“Crime scenes?” she said pausing for a second. “Like, as in murder?”
“Murder, suicide. Whatever causes a mess.”
She just stared at me without saying anything, and I started getting nervous.
I already started cursing myself for even telling her that. I knew I could've come up with a better way to explain it, and only hoped I hadn't put her off.
But then she leaned back in her chair and grabbed her drink.
“That is so fucking cool,” she said drinking.
“Really?” I asked with my heart racing in my chest.
“Fuck yeah,” she cheered. “Dude, you gotta tell me what the craziest thing is you've ever had to clean?”
I couldn't believe my ears. Here was this angelic beauty I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and she actually wanted to know about the gross work I did. And she looked genuinely excited to know more.
I decided not to leave her in suspense.
“Well, there was this one time I had to clean a house where I guy had gone around and killed an entire family,” I started. “I mean, there was blood all over the place. And it almost looked like he made it his mission to scatter their body parts all over the house as much as he could.”
I only noticed then that her eyes were gray, especially when they widened from what I'd just said. It was like I was showing her a magic trick the way she just stared at me waiting for more, but I wasn't sure until she asked me to go on.
“Was it really gross?” she asked taking another nite. “Come on, Nick. Don't hold out on me. Tell me more.”
I couldn't help but laugh at that, not to mention that I wanted to kiss her so bad.
“Uh, yeah...It was sorta gross,” I replied. “I mean, it's not the grossest, but definitely the bloodiest thing I've ever had to clean.”
“Really? What was the grossest?”
This couldn't be happening, I thought to myself.
Was it possible that this girl didn't mind the shit I had to plunge my hands into everyday? Did she actually find me interesting and didn't mind that I was some weirdo who went around cleaning up blood and guts for a living? And with her eyes practically begging me to go on, I almost felt like crying when I realized that she actually was.
“Actually, there was this one time when I had to clean up a mess where the guy had been dead for like three months,” I said getting more comfortable. “Like, the guy died and nobody even knew it for three whole months. So by the time we got there, he was like this sludgy corpse, all rotting and shit.”
“Eww,” she giggled.
“Eww, is right,” I matched her smile. “Like, he was all falling apart when we tried picking him up, and some parts were dripping this horrible yellow goo stuff.”
Heather squealed at that point, but didn't stop smiling.
“You have gotta take me to one of those,” she laughed.
“What?” I asked at a loss. “You're joking, right?”
“What? Are you not allowed?” she asked a bit disappointed.
“Uh, no,” I stuttered. “I mean, no. I'm allowed. I mean, I could...if you wanted?”
“Hell yeah,” she answered taking a few more bites of her sandwich. “I am so fascinated by stuff like that. Horror movies, crime scene photos...I don't know, maybe I'm sick?”
“No!” I snapped a little too loud.
Heather stared at me with even wider eyes, and I could only guess I'd startled her.
“I mean, no...You're not sick,” I caught myself. “I mean, some people just like that stuff.”
She didn't say anything, but she did keep her eyes on me when I timidly went back to my own sandwich.
Okay, so my heart was pounding by that point. Not only had she even given me the time of day, she was actually asking me to take her on one of my jobs. And though I knew it wasn't as if she'd asked me out to dinner or anything like that, it was still good enough for me.
“So?” she said finishing her sandwich.
“So?”
“When are you taking me, dumb dumb?”
The words were caught in my throat and I didn't know what to say. I would've taken her to one right then if I'd known of one. I even considered making one just so that she could have what she'd wanted, but that required me killing someone. But nobody came to mind at that moment, so I had to come up with something else.
“Hello, earth to Nick,” she joked.
“Uh, maybe if I get your number I can call you the next time I get a job?” I suggested shaking in my shoes. “I mean, if I can call you?”
“For sure,” she said taking out her phone. “Give me your number.”
The numbers practically flew out of my mouth the moment she asked, and she took them down. Suddenly, my phone rang and I grabbed it to find a number I'd never seen before.
“That's me,” she said finishing the rest of her drink. “Now, I really gotta get back to work. So if you're coming in for your haircut, I suggest you finish your drink and get your ass moving.”
