by Anne Pfeffer
“Wait a minute! You’re that guy?” Josh’s shoulders came down a little from up around his ears, where they’d been. “Kat said she’d met some guy recently. Here at the Center.”
Jeez, Kat was talking to people about me? To this dude? “You know Kat?”
“Yeah, we’re old friends. I met Zoey through Kat back in the ninth grade.” Josh’s scowl had gone from ferocious to just suspicious. “She was even talking about the four of us double dating sometime.”
“Right,” Zoey interrupted, “so why don’t I throw a dinner?”
Considering I’d never once called Kat, it was pretty surprising news. Before I could answer, Josh was making plans. “How about Friday? But let’s go out to eat.”
Shit, no. I didn’t care anymore about being with Kat. I didn’t want to spend an evening watching Douchebag paw Zoey. Not to mention how much money it would cost. No matter where we went, I couldn’t afford it.
“Can’t,” I said quickly. “Sorry.”
“What about Saturday?” Josh said. Had Zoey told him I worked for food from the soup kitchen? The thought of him knowing that made me want to put my fist through a wall.
“We can go to Rivers,” he went on. “That new seafood place in San Marino.”
Yeah, right. I would just spend our next rent installment on crab cakes. No problem.
Zoey pulled on Josh’s elbow. “Why don’t I cook? It’s more relaxing to just hang out at my place.”
Something in her voice reminded me of that social worker tone she used with Johnnie and Hilda. I suddenly got it: she knew I couldn’t afford this and was bailing me out. That’s when my internal temperature control went haywire and I heated up to boiling. I could deal with her tight ass boyfriend and even handle a flat rejection from her.
But I was not her charity case and never would be.
“No,” I snapped. “Rivers is fine. Saturday night.” We agreed on seven o’clock.
Man, was I in trouble now.
Scrambling
I learned it from Johnnie, who I overheard talking to a couple of the other guests at lunch. There was money to be made by selling your blood at the donation center at Santa Alicia Hospital. “But you have to take a test,” he said in disgust. “So … nothing in it for Johnnie!”
It figured they’d want to test you for disease before they started siphoning your body fluids into other people. I knew I was clean. I was careful about stuff like that.
On my break, I called the donation center. Thirty five bucks, they told me, was the going rate for a blood donation.
What a windfall. Even just twice a week would give me seventy extra dollars a week. With that, I could eventually get our power back and get then get caught up on the rent. I wondered if Mom could give blood, too. Maybe not. She was always so tired.
They paid me in crisp, new bills but also served out the crushing news that I could only donate blood once every two months. I contemplated this problem as I sat on a chair afterwards with a cotton ball on my arm. How much did I need for Saturday night? Was this a date or just hanging out? I still hadn’t called Kat; Zoey and Josh arranged the whole thing, and I was meeting the three of them at the restaurant. Was I expected to pay Kat’s way?
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” asked the volunteer who brought me juice and crackers. She walked back and forth with refills, showing off her curvy hourglass body. Her name was Lucy. No question she would have met me later for sex, but right now I needed money fast and couldn’t deal with even the chance of meeting another crazed Suki type. I left, payload in pocket, trying to think of other ways to bring chunks of cash into my life. I barely had the energy to wonder what was wrong with me, that I would turn down an easy and pleasurable lay without thinking twice.
Maybe I was catching whatever Mom had.
##
By Thursday, desperate, knowing thirty-five bucks was not going to cover my Saturday night expenses, I called DJ. I hadn’t seen him in a while. We were both busy—DJ with his new girlfriend and me, just trying to survive.
“Listen, dude, I gotta ask you a favor.” It killed me to do this. I owed him so much already. Damn that asshole Joshua anyway for getting me into a situation like this.
“Speak.” DJ chewed on something as he talked, probably his favorite brand of beef jerky.
The truth was just too lame. I couldn’t believe I’d gotten myself into this mess. “I’ve… my mom is having health problems, and, well, even The Free Clinic isn’t completely free…” A silence followed as I tried to get up the courage to get myself in even deeper. It lasted a while.
