Chasing Butterflies

Waitress Needed

"Hey Izzy could you go out and grab some beer? And maybe some food too? There's like nothing in the fridge," Cassie whined as she lay across her boyfriend on their dusty old couch.

Izzy looked up from her spot on the floor. The pile of white pills on the coffee table had grown considerably smaller over the past few days. The high only lasted a few hours and then Izzy needed more, so she kept taking them, two or three at a time. And time seemed to eat away at itself with how little Izzy remembered of the past week.

The pills she had swallowed thirty minutes ago had kicked in and everything in her line of sight was distorted. Cassie looked like nothing more than a flesh colored blur.

"Oh my god," Cassie giggled like a little girl, "She's so stoned right now, she can't even hear." A girlish cackle pierced Izzy's ears.

Her hearing was just fine. Muffled, but fine. She had heard Cassie's request but she just didn't want to go anywhere or buy any more things for Cassie and Jae. Yes, Izzy was grateful that they let her crash with them but she was tired of buying them beer. She could practically hear her credit card crying. Or maybe she was just that high.

"Come on Izzy, we're all stoned. Just take one for the team," Jae urged her. Ever since that incident a few days ago, he kept staring at her. His eyes roamed her body whenever Cassie wasn't looking and she hated it. Izzy would leave if she had anywhere else to go.

"Yeah, I'll go out." She would do just about anything if it meant she could get away from Jae from a while.

The creep kept staring and Izzy hated it. She didn't care what dirty thoughts were slithering through his head. But she did care that he was stringing Cassie along while he made rape eyes at every other girl that walked past him. Cassie may not be the most decent person but she didn't deserve to be treated like that. No one did.

Izzy hauled herself off the floor and pulled on her only pair of boots. She let the door slam behind her while she pulled her jacket tighter around her shoulders and made her way out of the building. The streets that she had grown used to walking this past week were a blur in her hazy vision. Colors swirled together and the world spun around her. The buildings were moving on their own, or at least that's what it looked like in her drugged mind. Izzy had grown fond of the high. She relished in it.

But she needed to find a high outside of what Jae gave her. And to do that she would need money.

A flier caught Izzys attention.

WAITRESS NEEDED
Horseshoe Cafe
Part time

Either the stars were aligning in her favor or Izzy's vision was even more distorted than she thought.

Izzy ripped the flier from the window where it had been taped up. She had to make sure that she remembered the name of that place. And that no one else decided to apply for the job. She really needed that money, especially if she ever wanted to get out of Cassie's dorm.

In her haze, Izzy stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk. Just as she was about to turn and curse at the cement behind her, a ringing hit her ears. The annoying buzzing in her pocket almost made Izzy throw her phone into the street.

With a grimace, Izzy pulled the slab of plastic from her pocket. The screen swam across her vision, the numbers blurred together.

She answered it anyways, not really caring who it was. She only had a dozen people in her contacts, so there weren't many people it could be. And as long as it wasn't—

"Hello Iseul. Thank you for finally picking up my calls." Izzy's eyes nearly exploded in her skull. That voice. It couldn't be her.

"Who the hell is this?" No harm in checking. Right?

"You don't even recognize me? Why, I'm shocked. All those years and I had hoped that my voice would have stuck with you. But it seems that was simply wishful thinking on my part. I won't get my hopes up that you'll remember me the next time I call, but the least you can do is look at your caller ID and greet me appropriately." The woman rambled on, her shrill voice piercing Izzy's eardrums.

"What do you want?" Izzy hissed through gritted teeth.

"I am calling because—"

"You want to dress me up? Shove me into a pair of stockings and an ugly floral dress and sell me off to the highest bidder?"

"Iseul—"

"Or maybe you aim to skip the dressing me part altogether and you've already got the suitors lined up." She seethed.

"Iseul—"

"Did you line them up against a wall? Hire a firing squad to keep them in line as they wait for the disappointment to show up and grace them with her toxic presence?"

"Iseul would you let me—"

"No. You've tried that. And I'm done with it. I don't want to hear whatever it is you have to say," she hissed into the line. The high had definitely worn off now. And Izzy was itching for another hit.

"Iseul just let me speak!" The older woman's voice was muffled through the phone speaker.

"How the hell did you even get this number?" She seethed into the phone.

"I will not be spoken to that way. I demand an apology," the woman commanded.

"I will not apologize. I am a grown ass woman and I have the right to speak to you in whatever way I see fit. You don't have the right to tell me how to speak or act or how to live my life. Goodbye." Izzy cut off the call.

"Who was that?" Izzy jumped at the sound of a voice behind her and whirled around.

She sighed in relief at the sight of him. "Someone I've been trying to avoid." Izzy wasn't sure why she was telling him this. She barely even knew him.

"Someone like your ex-boyfriend?" His head tilted to the side, eyebrows scrunching up. He would have looked incredibly cute if his hands weren't clenched into heavy fists.

"No," she stopped walking, turning to face him. "Much worse than him."

"So who is this person that you're trying to avoid? Do you need me to take care of it?" His voice was low, his jaw clenched.

Izzy's gaze snapped up to meet his hardened features. Her own face struggled to hide confusion. Why was he asking this? Why did he care? It didn't make sense to her.

"No," she hesitated to say. "That's okay." Izzy's eyes scanned over his face. He still looked concerned.

"But thank you Jimin. I'll see you around," Izzy shoved her hands into the pockets of the turquoise jacket and began to walk away.

"Wait!" Izzy stopped in her tracks. She turned back to look at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Where are you headed now?" He looked at her with those eyes that seemed to hypnotize her.

Izzy swallowed down the lump in her throat. "Um I really can't remember," she scratched the back of her head. "I think my friend sent me out get something but I forgot what it was," Izzy answered a bit sheepishly, eyebrows scrunched.

"Well since you're not up to anything right now, do you want to come hang out with me and the guys?" Jimin's head fell to one side like a puppy dog. He had a habit of doing that, Izzy noticed.

He would look adorable if he didn't have such a dark aura hanging over him. But Izzy didn't care if he was a little dark. She could handle it.

Izzy shoved the cafe flier in her jacket pocket. "Sure. Why not."
 
Hands in pockets, she let him lead the way as they walked side by side through the city.