TW: This book has a lot of descriptions of abuse and because of how often it is, there are no trigger warnings at the beginning of chapters. Take this as a warning for the whole book.
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Samuel never thought that moving out of his childhood home wo...
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xi. Bad Days With A Dash Of Pete
The next day, I felt absolutely terrible. Not only had I barely slept, but I had spent the few hours that I did sleep tossing and turning in my sleep. All of this worry wasn't good for me.
As bad as it sounded, I wished that the walls and ceiling weren't so thin so I wouldn't have to worry so much. I shouldn't be sticking my nose into other people's business in the first place.
Rolling out of bed, I changed my clothes into something that probably didn't look the best but would have to do at work that day. It's not like I had to see other people that day, anyway. I dragged my feet into the kitchen to make myself coffee, only to give up on doing anything and simply deciding to stop at some gas station on the way to work for some coffee.
I looked at the time and realised that I was already late to work by half an hour. No wonder I hadn't opened my eyes to a blaring alarm. I quickly checked the alarm clock that resided in my room and realised that at some point last night, the clock had ran out of battery. This is why you should use your phone for alarms instead of a battery eating alarm clock.
I let out an exasperated sigh and clumsily stumbled to the door of my apartment, nearly forgetting to put shoes on before I practically flew out the door. I speed walked out of the apartment complex and to my car. I dug through my pockets for my car keys, coming out empty handed. This made me groan; as if I wasn't already going to get chewed out by my boss for being late.
I turned around and ran back into my apartment to look for my keys. I had to pretty much turn my whole apartment around in search of them. I'd just gone through the last possible room in my humble abode where the keys could be when I realised that I hadn't checked the pockets of the jacket I had used when I was on that date last night.
I dug through those pockets and there they were. I didn't know if I was going to cry or laugh at the utter disaster that today was proving to be. That's why I let out a sound that managed to sound like a dying animal, a laugh, and a sob, all at the same time.
This time I ran down to my car to finally leave. I gave up on my idea of getting coffee on the way to work; I wasn't giving my boss any more reasons to beat the shit out of me.
To make my day even worse, traffic seemed to go way slower today. This must have been God's cruel way to punish me for whatever the hell I had done wrong. I gripped the steering wheel tight enough to where my knuckles turned white, and I tried my best not to go full on road rage mode when some asshat decided to cut me off and nearly hit my car.
The world really was testing my patience. It was too early for it, too. It took me a total of twenty minutes to drive to work, making me a over an hour late. I walked into the office, expecting my boss to jump be at any second, but that didn't happen. I got to my office in one piece.
Maybe today just started off on the wrong foot, I thought. It'll get better.
Just then, my co-worker Pete decided to grace me with his presence. "Hey, Sammy. How are you this fine morni- who shat in your cereal?" He said when he saw my scowl. I glared at him, hoping the guy would leave me alone. I didn't want to be around anyone today.
Pete was the guy whom I went to get drinks with a while ago. He was cool and all, but he could get a bit annoying with how happy he seemed to be on mornings.
"No one shat in my cereal, Pete," I grumbled angrily. "I barely slept last night. That's kind of why I'm late."
Pete's mouth opened and formed an "O" shape as if in realisation. "Who's the lucky lady?" I looked at him in a way that showed him just how done I was with him.
"What? Why did you-" I cut myself off, seeing the perfect chance to mess around with Pete a bit. I put on a fake offended voice and spoke, "Did you just assume my sexuality?"
Pete was silent for a few seconds before he spoke again: "Oh don't tell me you're one of those people. Though now that I think about it, it would totally make sense if you were gay." I nodded along to what he was saying before it actually hit me what he had just said.
"No I'm not one of those people. Even though I have no idea what you mean by that. I was just messing with you. And what do you mean it would make sense if I was gay?" Did I naturally seem gay or something? Not that I cared about it. I had never really cared about gay people as long as they don't loudly advertise it in public places. That would just be annoying, just like a straight person yelling "I'M STRAIGHT" in a mall.
Believe me or not, that has actually happened. The guy had yelled that non stop for like five minutes straight. Later I found out that the dude wasn't straight, just in denial, but still.
Pete looked me up and down. "Well it's just that all the hot guys are always gay. Not to mention that-" He started, only to cut himself off shortly after. "Actually, there's really no reason why it would make sense. I was just kind of hoping you would be. You know what? I think I should leave now. I make myself sound like a weirdo." He turned to leave.
I laughed. "No, no, tell me more about how 'all the hot guys are always gay' and how you 'were hoping I'd be gay'," I said with a small smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth.
Pete turned back around to face me. "Let's face it," He said, "You're hot, I'm hot. If you were gay, we'd make a good looking couple." Bold.
I closed my eyes and sighed. Opening my eyes, I spoke, "Yeah no. Thanks for the offer but I don't exactly find you very attractive."
Pete placed his hand on his chest and opened his mouth in mock shock. "That hurt me so much, Samuel! How dare you turn down someone as beautiful as me?" I saw the smile on his face and knew that he didn't take it seriously.
"Yeah, yeah. Can you leave now? I need to actually start working right about now," I said and it was true. I had a lot to do today and Pete distracting me wasn't exactly helping me get started on all of the work that I had.
Pete snorted, "Fine. I need to go back to work as well. I'll see you later, cutie." He turned on his heels and left the room. I rolled my eyes and finally got to work.
Let's hope I finish all of this during normal hours, so I don't have to work overtime.
