Page 7 of Mending Me
Sure it cost me my entire bonus to get, but it was a sick fucking bike.
“Thanks man. I’m happy with how it turned out.” I clapped Malcolm on the back and took a swig of my own beer.
“Alright boys, I have my refill, let’s continue with the quest.” Conrad sat back down at the table, fresh beer in hand.
We all sat around a round marble table in Kolbi’s downtown home and played until the sun had set and we could hear the sounds of summer nights engulf us. Frogs humming. Dragonflies buzzing. And the faint sounds of tourists who were stumbling out of bars and heading back to their $300 a night hotel rooms. With the windows open, the breeze of the mid-June evening blew through the room. Life in downtown Charleston always came alive during the summer with an influx of tourists and travelers coming to the historic city to learn about plantations and hear ghost stories. The allure wasn’t there for me anymore as I’d always lived here, but I understood why people loved to visit.
“Alright boys, I hate to be the one who calls it, but I’m beat. Get the hell out of my house,” Kolbi joked after a few more hours of gameplay, stretching his hands above his head and rolling his neck.
“Holy shit, it’s after midnight already,” Conrad exclaimed. “We always did get lost in the game growing up, didn’t we?” he laughed.
“Hey boss, mind if I come in late tomorrow? I’m going to need the extra sleep.” I looked at Kolbi with a grin.
“If I have to be up and at the office by eight in the morning, then so do you.” He slapped me on the back.
“Thank god I have the closing shift tomorrow at the bar. I can sleep in however long I want.” Malcolm shot finger guns at all of us as he got up from the table.
“Another solution for the group to consider: just work for yourself,” Conrad offered. He worked as a freelance software engineer and could set his own hours. Something he never seemed to be able to remind us enough about.
“I do work for myself you moron. I just also happen to have about twenty employees who work for me and expect me to be inthe office. Including this idiot.” Kolbi flicked his thumb at me as I pulled on my shoes.
“¿Qué chingados??1” I cursed at my friend. I rarely spoke Spanish as over the years I’d trained myself to keep it in my own head. The fear of being seen as different growing up had embedded itself into my brain. But my Mexican roots still came out from time to time around people I felt comfortable with. “You offered me the job. If you didn’t want us to know whether or not you were going to work on time you shouldn’t have hired me.” I slung my backpack over my shoulder and flipped him the bird.
“I’ll see you fuckers in another week. Maybe sooner. We should grab a beer this weekend. Let’s post up and harass Malcolm at the bar on Saturday while he’s working,” Conrad suggested as we all spilled out of the house.
“I’m there,” I laughed. The thought of hanging out with my friends and giving Malcolm a hard time sounded fun. I didn’t realize how much I missed them until now.
“Oh good, I can’t wait for that.” Malcolm rolled his eyes as he got in his truck. He and Conrad pulled out of the driveway first and I watched from my bike as their headlights disappeared down the road.
“I’ll see ya tomorrow, brother.” Kolbi waved from the front porch.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” I pulled on my helmet and popped up the kickstand as I inserted the key. Pushing the starter, my bike sprang to life as I flipped down the visor of my helmet.
As I backed out of the driveway and made my way down the road, I started to calculate the number of hours I had until I had to be awake again.
Four. More like three and a half because it was going to take me half an hour to get back to my apartment.
Three and a half hours until I have to be up again.
Three and a half hours until I get to see Bailey again.
1 What the fuck?
7
BAILEY
“So he hasn’t said anything else to you? At all?” Ophelia looked at me through the mirror on her vanity as she put on her makeup.
“Nope. We’ve made eye contact and I’ve tried waving to him, but he never comes up and talks to me. Not since I had to use him as a decoy a few days ago. Maybe I freaked him out.” I worried my bottom lip as I searched Ophelia’s closet for something to wear.
“Maybe he’s just shy. You are stunningly sexy. If I were a man, I’d be intimidated by you too. Maybe you should try to be more ugly,” she quipped before laughing at her own joke.
It was Saturday and a couple days had passed since Hank and I spoke at the gym when he saved me from the creep who had gotten too close. Not even a hello. There were times where I would catch his eyes on me in the mirror or feel like someone was watching me. When I would swing my head around to look, I would catch him looking away once I found him. I would smile and start to wave at him just as he would hurry to look away or walk in the other direction.
Maybe he had a girlfriend, a voice in my head said.
“Well that would be a real fuckin’ bummer,” I grumbled to myself.
