Page 34 of Meeting Her Mate
I waited for a long time.
Chapter 13: Alexis
It didn’t take me any longer than three days to realize that besides the too-good-to-be-true job openings offered by Beckett Pharma, Fiddler’s Green didn’t have much in the way of prospective careers. It wasn’t for lack of effort on my part. I made accounts on all the job forums such as Indeed, LinkedIn, and Jobzilla, scouring through the dozens of low-paying jobs such as clerks, shopkeepers, hairdresser assistants, and departmental store attendants until I saw that there was only one option left for me.
I had to go back to the diner and get my shift as a waitress back.
The rapidly depleting funds in my checking account were a constant reminder that I could not just spend my days idly binge-watching Netflix series or doom-scrolling on Instagram. I needed money, and I needed it fast.
The hardest part about getting up in the morning and having no job to go to was convincing myself to get out of bed, take a shower, brush my teeth, tie my hair, get dressed, and head into town. A town that held virtually no promise.
Somehow, I made it through and got dressed, and gave myself a little pep talk in the fogged-up bathroom mirror, reminding myself that there was no harm in swallowing my ego and begging the shift manager to give me my job back.
I had only made it to the parking lot when I got the first surprise of the day.
Will was standing there next to my pickup truck. He had a crazy look in his eyes that made me fearful of what sort of mood he’d be in. And why was he here all of a sudden?
Right. I’d offered to help him.
“Hey there,” he said, waving at me from afar.
“You really should get a phone and let people know you’re coming. It’s freaking strange to be just standing there like that.”
“Vincent tried to show me how to use a smartphone, but my eyes started hurting a minute after staring at that screen,” Will said. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to them.”
“You’re supposed to turn down the brightness to match your comfort,” I said.
“Don’t tell me all that! I’m never going to understand computers and phones and all that electronic stuff,” Will said with frustration.
“All right, calm down, cranky,” I said, opening the door of my truck and getting in. I unlocked the side door and opened it for him.
“Sorry. That wasn’t me being angry or anything,” Will said.
“I know. That was you being a total boomer,” I said. “Well, technically, you were born way before any of the boomers, so I guess that makes you a dinosaur.”
“Is boomer yet another one of those Gen-Z slang terms?” Will asked, rolling his eyes.
“Yes. It means someone who’s frustrated by the simplest of things. Things like not figuring out a smartphone,” I said.
“Fine. I’ll learn it if you’ll teach me. Vincent…he’s just self-assuming, thinking I understand everything that comes out of his mouth. Half the terms he speaks are completely alien to me!” Will groaned. “Being alive in the twenty-first-century sucks.”
“Join the club,” I said, revving up my engine. “Now give it to me. You’re here for some reason. So, what’re the haps?”
“Huh?”
“What’s the sitch?”
“Are you deliberately screwing with me?” Will asked in a stony voice.
“Yes. I’m just trying to gauge how far I can take things before you…you know…go completely nuclear on my ass,” I said, grinning at him.
“I’m trying to keep it under control.”
“Good for you,” I said. “Now, tell me, what happened?”
Then Will filled me in on how he snooped in on the vampires and saw Maurice there. He mostly spoke while I drove to the diner. I listened intently and waited until he had finished his entire story. Then I turned to him and stared intensely at him and said, “You thought it was a good idea to go about snooping on vampires? Alone? Where hundreds of vampires live? All of whom are armed to the teeth?”
“I was feeling helpless,” Will said. “I didn’t know what to anticipate or how imminent the danger was. I just wanted to find out for myself.”