After the abrupt ending of my phone call with Sam, I didn't hear from him for the rest of the day. Not even when I tried to call him when his shift was meant to have finished. I was a bit concerned for him but I tried to brush it off. He was probably busy.

Wednesday was spent the same as Tuesday. I went to school and came home, expecting to have heard from Sam but again getting nothing but radio silence. When it reached eight in the evening, I had given up on waiting for Sam to text or phone, deciding to call him myself.

"Hello?" Sam spoke gruffly through the phone.

"Hey," I greeted as I stared up at my bedroom ceiling. "Are y'alreet? I've not heard off ya since yesterday, I've been-"

"I'm fine," he grunted, cutting me off mid-sentence.

"Oh," I mumbled. "Uh, ya don't sound okay. Has sommat happened?"

"Fuck sake, Rory. I told ya I'm fine," he spat venomously, causing me to flinch even over the phone.

"What's with the attitude, Sam?" I asked quietly. It was a far cry from the gentleness of his tone yesterday. Had I said something to upset him? Surely not. All I was doing was speaking normally. Surely that wouldn't aggravate him. No. Something had to have happened.

"Would ya quit with the twenty fuckin' questions?!" he growled. "You're suffocating me. That's what ya said to me. Now, you're the one suffocating me."

"Sam-"

"Nah, I don't want to hear it," he hissed. "In fact, I'd love it if you would just give me some space to breathe."

"If that's what ya want," I told him. I knew he got like this every once in a while and sometimes he just needed to cool down for a bit.

"I think we should take a break," he spoke coldly, his words knocking the air from my lungs. How had we gone from being the epitome of a perfect couple to here in less than forty-eight hours?

"What?"

"Ya heard me," he grumbled. "Bye, Aurora."

I didn't have to chance to reply before he hung up, the phone slipping from my grasp along with a few stray tears from my eyes. My mouth hung open slightly as I stared up at the ceiling, the silent sobs slowly beginning to escape from my lips. Knowing my dad was close-by, I lifted a hand to my mouth to confine the sounds that threatened to flee.