When Distress Meets Distress - S01 E16

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When Distress Meets Distress - S01 E16

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 15

“I didn’t hear you typing in my name. Were you

stalking me?” I felt my face warm up, meaning it was

red with embarrassment.

“No,” I replied, looking and noticing that he had one

mutual friend. I wonder who it is.

Jeremiah Harp. I stared at the name for a moment

before groaning in frustration. “You have my brother

as a friend?” I asked, annoyed. Jeremiah is such a liar;

I thought he didn’t know Jonah’s name.

“Yes, yes I do,” he admitted and I exited his profile

page. I’d done enough creeping for now. “We had a

pretty long conversation last night.”

“Then he did know your name,” I said that more to

myself but Jonah made a noise of agreement.

“I have a question.” Before letting me reply, he

continued. “If you’re 16 and 9 months, then how did

you have a job for a year and a half?”

“I had a job at an after school program for middle

school students during sophomore year and I got

paid $200 a week so I gladly dealt with their

problems. I was a counselor; I know, terrible job

choice. You only needed to be a sophomore to have

that job, so I took it,” I replied, chewing on my lip as

I logged out of Facebook.

“Was that the job you got fired from?” he asked.

“Yes,” I told him, turning off my computer.

“How?” he asked and I let out a hiss of air.

“One day, I was really annoyed and some 14 year

old seventh grade girl went in there complaining

about her boyfriend, mind you; I’m only 15 at the

time and the only boyfriend I had was some jerk. I

was already agitated and she just made it worse. She

was complaining about how he didn’t love her back

and when I asked how long they’d been dating, she

said a week.”

Jonah was laughing. “I got so angry and I told her

that she can’t really love a guy she’s only been dating

for a week. She then told me that I knew nothing

about love because I was just some ugly female

dog. So I hit her,” I told him and he stopped

laughing. A minute later, his question was asked.

“Are you serious?” he asked.

“Yes, I slapped her in the face. I was physically

removed from the premise immediately and told not

to come back and I could forget about ever working

there. But I was satisfied with what I’d done; I had

another job cleaning up at a game store that my

mother’s friend owns,” I admitted.

“That’s a pleasant story,” I smirked at his reply,

looking at my digital clock. It was 4:32 P.M.

“Oh saltines, I have to go. I have work,” I stated,

standing up and running over to my dresser.

“I’ll talk to you sometime,” he replied and I replied

with a laugh and a ‘you wish’ before hanging up the

phone and stuffing it in my pocket. I grabbed my

wallet, my keys and my name-tag.

Off to work.

***

“You’re late,” my coworker and best friend Meredith

sang from behind the counter. She jumped over it

and walked over to the anime games aisle and

started reorganizing them.

“I know, I’m sorry. I lost track of time and ended up

staying on the phone for too long. It won’t happen

again, Mere,” I apologized, rushing over to stand

behind the counter.

“On the phone? With a hottie?” Mere giggled and I

shook my head.

“What’s his name? I’m going to look him up on

Facebook. You always lie about who’s a hottie and

who’s not,” she giggled and I told her his name

before looking at the door. A young boy walked into

the store.

☆☆

“Hey babe, got any Mario Kart?” he asked. I furrowed

my eyebrows at the ten year old standing in front of

me, barely managing to see over the counter.

Nobody can sound manly while asking for Mario

Kart.

“Mario Kart is over there and my name is not Babe;

it’s Savannah. But to you it’s Ms. Savannah,” I

snapped, glaring at the little boy.

“You’re a babe, not my teacher,” he retorted, looking

back at his friends who snickered.

“I’m old enough to be your mother,” I responded.

Okay, it was a lie. I’m pretty sure that it’s unlikely for

a six or seven year old to even know the process of

having children; never mind making one and

pushing it out of her. “Go buy your Mario Kart,” I

snapped.

The boy checked out with Mario Kart and I watched

as he exited the store and got into his mommy’s car.

Did she know that she raised a disrespectful little

saltine?

“He is hot! I’ve just spent the last fifteen minutes

looking at his pictures. You think it’d be weird if I just

added him? You think he’d accept?” Mere asked,

sitting on the counter cross legged. I shrugged

carelessly. Her first sentence caught me off guard

and I thought she was talking about the little boy.

“It’s worth a shot,” I shrugged. She nodded, clicking

the ‘add’ button. “He’s still a minor as far as I know,”

I warned and she laughed.

“I’m looking for a few dates, Van,” she told me and I

shrugged again. “Unless… he’s into you.”

I ignored the latter statement. “I just felt the need to

let you know,” I warned the 19 year old. It wasn’t

any major age difference. By the way he questioned

my age; I knew he was older than me. He might be

seventeen or maybe eighteen.

“When are you going to let me meet your brother?

He’s hot, too,” Mere squealed and I shook my head.

“Never,” I smiled and she rolled her eyes.