Make It Last (2 page)

             
The view from the back of the house was a lot
different. During shift, Briana
cooked all of the orders, so she spent her evenings covered in grease, ketchup, and
everything else she spilled while making the food.

             
Her job was nowhere near as glamorous or profitable as Kara’s, but she didn’t think she could ever be a waitress. Just the thought of making a mistake and having a customer yell at her or something was enough to keep her in the back.

             
She didn’t mind being a short-order cook though; she figured it was giving her expe
rience that would only help her
once
she finally gained the courage and the funds
to apply for culinary school.

             
She
and Kara toasted each other’s
amber colored
glasses
, then Pete’s, before downing the shot.

             
“Holy shit,” Briana exclaimed, as the whiskey burned its way down her throat.

             
“Oops.
Sorry, Bree. I forgot you don’t like whiskey.” Pete chuckled, not looking a single bit sorry as he took out a bottle of the vodka she preferred, and poured them each another shot.

             
They took the sh
ot
s and then separated to start cleaning. Briana and Kara were having a party of sorts at their apartment after work, so they wanted to finish up quicker than usual.

             
Once th
e stainless steel of the fryer gleamed
and the floors were scrubbed down, Briana took
one last look around the kitchen and deemed it spotless.

             
She went out to see if Kara, Pete, or any of the others needed her help getting their side work done.

             
Kara was just finishing up rolling her silverware and Pete was turning off the radio when she walked up.

             
“You guys ready?” Briana asked.

             
A chorus of “Hell, yeah’s” were shouted and they all headed out, calling goodnight to Pam.

             
She and Kara rode together b
ack to their
apartment over the flower
shop. The
ir
Texas
town was small enough that gett
ing to the other side meant they
only had to drive for five minutes
to
get wherever they
needed to go.

             
They parked and ran up the stairs, racing to see who would get to the shower first.

             
Briana won by half a foot and yelled, “Sorry, sucker
,
” as she began stripping off her clothes, eager to get rid of the greasy stench.

             
She showered as quickly as she could, while still scrubbing the smells of the kitchen out of her hair and off of her body.

             
When she was done, Kara was waiting for her turn, and handed Briana a towel as they switched spots.

             
Briana ran down the
short
hall
way
to her room, rubbing the towel over herself
as she mentally went through her wardrobe.

             
She decided that cutoff shorts and a fr
illy tank would do quite nicely
on this hot summer night, and dug through her dresser trying to find the pair she was looking for.

             
Once she was dressed, she brushed out her chestnut colored hair and pulled
it
up into a high ponytail. She put minimal makeup on, then threw on her flip flops and hurried out to the kitchen to check the status of their provisions.

             
It was BYOB, so most of the people woul
d have their own drinks, but a random moocher always showed up
and needed some alcohol.

             
They had a bottle of wine, a twelve pac
k of Bud Light, and a b
ottle each of cherry vodka and S
prite.

             
They were good to go
.

             
She took out a couple bags of chips, put them in bowls, and placed them around the living room.

             
She threw the blankets, a random sock, and the magazines that were li
ttering the floor into the big hope c
hest that served as their coffee table.

             
She was considering running the vacuum when Kara came out, dressed in a sweet sunshine yellow sundress, her blond hair tousled around her face.

             
“Thanks, Bree, the place looks great. Do you thi
nk we should vacuum?”

             
“I wa
s just thinking the same thing.
Then
I remembered who was
coming over, and realized we’
ll probably have countless items spilled on the carpet before morning comes, so what’s the point
?” Brian
laugh
ed
.

             
“Very true,” Kara said. “Pre-game?”

             
“Absolutely,” Briana replied, following Kara back to the kitchen to make herself a drink.

             
She’d b
arely taken her first sip of cherry vodka and Sprite
when the front door opened and
a group of people piled
in. It didn’t take long for the music to be turned up and the sound of laughter and chatter
to fill
the room.

