Free Bad Storm by Jackie Sexton

stuff. And normally, that’s what I want to do when
weird shit happens. But…I’m exhausted. And I don’t know…can we just watch those
movies finally?” she asked, giving me a small, sad smile.
    “Yeah, of course.” I opened my arms and pulled her into a
big hug, kissing her ginger hair and she sighed into my shoulder. We put on one
of our favorite movies, Never Been Kissed, and snuggled up with some blankets
and popcorn.
    At first we were both too weary and distracted to eat the
little butter puffs in the big bowl on the coffee table, and all our laughs
were just based off of cues since we had seen the film so many times. But eventually,
right around the Josie Grossie scene, we eased back into our old ways,
inhabiting the skins of the people we were only a few days ago, who knew none
of the scary and horrifying things about the world.
    It was almost natural.

Chapter Four

 
    The next morning I
went to Cafe Doomsday and said hi to my old co-workers, ordered a vanilla
cappuccino and fixed my resume while I waited for my old boss, Dan, to finish
up some paperwork in his office. I was trying really hard to erase what I had
seen on the news this morning from my mind—another wolf spotting, on the
fringes of a popular nature walk by the beach.
    Clearly, Lola
wasn’t going to stop transforming in public any time soon. Thankfully Dan
interrupted my nervous thoughts and plopped in the chair across from me,
casually dropping an elbow on the table.
    “So, the tour
thing didn’t work out, huh?” he said, trying to act sympathetic even though I
knew that he was happy to have a barista back.
    “Not really. So I
guess I’m back here sooner than I thought I’d be.”
    “Well, we’d be
glad to have you back. How’s you’re availability?” he asked me, pulling out a
tablet and tapping into it.
    “Open. I’m
completely free of obligations.” I forced a smile even though I felt terrible
inside, having to acknowledge how the tour failed and our dreams fell apart.
    “Ok, we have the
schedule made up for this week but I’ll let Jenny know you’re back,” he said,
referring to our shift manager who made the work schedules. “We should be able
to put you to work by next week. By the way, is Bad Moon still together? An
opening band just bailed on Jim and he’s kind of desperate to find a group for
his show this Saturday.”
    Jim was Dan’s twin
brother who owned Deston Beach’s only rock venue, The Nightshift.   I nodded enthusiastically, realizing
Brandon’s surprise party could be taken to a whole new level—a surprise
show!
    “Absolutely. Just
send him my info and tell him we’d love to.”
    We chatted
afterwards for a bit, but whatever small talk we made was negligible. My mind
was stuck on the upcoming show and how great it would be for Bad Moon to play
again. I was itching to get back to my apartment and draft out a set list.
    As I was getting
my stuff packed up to leave, I heard a familiar voice blare over the speakers.
I looked up, as if expecting someone to be as shocked as I was, but of course,
everyone just continued on their usual business, the customers sipping at their
lattes and the baristas bustling around behind the counter.
    “Sierra,” I
hissed, hoping over to her while stuffing my laptop into my messenger bag.
    “What?” she looked
over to me from the espresso machine for a moment. “Are you getting your job
back?”
    “Yeah, but that’s
not why I’m bugging you. This song, who is it?”
    The pounding
guitar rhythm was familiar, and yet different. Lighter, but the vocals were
eerily familiar. I could recognize that crooning sexy voice anywhere…
    “That’s Fun Aim,”
she said casually as she pulled the wand out of the latte and grabbed the
caramel bottle to squeeze out a design on top of the foam. “They’re like, this
new top forty band. I really like this song, haven’t heard their album though.
Not sure if it’s out.”
    “What?!” I nearly
screamed. I couldn’t even