Finally, “You need money?”
Pause. “Well, yeah.”
Longer pause. We were both having a hard time spitting it out. “Are you in trouble, Travis?”
I swallowed hard. “Just momentarily short on cash.” Short on cash, as in dead broke, maxed on credit cards, rent past due. And going to Rivers Bar and Grill.
I could tell he didn’t believe me.
“Okay. Come on by today and I’ll spot you some.”
“Man, I owe you. Big time.”
“Listen, I don’t mind loaning you money, but I can’t do it forever. If you guys are in big trouble, you need to get help somehow.”
“We’re fine. And this is the last time. And I’ll pay you back.” My throat and eyes were burning.
“It’s cool, dude. I know you’re good for it.”
When I got to DJ’s house, he laid fifty dollars on me.
“Thanks, man.” We were lying around his family room, where everything was giant-sized – the room, the suede sectional sofa, the flat screen wall-mounted TV. I guess DJ’s family needed those things to match their giant-sized wallets and bank balances.
“I swear I’ll pay you back,” I said again.
“Dude. Change of subject.”
“Okay.” I was glad to do it. “How’re things with you and ….?”
“Melissa. She’s cool. I like her.” Coming from DJ, this was practically a declaration of undying love.
“Is she…?”
From his horizontal position on the sofa, he bunched up his fingertips and kissed them. “Best sex ever. And she’s smokin’ too.” He wore the look of a man well satisfied.
“All right!” I wondered how long it would last. His record for relationships was only four months, but then, mine was more like four days. That stuff had never appealed to me before, but now I could begin to picture myself hanging with Zoey for weeks or months, taking walks, laughing about stuff together. There’d be a lot of naked time and long hours of steamy sex. We’d wake up together, and instead of bolting, I would make her cappuccino and slowly explore all the curves and crevices of her body.
Thoughts like this made me almost enjoy getting ready for Rivers, until I reminded myself that I would be with Kat, and Josh would be with Zoey, and it was going to suck the big one, unless something happened to change all that.
##
Kat and I trailed behind Josh and Zoey through the parking lot to the restaurant. A tortoise could have walked faster than this girl. Of course, it wasn’t like her shoes were designed with walking in mind.
I was still getting over the fifteen dollar valet fee. To avoid paying that, I would have gladly parked two miles away and hitchhiked to the restaurant. Or jogged. My eighty five dollar Rivers fund was already bleeding money, and we hadn’t even seen a menu.
Although Kat looked good in that red dress, which left her shoulders bare, Zoey had on something blue that kept drawing my eyes to her. She was more covered up than Kat, but that just made her sexier to me. Her long, princess-like platinum hair and tempting little ass swayed in front of me as she walked, the only things about this evening so far that I liked.
Kat was apparently not speaking to me, or at least, she hadn’t said a word since I’d met the three of them a few minutes ago. Fine with me.
Our feet crunched on the gravel in the parking lot. As Josh and Zoey reached the entrance and disappeared
inside, Kat slowed down and stopped, which forced me to do the same.
She spoke up suddenly. “So, playing hard to get, are you?”
“Who, me?” I would have looked around for an exit, but I was already outside.
Kat walked her fingers up my chest. “First, you chase me, then you ignore me. That’s hot.” Her gorgeous lips, painted cherry red, practically pulsated when she spoke. It obviously didn’t occur to her that I might just not be interested anymore.
“Not trying to be.” In an earlier time in my life, I would have had fun with this girl, but not tonight. Or ever.
“You can’t help being hot, Travis. You just are.”
“Okay, well, we better go in.” What had I ever seen in this girl? I was noticing things I never had before, like her nose looked too wide and her eyes too close together. She was vapid and annoying—nothing like Zoey. For an instant, our glances locked. As if she could read my thoughts, her eyebrows wrinkled, the corners of her mouth drooped, and she took a step backward. It took her a second to collect herself. Then, her head went up and she swept into the restaurant, ignoring me as I followed her in.