             
Briana was talking to someone she had taken a college course with a few years ago, when she felt someone come up behind her and softly kiss her neck.

             
She turned and looked up at Kent over the rim of her glass.

             
“W
hat’s going on, Hot Stuff?” he
asked with his cocky grin.

             
At six fee
t
,
he towered ov
er Briana, and his unruly blond
hair and self-assured manner always drew her to him.

             
“Not much, Kent, just getting th
e party started.”

             
She and Kent enjoyed each other when neither of them
was
in
a serious relationship.
Briana h
adn’t had one
since Colin broke up with her in high school,
so
she was always ready to enjoy Kent.

             
Sometimes he tried to get
too serious for her, and that wa
s when she would tell him it was time to get
him
a girlfriend.

             
They weren’t an
item, and they weren’t exclusive, but he wa
s the only guy in this town with whom
Briana knew she could enjoy
an
uncomplicated relationship
.

             
“You here alone?” she
asked him.

             
“Not anymore,” h
e replied, taking her hand and
leading her in
to
the kitchen
,
where
he made himself a drink.

             
Once Kent had his Captain
and Coke mixed, he leaned down to give Briana a quick kiss before they headed back into the living room.

             
“Tha
t’s a promise of things to come,” he
whispered against her lips
.

             
Briana mingled and got caught up on all the town gossip. She was going back to fill up her glass when she caught site of Kara going into her room with Pete.

             
“
Well
,
that’s new
,” she thought
with a smile.

             
As she was filling her glass, the girl she had been
talking to earlier when Kent
interrupted, came into the
kitchen.

             
She couldn’t for the life of her remember the girl
’
s name.
Kendra or Kylie, maybe. She’d just think of her as Kendrie
.

             
“Hey, Bree, I didn’t g
et a chance to tell you earlier
because that gorgeous guy pulled you away, but I’d wondered if you’d heard the news.”

             
“What news?” she
asked absently.

             
“About Colin.” Kendrie
seemed unable to control the glee that came out with that statement.

             
Briana ran into this a lot. In high school, most of the girls were jealous of her because
she was dating Colin. Once he left for school, dumping her in the process, those same girls pretended to feel sorry for her, but she could tell that they really loved the fact that he’d dumped her.

             
Since their town was small, she knew anytime Colin came home on break. Everyone was more than eager to tell her about it.

             
Judging
by the girl
’
s tone,
she figured
Colin must be home f
or the summer. It didn’t matter. S
he h
ad successfully avoided him so far.
She could manage to do
so for another summer.

             
“What about him?” s
he asked, making her voice sound as bored as possible.

             
“He’s moving back for good
.
” Briana
’s
stomach drop
ped
to the floor
. She
only half listened as Kendrie
rambled on.

             
“He hurt his knee during the last game of the season and can’t play football anymore. He graduated and everything, but his dream of going on to play
professional
ball is over, so he’s coming back here. They say he’s going to work with his dad or something. I think
he got in last night.” Kendrie
continued to prattle on, not realizing that Briana
was no longer listening to her.

             
Briana topped o
f
f her drink and walked out of the kitchen, leaving the girl to stare after her, her words
still
hanging in the air.

             
She
walked in the opposite direction of the crowd in the living room, down the hall and into her room. She didn’t bother to shut the door, but opened her window and crawled out onto the roof. She sat down and leaned back against the
roof
tiles, looking out over the lights of her town.

             
She drank from her glass as she thought about Colin.

             
How da
r
e he come back here permanently?
This was her town. Sure, he’d grown up here, but he’d always planned to get out and never look back. He wanted to go off to school and play football, then make it big and m
ove off to a city somewhere. He’
d
always
planned to visit once he’d left, but
he’d never planned to live here forever.

             
She
’d
taken comfort in that fact, and now he was coming back to stay.

             
Well, things had changed, and Colin had better watch his step
where she was concerned. She
had no plans to welcome him back with open arms.