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“And?” Marisol shrugged. “What’s she going to do? Tell my mom on us?”
“Well—”
“Pffffffffft,” her friend interrupted. “She may have done that shit when we were kids but we’re not kids anymore. Even if she did, Mom would tell her to fuck off.”
“She would, wouldn’t she?” Elena asked with a grin.
Although nobody would believe it, Mamma J was not a stranger to the devil’s lettuce. She even bummed joints off Elena every now and then. Smoking with ‘Sol’s mom was a fucking trip. Most of the time, the older woman ended up singing some old Spanish song between hits.
It was always a fun time.
“Does Taffy know you smoke?”
Elena shook her head. The subject hadn’t come up during her interview and since they didn’t require a drug test, she’d let sleeping dogs lie. Plus, if the rumors going around town were true, the Iron Seeds compound had a pot farm on it. At least that’s what folks were saying right now—it could be an entirely different story next week.
“It smelled a little skunky as we were passing the breakroom,” she said with a shrug. The dankness had been faint,but still noticeable. “I have a feeling that smoking some green won’t get me fired.”
“How are you able to always sniff it out?” Marisol asked with a shake of her head. “Did you take some drug dog training courses or something? It’s fucking weird.”
“A stoner always knows when there is weed nearby.” She didn’t know how to explain the phenomenon, but it was the truth. She’d be minding her own business and boom—it was as if she was aJoint Jediand could sense a disturbance in the force. “And what did I say about comparing me to dogs?”
“You said to stop.” Marisol made a face at her. “But honestly, what else could I have used as an example? You can sniff out a joint better than a k-9 at the airport. It’s strangely impressive.”
“Can we change the subject again?” Elena asked, slumping against the counter with a groan.
Chapter Six
“What’re you going to do?”
“I don’t know!” Elena hissed, pacing back and forth. She kicked the tire of her roommate’s ancient Honda and growled. It wasn’t the tires fault the engine wouldn’t start but she needed something to take her aggression out on. “I can’t be late on my first day, Sol!”
“Let me think,” her best friend told her over the phone.
“Make it fast.” She checked the time on her watch and tried not to tear up in frustration.
This morning had been a shit show of epic proportions starting with her alarm’s failure to go off when it was supposed to. Waking up an hour later than she’d planned, Elena had been scrambling since then. Her luck was the worst. The outfit she’d set out the night before had a stain she hadn’t noticed, the milk she’d planned on using for her cereal was expired, and now her roommate’s car wouldn’t start.
She was about to fucking lose it.
“I can order you a ride,” Marisol offered. “I don’t know how long the wait is, but it’d be faster than taking the bus.”
“Don’t do that,” she argued, immediately shooting that idea down. Her bestie couldn’t afford the twenty dollars it would taketo get to the other side of town in the heavy morning traffic any more than Elena could. “With how far I am out of town, it’ll be a million dollars.”
“I warned you—”
“I know, I know,” she interrupted before her best friend could finish the familiar ‘I told you so’.
Marisol had been against her renting this place from the get-go, but Elena hadn’t cared. Technically, she couldn’taffordto care. The housing market was a goddamn mess and far from renter friendly. With a limited budget, this was the only place that hadn’t made her feel like she needed to shower after looking at it.
The only reason this place was cheap was because of its location. She rented a room in a house on the outskirts of town; surrounded mostly by farmland. Ester and Eloise, the elderly lesbian couple that owned the home, charged her practically nothing to stay in their spare room. In return, Elena ran errands, kept the house clean, and organized their medications every Sunday. Neither one of them had a valid driver’s license so they also let her use their older-than-fuck car—when it was running.
“What’re you going to do?”
She took a deep breath, knowing she really had no other choice but to do the absolute last thing she’d wanted to do.
“I’m going to call Taffy, explain what happened, and hope she doesn’t fire my ass.” She looked back at the car in disappointment. Harold the Honda had let her down bigtime this morning. “I might as well see if the shop can tow Ester’s car in while I’m at it.”
“I’m sure Mrs. Iron will understand,” her bestie rushed to reassure her. “Shit happens, right?”