##
Zoey sat across from me in the wide leather booth, with Josh beside her. Kat was across from Josh. Music and voices ricocheted off the multiple hard surfaces in this place, creating a constant blast of sound. The menu in front of me had words I didn’t understand, like confit and tapenade. The prices, however, I understood just fine. They meant rip off and poverty, in that order.
The lights were dim, but not dim enough to obscure the smug smirk on Josh’s face. “South Tavern is so out. And now that Moods has opened, which is fantastic, I might add….”
“Omigod, have you been?” Kat shrieked. She practically spit out her double-digit-priced bottled sparkling water, she was so excited. She sat half-turned away from me, focused on Josh, which was just great, as far as I was concerned. They started talking about people they had both known at Santa Alicia High.
“Dory’s such a skank,” Kat said. “Guess what she did at Blair’s party?”
Josh leaned in, excited to hear the news. Meanwhile, Zoey flipped the pages of her menu, her eyes scanning the choices. She didn’t look over at Kat and Josh or show an interest in their conversation, but she did glance up at me a couple of times, and once she rolled her eyes, with a wry smile, as if to say Sorry about all this.
A waiter came to take our order. “Just a bowl of soup,” I said. “I’m not hungry.” I looked away from Zoey so I wouldn’t have to see the expression on her face. My chances for a main course had vanished when they’d ordered the bottled water.
Josh was droning on about his job: “…city sales tax… increased revenues…”, while Kat pumped him with questions. You would have thought she was his date, which was fine with me.
As Kat sighed and cooed at Josh, I glanced over at Zoey, who sat twirling her fork. She looked as bored as I felt.
“Hey.” I poked her foot with my toe.
She looked up and smiled. In that moment, I wished I were her blue dress, which clung to her round, high little apple breasts. I wished I could afford to order a steak. This dinner was a fucking insult, throwing in my face everything I wanted and couldn’t have. I picked up my fork, too, but realized I wanted to stab it into the table or break it in half. I put it down.
Kat chattered on next to me.
“So what’d you do today?” I asked in a low voice.
“Cooked and studied and took my little brothers to the park.” Her hands now rested quietly on the table.
“I thought you got off babysitting duty when you moved out,” I said.
“I got off daily babysitting duty. Anyway, I like taking them to the park. We brought a Frisbee.”
Sounded fun. Kat and Josh were still talking about Josh’s incredible job. “… the mayor’s constituency…” Good thing Josh spoke at a high decibel level. He couldn’t hear anyone but himself, not that he wanted to.… “primarily Caucasian… seeking to diversify….”
I lowered my voice still more. “You should bring me along next time. I’ll show your brothers some of my Frisbee moves.”
That expression of mischief came over Zoey’s face. “You have Frisbee moves?” Her voice was almost inaudible.
“I have all kinds of moves.” I seared her with a you-are-really-turning-me-on look, which was basically the bald truth. Then I thought, Crap, she’ll be mad at me now for flirting. In front of her boyfriend, no less.
But Zoey just smiled.
A thick arm descended on Zoey’s shoulders. He liked putting his hands on her, which made me hate him even more. “What’s up, sweet cheeks?”
“Nothing much.” Her voice was hollow.
After a blowhard speech from Josh about some city fundraiser, the bill finally came, which was Kat’s cue to exit for the ladies’ room. “Shall we just split this fifty-fifty?” Josh asked, as he pulled out a credit card.
I couldn’t believe it. The others had ordered main courses and drinks, all of which I’d turned down. Not only that, but Kat had left half her dinner and barely touched her drink, both of which I now had to pay for in full. Restaurants should charge by the bite taken, I thought. It would be fairer.
“Can I see that?” I held out my hand for the bill.
“Oh, so you’re gonna get picky over a few bucks?” He handed it over with a look of bored amusement.