It was like she had absolute control over me, and I just started scarfing down my sandwich without even taking a second to breathe. It made Heather laugh, and I almost went a little overboard in trying to please her. But keeping myself from chocking, I finally finished my sandwich, all while she just sat there smiling at me.
The most beautiful woman in the world.
Her name was Heather, and she was about to give me a haircut.
I existed for her.
TWO
I didn't go home after getting my haircut. Actually, I didn't go anywhere. I just found a spot across the street from Heather's job and waited for her to get off work. I mean, I wasn't going to pop up on her unexpectedly or anything. Hell, I couldn't even let her know that I was still around. So keeping myself from creeping her out, I instead hid across the street and just watched her as she worked the entire day.
She hadn't been too busy with actual work, but she did move around a lot. From taking care of a few clients to even sweeping the floor, Heather was quite the busy little bee all on her own. Not to mention that everybody at her job seemed to love her, the way they were always going over to her and laughing, showing her stuff on their phones, down to just rubbing her shoulders.
The women and the one guy who worked with her all seemed to be just as in love with Heather as I was. But it was understandable, and I couldn't be mad at them.
By six, Heather was finally done and walked out of the shop. A few of the girls stuck around to talk, but then she got into a car with one of them and pulled off. My own car wasn't parked that far away, and it took me about two minutes to get to it and begin following her and her friend.
Just like the night before, I drove close enough to keep a tab on where they were headed, but I made sure to keep some distance between us. And just like the night before, Heather sat in the passenger side of the car, laughing, dancing, and playing around with her driver. I could see the entire thing from where I was at, and all I kept seeing was me and her enjoying whatever had her so happy.
Anyway, her friend finally pulled up to the same building I'd followed Heather to before, and that's when I realized it was her apartment.
“Check you out tomorrow,” I heard her shout back as she headed up to her apartment.
Her friend didn't pull off until she was safely inside, and all I could hope for was that Heather was going to spend the night alone.
Just the thought of that guy from the night before coming over to her place made me sick, especially since I'd finally spoken to her. You see, before, she was just some girl I'd had a crush on and never actually met, so her having some guy over to her apartment was bad, but it wasn't life threatening.
But now?
Now that I'd actually gotten to know her, to talk to her, to exist for her...I didn't think I could take Mr. Macho spending another night at her place. So once again, I had to make sure and decided to stay parked nearby for the rest of the night.
A few hours must've went by before I a
ctually started feeling a little sleepy, being that I hadn't slept all that much the night before. Then all of a sudden, my phone rang and I almost jumped out of the car. But when I checked to see who it was, it was none other than Heather calling me.
“Hell--Hello?” I fumbled the phone a few times.
“Hey, Nick. What's up?” she answered with the voice of a goddess.
“Uh, nothing,” I said looking up at her apartment window.
I could see that her lights were on, and immediately started imagining what she could be doing inside. But whatever it was, the bottom line was she was talking to me and I couldn't be happier.
“So, what's up?” I asked leaning back in my seat. “I mean, I didn't expect you to call me so soon.”
“Did I interrupt you?”
“No, no. Not at all,” I smiled. “I was actually just, uh...keeping an eye out for somebody I was hoping to see tonight.”
“Like who?”
“A friend.”
“A female friend?” she asked teasingly.
“Well, actually...” I grinned knowing the truth.
“Wait a second!” she sounded a bit more serious. “You mean to tell me that you have a girlfriend, but asked me for my number today?”
“Uh--”
“What kinda girl do you take me for, Nick?”
“A nice one?”
“Nice until you try to play me.”
“Play you?”
“Yeah, play me!”
The deep breath Heather took let me know that she wasn't done, and all I could do was sit there and be absolutely confused.
“I--”
“Is she your girlfriend?” I could already hear her grimacing. “Is she?”
“Uh...No,” I felt like I needed to argue. “No, no. I don't have a girlfriend. She's uh...just a girl.”'
“You're sure?” she asked suspiciously.
“Heather, really,” I tried calming her down. “I promise you, I do not have a girlfriend.”
Heather went silent for a few seconds, all while I just stared up at her apartment window.
