Rugged Lace

Chapter Fifteen

*She liked to hide inside herself, where no one knew how she felt*

The wind pushes against her, blowing her shirt into her wound. Her blood rushes as she feels it, speeding up, slowing down, heart scattering it's actions. The pain's there but yet it isn't there. It's like she can feel it on some level, but she's too far away from it, detached from her body. Tyler isn't high, she hasn't even taken any painkillers since this morning. But as they walk past the 'Knickknack Shack', she feels like something inside her is going to hide away. The grocery bags containing the snacks for tonight's fest smack against her knees, but she likes it, the reminder that she's actually there.

"There's your job!" Kitty reminds her, rubbing elbows with her as they pick up their pace, wind rushing them.

A car honks, and another honks in return, but its as if the street, the noises of the city, can't reach Tyler. She smiles at Kitty, unable to contain her thoughts but unable to voice them. "There it is."

"Does it make you anxious?"

"A little."

"Have you ever had a job before?"

Tyler shrugs the slightest bit, "Something like that."

Their conversation ends there, as if Kitty can sense that she doesn't need to ask about it. Despite her chatterbox personality, she doesn't seem to talk constantly, like Tyler had originally thought. No, rather she talks when she can, and when she can't, she's fine with it.

It's not until they get inside that she speaks again.

Door closing behind them, the first thing Tyler notices is that the guy from the Pizza Parlor, and the guy who took her home, is there. Leaning against the counter, chatting with the lady there, he doesn't notice them at first.

"Jakie!" Kitty practically pushes past Tyler to give him a hug. Jake rubs the back of his neck, looking the slightest bit uncomfortable. "There you are! Why'd you ditch me like that? It's been like, four days! No word! Oh! Yeah, I almost completely forgot. My sink drips at night. It's starting to annoy me. Do you think you could spare some time to send someone to fix it?"

He blinks, then seems to understand what she's talking about, "Now, what kind of manager would I be if I just sent someone? Besides, I hear you've got a guest. I'll go up and take care of it now, if that's okay."

"Guest?" Kitty looks back to Tyler, laughing just the slightest bit.

Tyler presses her lips against one another, cautiously walking up to them two, "Actually, I'm her roommate. Don't I know you...?"

"Really? Well, then I better warn you that she's quite the handful. And, to answer your question, no, not really. You've met me a couple times before, but we've never been really introduced. I was in Don's English class a few times, and I've taken you home before. It's Tyler, right?" He gives her a grin, looking very pleased with himself. Tyler doesn't know what to say, and he takes that as an advantage to grab her bags from her hand, "I happen to own this building, and Kitty here is a good friend of mine. Shall we go up?"

Kitty giggles as Tyler rolls her eyes, and the two of them follow him to the stairs. "Don't think he's a gentleman," Kitty whispers to her, "he's just pretending to make himself look better."

"Oh really? I couldn't tell." Her sarcasm definitely isn't lost.

"Don't mind him though. He'll probably look at the sink, run back down and get his stuff, fix it within like, twenty seconds, and be on his way. The guy's really good with his hands, you know?" She giggles again. "He's pretty too, if you happen to be into people like him."