Single Riders by Selys Rivera

Single Riders by Selys Rivera

Author:Selys Rivera
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worth a Read Too, LLC.
Published: 2023-02-14T00:00:00+00:00


Chapter 9: Alex

TAPPING A MANICURED nail against their chin, Alex thinks over Jaya’s ordeal. They reflect on her questions again: How can she come clean to her mom without hurting her? And how can she convince her mom to let her go?

“Just rip off the bandage,” Duri advises. “The longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be.” She scrunches up her nose. “I know about being anxious. And putting things off. Trust me.” She reaches over and squeezes Jaya’s calf lightly. “You’ll feel better once it’s out of there”—she points at Jaya’s heart—“and it’s out here.” Duri gestures to the part of the store they’d been hanging out in earlier.

“Amongst the t-shirts?” Jaya asks coyly, much to Alex’s surprise.

She’s really gaining confidence as the conversation continues, and Alex likes it. It’s a side of her that Alex and Duri can bring out that even seems to surprise Jaya, if her nervous expression after she speaks is any sign.

Jaya continues, “I’m fond of that one.”

She points at the shirt that’s on the closest mannequin. It reads, “My friend survived the Galactic Survival ride, and all I got was this lazy t-shirt.”

Alex laughs dryly. “I’m impressed they got all that text on the front.”

They turn away from the mannequin, not wanting to waste any of their knowledge about the dos and don’ts of fashion on shabby theme park merchandise. Like how the letters will fall in the wash. Or how the spacing between the letters is off. And not in an accidentally on purpose kind of way that’s aesthetically pleasing.

And don’t even get them started on the color palette. Neon gold letters on a neon chartreuse shirt? And on a neon orange mannequin, no less?

So cringey.

Shaking their head, Alex gets back to the original conversation at hand.

“I think Duri’s right. Still, be careful with what you say. It helped my dads to know that I had a back-up plan in case my dream to start my own sustainable clothing brand doesn’t pan out.” Alex sighs. “I promised that I’d try marketing in that case.”

“That’s actually a great idea,” Jaya says.

“Yes. I have them from time to time. Thank you very much.”

The color seems to drain from Jaya’s oval face as she blurts, “I didn’t mean—! No! Like...”

Alex swats at Jaya playfully. “I’m just teasing. I know I’ve got brains and beauty.”

She visibly relaxes and gives Alex a half-smile. “Yes, that is true.” Alex dips their head in gratitude. Jaya continues, “I just can’t believe I never thought of that sooner.”

“What would you do?” Duri asks. “For your back-up plan.”

Jaya thinks for a moment. “Technically, I could say the same as Alex. Content marketing is huge right now.”

“Oh, yeah,” Alex agrees.

They came across it in their research when presenting their idea of a back-up plan to their dads. If Alex can’t make it big by designing clothes, they might as well help talk up other people’s designs, right? They’re no Shakespeare like Jaya, but Alex does all right. It’s an option at least.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.