Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

Author:Adib Khorram [Khorram, Adib]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2020-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY

I wanted to cry.

I mean, I was crying. A little bit. But I wanted to cry more.

I locked myself in the bathroom so no one would see me.

I’d had bad days at work before. My old job, at Tea Haven, had Corporate-Mandated Clearance Sales once a quarter, which had been way worse.

But I guess I thought Rose City would be different.

I thought it was going to be about serving people the finest teas, and helping them discover new favorites. Not profit margins and import taxes.

I had this feeling for a second.

Like I didn’t like working at Rose City.

But that was ridiculous.

I sniffed, kicked off my shoes, and slid out of my damaged jeans.

They were utterly destroyed. The rip had lengthened along the inseam, up to the crotch seam and down about twelve inches. Frayed edges waved in the air like tiny blue anemones.

I closed the toilet lid and sat on it in my underwear (a pair of green square-cut trunks with a shiny black waistband) and pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket to check the time.

I had another hour on my shift.

What was I supposed to do?

Someone knocked on the bathroom door.

“Darius?”

It was Landon.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said.

It was quiet for a moment. And then Landon said, in a softer voice, “You mad at me?”

“No.”

I wasn’t mad.

Just hurt.

And embarrassed.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you. I didn’t want my dad to get upset.” He tapped the door. “Are you gonna come out of there?”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

I cleared my throat.

“Darius?”

“I’ve got a hole in my jeans.”

“I’m sure we can fix it.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Just let me in?”

“I’m in my underwear.”

“It’s okay.”

I sighed.

And then I got off the toilet seat and hid behind the door as I unlocked it and swung it inward.

Landon squeezed through the gap and then closed the door behind me. He looked down at the shredded jeans in my hands.

And then his eyes kept going, down toward my underwear.

My leg hairs stood on end.

Landon’s eyes snapped back up to mine.

“I don’t think we can fix them,” he said.

“What am I going to do?”

He almost glanced toward my underwear again. Like maybe he didn’t realize he was doing it.

“Alexis might have some safety pins or something. And I think we have an apron somewhere. You could cover up with that.”

My lip quivered.

“Don’t be embarrassed.”

“I’m not,” I said.

“You are.” He stepped closer to me, so close he pressed my hands—still holding my jeans—back against me. “But you don’t need to be. It’s just me.”

He leaned up to kiss me, but I scooched back.

Landon’s face fell. “You are mad at me.” He rocked back onto his heels. “I said I was sorry.”

“I . . .”

“It’s like I can’t ever do anything right for you.”

“That’s not true.”

“Then what?”

“I mean. Yeah. What you did hurt.” I hated how my voice wobbled. “I was already cleaning up and you just yelled at me in front of everybody. Instead of helping me out or . . . like, doing it yourself. And I’ve been trying

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