“I’ll pay you cash for my and Kat’s share.” That saved me a bundle, but I was still just barely able to cover my part with the money I’d sold my blood and dignity for. As we waited for Josh’s card to come back, Zoey said, “So Travis, what’d you learn today at Discoverers?”
“Forcible entry. If we have to get in somewhere, we have to know how to break down the door or window.”
“You need training to learn how to break down a door?” Josh snickered and rolled his eyes.
Since I couldn’t punch his face out, which was the only thing that would have satisfied me right then, I took the high road and ignored him.
Zoey, on the other hand, had shrugged off Josh’s arm and was shooting daggers at him with her eyes. “Josh!”
“What?”
“Don’t be like that!”
“It’s okay, Zoey.” I could have cared less what Josh said. What a pussy.
Our happy foursome walked out, Kat and I ignoring each other in the back, while the other two marched ahead of us, Zoey ignoring Josh.
I brooded as I drove home. I couldn’t imagine Zoey running down the beach with this guy, sharing a laugh, or letting him touch her. Not happening.
Zoey couldn’t possibly like him. He was just a blast from the past, a person she was sick of but hadn’t gotten rid of yet.
Meeting Josh had made something clear to me: not only did I like Zoey, but I deserved her at least as much as he did and wouldn’t lose a minute’s sleep over stealing her from him. If he’d been this awesome guy, I’d have admitted defeat and stepped back, but this tool? No way.
I was taking him down.
Fallen Hero
I wasn’t surprised to learn that the heroic firefighter, still at Santa Alicia Hospital, was Garret Hale.
“He’ll be in the hospital a few more days and off work for a while. But he’ll be okay,” Perkins told the Discoverers. He stood before us in the training yard. Our group of fifteen sat cross-legged on the ground, as usual, waiting for our assignment for the day.
“I’m passing around a get well card for you all to sign.” He handed it to Andy Adams in the first row.
“We’ll start our work in a moment, but I want to announce a new community service project that our station’s going to be involved in. We’re going to be visiting some of neighborhood high schools to give emergency preparedness training and information about the fire service.”
My heart started a heavy, frantic pounding in my chest.
“We’ve made plans to visit the three high schools in Santa Alicia,” Perkins went on.
Before I had
time to sigh in relief, Brandon’s hand had shot up. “What about Perdido High? A bunch of us go there.”
Perkins considered his suggestion. “Who goes to Perdido?”
Four hands went up. It was a huge school, with a thousand kids per grade, and I doubted the other guys were seniors. So it made sense I hadn’t recognized them.
Brandon nudged me. When I wouldn’t raise my hand, he announced, “And Travis, too!”
“Would you speak with the school, Brandon? Ask if they’d be interested in having us?” Perkins threw the question out casually, but I could see Brandon’s face light up with pride.
“Yes, sir!”
“Ten minute break,” Perkins said. “Then we start on hose drills.”
“This’ll be really cool, going to Perdido!” Brandon said to me.
I didn’t know why he was bothering to be friendly. “Listen, I gotta use the john before break ends.” I took off before he could get another word out.
In the bathroom, I stared into the mirror at my lying face. Warm, sincere eyes combined with a sexy amount of stubble. Great smile, honed to perfection. The face of a con artist.
Perkins and the rest would find out soon enough.
I went back to the training yard, found a spot as far away from Brandon as possible, and did my hose drills perfectly, getting a high five from Perkins.
“Great job, Travis!” he said, which only made me feel worse.
“Thanks.” As I said it, the alarm went off. I already knew that firefighters wasted no time when that happened. Perkins, who had been holding Garret’s get well card, stuck it into my hand. “Take this to him, would you?” And he was gone.
##
The nasty sick-and-dying smell of hospital hit my nose as I entered. I found my way up a white elevator and down a beige hallway to Room 432, where I knocked and stuck my head in. It was three o’clock, right at the start of visiting hours.
I braced myself, knowing the only way I could ever earn this guy’s respect was to stuff my total awe and step up to any challenges he might throw me.