Lacquered Tattoo

Chapter 4

“Maybe you could apply ice to that?” I spoke for the first time, pointing at her head.

She gave me a nod. “Yeah, ice is fine.”

The host and I ushered her to a chair as she checked on her phone. “Crap. Mon’s gonna kill me.”

“Who’s that?” I asked, the question just coming out of my mouth so suddenly.

She c****d her head at me, and I was worried I might have just come off as imposing.

“My boss. I was supposed to work the night shift.”

“Oh, yeah? What do you do?”

Where is Cass and who is this brave woman who was taking the first step in approaching strangers?

“I work in retail. I’m Jolie, by the way. And you are?”

Jolie held a hand to me, and I shake it.

“Cass. Nice to meet you. I’m new here.”

I’ve learned not to talk to strangers and not to trust people too quickly, but Jolie just looked so friendly and nice. My intuition was telling me that she was good people, and I could really use a friend right now most especially that I was away from my family.

Growing up, I didn’t have many friends. I was a very shy girl and when someone make a move to befriend me, I make things awkward and scare them off.

Don’t even let me get started about boys.

I mean, guys.

Same thing.

“You don’t say,” Jolie says as she continued on pressing the ice pack that was handed to her. “Never seen your face here before. So, you aren’t just a tourist?”

I shake my head no. “I actually relocated from country X. I got a job offer at North High,” I added as an afterthought. That’s okay, right? Telling her about where I work. It’s not like I told her where I lived. And it wasn’t like I’m accusing her or something. She’s still a stranger so maybe disclosing such personal information isn’t at all wise.

“New grad? I’m on my final year in nursing school. Gosh, I wished I’d chosen teaching, too. I’ve always loved kids.”

That explains why she thinks she didn’t need medical attention. She might have known better than anyone if she had a concussion.

The two of us walked out together after I got my order. It was a good half an hour of wait and I told her that she should go ahead and rest, but she was just stubborn. I didn’t mind, at least I had someone to keep busy with while I waited, and she was really fun to talk to.

Jolie is the eldest of three children, and she had been here her whole life. She had been traveling with her boyfriend around the globe since they entered college and were planning to move in together after graduation.

She told me that while it was fun to visit other countries, she preferred to settle down here in this town where her roots were.

“My whole family’s here, and our relatives live not far off. It’ll be good to have them close by, you know, if ever we needed each other or something.”

She was right, of course, and it was something I hadn’t much thought about when I have decided to move.

The thing is, as much as I love Louise and owe her everything, a part of me had always wanted to break free. Not of her, I could never detach myself from her and not that I ever wanted to. It wasn’t just the stale, repetitive life that I had or the emptiness I felt that began to grow more and more each day that I wasn’t able to move on.

Like most stories go, there was someone. There was always a person who would make you take a drastic change in your life.

It was time to let go, to burn the bridge that had long since crumbled, ropes broken and planks unsafe to cross on.

I almost fell on the side of the road when Jolie suddenly leaned heavily on me. Well, more like fall into me. I steadied her with my hand that wasn’t holding my takeout. It wasn’t that easy to support her since we’re almost the same height and built.

I knew she should have gone to the hospital.

“I’m okay,” she laughed. I don’t buy it one bit. She stepped away from me and smoothed her green puffy jacket.

I looked up to see that we were right in front of the shop that she works in part time. I decided to walk her here, since it was close, and maybe her friends over here, or her boss even, could convince her to get a checkup if I can’t.

“b***h! What took you so long? I have a…”

A blonde woman came barging out from the entrance and she trailed off when she noticed me. She eyed me curiously, then her gaze shifted from Jolie and back.