All That's Left

Chapter 10 | Vania

Present
2023
Seventeen years old

After dinner at the Lowe's, Dorian told me to get in his car, since we were going to the diner. I had told him the previous day that I was looking for a job and if he knw about any vacancies, and he had told me that Mr. Miller had a vacancy open.

Mr. Miller had given me my first job at the diner back when things were still normal, and I had been one of his best employees. His words, not mine. Regardless of that, I wasn't ready to face him, because I knew he was one of the people in town who blamed me for my father's death.

I didn't think Dorian knew about it, but we were almost at the diner, and I wasn't going to tell him to turn around. I needed a job, my feelings be damned.

A tiny part of me hoped that Mr. Miller didn't blame me anymore, and I kept envisioning how this was going to play out on our silent drive to the diner. Everyone always found it strange how Dorian and I could be silent around each other for hours on end and still be best friends. But we understood each other so well, that most of the time we didn't need words.

Even now, after everything that had happened, and me not knowing what Dorian was to me anymore, he understood me. He saw everything I was trying to hide, and I hated it.

Dorian pulled into the parking lot of the diner, and I felt the anxiety kick in. This wasn't going to go well.

Heading into the diner, the little bell chiming above the door, I spot the girl who was with Dorian the first time I saw him. I didn't know who she was, or what she was to Dorian, and frankly, I didn't want to know. The fear that he had replaced me was still there, even though he had every right to move on after I disappeared for two years.

''Your friend is here,'' I tell him quietly. He glances at the girl, sighing. ''She works here, but just ignore whatever she says or ask, okay?'' I frown at his request, but I nod anyway. 

Another unfamiliar waitress approaches us, smiling at Dorian. They must also know each other.

How many new people moved to town while I was away?

''You guys want a booth, or a table?'' The waitress asks. ''Not today, thanks though Aimee. Is Mr. Miller in? We're here to ask him about the other vacancy?''

Aimee's eyes light up, flicking to me with excitement. ''He's in the back. I'll go get him.'' She quickly hurries through the doors that leads into the kitchen, where I know is another door that leads to the storage room, and eventually, Mr. Miller's office.

I give Dorian a questioning look at Aimee's excitement, and he smiles, looking down at me. ''She really wants a new coworker.''

''Dorian!'' His friend calls him, and he looks over at her, acting as if he just noticed her. ''Oh, hey Eliana,'' he greets, turning back around to face me and wait for Mr. Miller.

''She's coming over,'' I mumble to Dorian, noticing the girl, Eliana, walking over to us. He sighs, turning back around.

''Hey, Dorian,'' Eliana says sweetly. When she realizes he's not going to greet her again, she turns to me, a fake smile on her face. ''You must be Vania, right?'' I nod, smiling tightly. Eliana smiles, as if she knows more than she's letting on. 

''So, how long have you known Dorian, seeing as your his bestfriend.'' She says bestfriend as if she thinks there's more to us than that. She's not the first, and she probably won't be the last.

''Since birth, actually. I was born five weeks after him, and we grew up together,'' I explain, and it seems as if Eliana's expression wants to fall. Definitely not what she was expecting.

''Oh. That's...wonderful!'' She says, laughing. She's about to say something else when Mr. Miller appears behind her. He smiles at Dorian, as everyone does in this town. 

''Hey Dorian, you're looking for me?'' Then his gaze lands on me, and his smile falls. 

''Vania...what a surprise.'' He's not happy I'm back, and my doubts are confirmed. He's not going to hire me.

He still blames me.

''We were wondering if the vacancy is still open? Vania needs a job, and-''

''Vania isn't working here,'' Mr. Miller says, cutting Dorian off. ''Not after what she did.''

Dorian seems taken aback. ''Mr. Miller, you know as well as I do that it wasn't Vania's fault. It's not fair that you, or anyone else blames her.

''What's not fair, Dorian, is that Brennan died because of her problems,'' Mr. Miller says, pointing at me. ''It's her fault he's dead, and I don't want her working in my diner.'' Mr. Miller dissapears into the kichen, leaving us standing there in silence.

Aimee throws us a sad look before continuing with wiping down the tables.

''You're hanging out with murders now, Dorian?'' Eliana asks, and I flinch at the word, even though it's true. ''Fuck you, Eliana,'' Dorian says, and this time, I'm the one taken aback, because it's clear Dorian has changed since I left.

I don't care that much about the comment Eliana made, but Dorian's forwardness is new. He never would have said that to anyone, especially not a girl.

Dorian takes my hand, pulling me out of the diner, while he ignores Eliana desperately calling after him. ''Dorian,'' I say, trying to get him to stop, but he just keeps on walking to his car, pulling me after him. ''Dorian, stop.''

He sighs, stopping and turning around to face me. He doesn't look me in the eye, though. ''It's okay, Dorian. I knew he wasn't going to hire me. And don't worry about what Eliana said, I'm used to it.''

''That's exactly the point, Vania,'' he says, eyes meeting mine. ''You didn't even flinch when either of them said those things, and that's not right. You shouldn't be used to it, because nobody should ever have said those thing to, or about you. Uncle Brennan's death was not your fault. He was protecting you. And I know you've thought about why it had to be him instead of you, but I can guarantee you, that if we could ask your dad whether or not he'd want to be here instead of you, he'd say that he would do it all over again, because he's your dad and he loved you, okay?''

''Okay,'' I whisper, my voice on the verge of breaking. It wasn't Dorian's words that made me want to cry. It was the reminder that my dad wasn't ever coming back. It felt so surreal, sometimes, yet I knew it was final. There was nothing I could do to reverse my mistakes and bring him back.

Dorian wraps his arms around me, holding me tight against him. 

We used to be in our own little world when we were younger. We'd spent days in each other's company and never grew tired of each other. I doubt that has changed, but I don't like being around Dorian that long anymore.

He knows me too well, and the longer I'm around him, the more he sees through me and how and I feel about everything.

''Look, there's one more place we can go for a job. But only if you're up to it?''