THREE VEINS [H.S.]

| 7 | THE VEIN FADE CLUB

||| EVELYN |||

"I seriously cannot believe it," My boss states as she wipes down the register counter for a fresh Monday morning start. "You finally made it into the Vein fade club."

I let out a breathy, drawn-out sigh as I turn the sign from Closed to Open, signaling another day of business for Barker's Books. "I know. Wild."

Lani Barker rarely stops by her namesake of Barker's Books while I'm here. Her trust in me with her self-titled business since I started shakes me to my core, but I'm here for it. Especially since we're both twenty-somethings figuring this life shit out.

I figured bringing up the conversation of my fading Vein – one I'm already hesitant to talk about with Harry – would be best with Lani and I under the same roof.

"Well, what's the plan?" She presses on, casually trying to get a read on my inner mood.

I lazily shrug. "I'm really not sure. I was hoping to continue shelving books and bartending while I deal with it all."

"Evelyn, you know you can take however long you need to process this, right?" Lani discloses, straightening out books next to the register. "I know what it's like to have a Vein fade. It's not fun the first time around. And I'm not going to be that boss that bitches about her employees. Besides, I've been wanting more time here anyway. Summer tourism will keep the store busy–"

"–I know..."

"Even if you wanted to quit! I wouldn't take it personally!"

"Lani!" I exclaim, cutting her rambling short. "Chill. I'm not going to quit. I love you too much to bullshit you or my PTO."

Lani rolls her eyes amusingly, heading towards a cart of books in between aisles. "You already take PTO by cutting your hours when I'm not here. At least let me buy you all the drinks you want the next time we go out?"

I give her a smile, breezing past the register. "I'm going into the back, yell if you need me."

"I'll always need you!" She yells amusingly, her voice bouncing off every square inch of the small bookstore.

This gig isn't a challenging job. Nevertheless, I knew working here was what I needed when I started a few years back. I'm pretty sure Lani figured that out at the first sight of me. I was an obvious mess. Shelving books at Barker's sorted me out in a way pouring drinks at Remedy never could.

Both Harry and Cecilia, and now Lani, are enticing me to take my PTO more than I will admit to any of them.

I don't plan on leaving Barker's anytime soon, but I'd be lying to myself if I didn't consider taking a break to really sit with my current reality. Even just to get out of the city. Just to neutralize the war of the human experience brewing inside my head.

I gather my bearings in the backroom, finding the coffee Lani brought in and downing the last drops of latte in seconds. Back here, it's all about barcodes and inventory and quality control. Mundane, but a getaway in its own right.

And with the briefest crossing of coffee through my mind, I pull my phone out of my back pocket and find Harry's contact card.

It's only been a couple of days since we met up and established a support system, but he's initiated a lot of interaction between us. It wouldn't hurt to reach out on my end, right? To start our very first text message thread?