The Distance Between Us
Episode 1
(....) means in the person’s head
Caymen Meyers
(My eyes burn a hole in a page.)
Caymen Meyers
(I should know this.)
Caymen Meyers
(I can usually dissect a science equation easily, but the answer isn’t coming to me.)
Caymen Meyers
(The bell on the doer dings.)
Caymen Meyers
(I quickly tuck my homework beneath the counter and look up.)
Caymen Meyers
(A guys on a cell phone walks in.)
Caymen Meyers
(That’s new.)
Caymen Meyers
(Not the cell phone part but the guy part.)
Caymen Meyers
(It isn’t that men don’t frequent the doll store— Okay, actually it is.)
Caymen Meyers
(Men don’t frequent the store.)
Caymen Meyers
(They are a rare sighting.)
Caymen Meyers
When they do come in, they trail behind feminine types and look extremely self conscious . . . Or bored.)
Caymen Meyers
(This one is neither.)
Caymen Meyers
(He’s very much alone and confident.)
Caymen Meyers
(The kind of confidence only money can buy.)
Caymen Meyers
(Lots of it.)
Caymen Meyers
(I smiled a little.)
Caymen Meyers
(There are two types of people in out small beach town: the rich and the people who sell things to the rich.)
Caymen Meyers
(Apparently having money means collecting useless things like porcelain dolls ( the word “useless” should never be used around my mother when referring to dolls.)
Caymen Meyers
(The rich are our constant entertainment.)
Xander Spence
What do you mean you want me to pick
Xander’s Mom
Didn’t Grammy tell you which one she wanted
Xander Spence
Fine I’ll take care of it
Caymen Meyers
(He pockets his phone and beckons me over.)
Caymen Meyers
(Yes. Beckons. It’s the only word that I can use to describe the motion. He hadn’t even glanced my way but held up his hand and moved two fingers in his direction. His other hand rubs his chin while he studies the dolls in front of him.)
Caymen Meyers
(I size him up as I walk over. The untrained eye might not pick up on the richness oozing off this guy, but I know rich and he reeks of it.)
Caymen Meyers
(His one cloths probably cost more than all the clothes in my tiny closet. Not that it looks expensive. It’s an outfit that’s purposefully trying to downplay how much it cost: a pair OS cargo pants, a pink button-down rolled at the sleeves.)
Caymen Meyers
(But the clothes were purchased somewhere that specializes in thread count and triple stitching. It’s obvious he can buy the whole store if he wants to. Well, not him: his parents.)
Caymen Meyers
(I didn’t realize it at first because his confidence aged him, but he looks young. My age maybe?Seventeen. Although he could be a year older. How is someone my age already so versed at beckoning? A lifetime of privilege, obviously.)
Caymen Meyers
Can I help you sir
Caymen Meyers
(Only my mom would have noticed the sarcasm laced into that single sentence.)
Xander Spence
Yes, I need a doll
Caymen Meyers
Sorry we’re all out.
Caymen Meyers
(A lot of people don’t get my humor. My mom calls it dry humor. I think that it mean “not funny” but it also means I’m the only one who ever knows it’s a joke. Maybe if I laughed afterwards, like my mom does when she’s helping customers, more people would humor me, but I can’t bring myself to do it.)
Caymen Meyers
(He still hasn’t looked at me.)
Xander Spence
So which one do you think an older women might like
Caymen Meyers
(The muscle in his jaw jumps and then he turns to me.)
Caymen Meyers
(For a second I see surprise in his eyes like he was expecting someone more older.)
Xander Spence
Which one do you like
Caymen Meyers
(Am I allowed to say “none”)
Caymen Meyers
(Instead I say)
Caymen Meyers
I’m partial to the external wailers
Caymen Meyers
(I point to a porcelain version of a baby, his mouth open in a silent cry, his eyes squeezed tight.)
Caymen Meyers
I’d rather not see their eyes. Eyes can say so much. Theirs says, “I want to steal your soul so don’t turn your back on us”
Caymen Meyers
(I’m rewarded with a smile that takes away all the hard, arrogant edge on his face, leaving him very attractive.)
Caymen Meyers
(He should definitely make that a permanent fixture. But before I could even finish the thought, the smile’s gone.)
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