It was weird really, the fact that I was so scared. But I understood it. It wasn't really fear, more like, anxiety. I mean, let's face it. Heather was finally on the phone with me, a girl I'd been basically been stalking for the past three weeks, and now she was actually on the phone talking to me. But for a second there, my stupid joke almost made her believe that I had a girlfriend. So, of course I was scared that she would've just hung up on me and never speak to me again. But instead of hanging up...
“Okay,” she said a bit more cheerfully. “I believe you.”
Something ran down the side of my face, and I quickly wiped it away only to find sweat.
“Thank you,” I released a much needed breath.
“But if I find out you're lying to me...” She made a ripping sound with her mouth, rather loudly too, blissfully singing her next words. “I'm cutting you open.”
I literally looked over at the phone. I mean, was she kidding, I wondered. But then she went back to normal, basically acting like nothing that just took place happened.
“So when are you expecting this friend of yours?” she asked.
“Uh...”
I got an alert that another call was coming through. And when I looked, it turned out to be Jamal from work.
Jamal Saeed was a guy who'd just recently moved from Lahore, Pakistan. Dude was a Muslim, and constantly told me how his wife and family would've killed him if they'd known he was cleaning up crime scenes for a living. It was against his religion to touch blood, but he needed the extra cash ever since his wife got pregnant with their fifth kid. So I guess he'd decided to put his faith on hold for the time being, something I totally gave him props for.
But why the fuck was he calling me at 10:30 at night, I couldn't help thinking.
“Uh, Heather, can I put you on hold for a sec?”
“Why? Is it your girlfriend?” she asked, again putting a snooty tick I her voice.
“Uh, no...” I didn't know whether to laugh or not. “It's my job.”
“Oooh,” she practically cheered. “Hurry up, answer it. Hurry up.”
“Okay?” I recoiled at her excitement.
I then switched over to the other line, and was immediately bombarded with nothing but noise.
“Hello?!” I found myself shouting. “Hello?!”
“Nick,” screamed Jamal on the other end. “Nick, my friend! My good, kind, friend!”
I didn't like the sound of that, especially when we weren't really friends at all.
“What's up, Jamal?” I asked purely out of curiosity.
“My friend, I am having a dilemma here,” he said over the ruckus ion the background.
“What's wrong?”
“My wife, Rania, has brought her sisters, Rafa, Raya, Rashida, Reem and Rawdha to the house for Rafa's wedding in a few months. It is crazy night, you know? So much planning to do.”
“Okay?”
“My friend, I was wondering if you can do me the biggest of favors?”
I spotted Heather's shadow walk past the curtain. And from where I was sitting, she was still waiting on the phone for me to get back to her.
“What is it, Jamal?”
“My friend, Boss has called me and asked me to help Brian go to a house in Queens to clean up tonight. It is paying very, very, good money. But I have guests, you know? So I was wondering if you can please do me this big favor, so big, and go with Brian instead?”
“Uh, I don't know, Jamal,” I caught Heather's shadow walk past again.
I immediately knew she was pacing, and that wasn't a good sign.
“Please, my friend,” Jamal practically pleaded. “I will be forever in your debt, you know?”
“Uh...”
I didn't know what to do? After all, it was very well possible that Heather was going to ask me to come over? But then again, maybe all she wanted to do was talk? Either one would've been better than having to go to work this late. But then it hit me, Heather wanting to come along to one of my jobs. I mean, she'd practically begged me to bring her along, so just maybe?
“You know what, Jamal, my man?” I said with a smile. “I'll hook you up.”
“What? Why? I am only asking for favor?”
“What?” I looked at the phone. “No, no, man. I mean, I'll do this favor for you. Just text me the work order and address.”
“Oh, my friend,” he shouted over a bunch of women starting to sing in the background. “May Allah bless you for all eternity.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I dismissed his gratitude the moment I caught Heather just standing there behind the curtain. “Just text me. I gotta go.”
“My friend--”
I didn't wait to hear anymore and quickly switched back to Heather.
“Hey?” I said hoping she wasn't too mad.
“What the hell, Nick?” she almost seethed. “You had me waiting on the line all this--”
“You want to go on a job with me right now?” I cut her off.
“What?”
“A job,” I repeated while staring at her silhouette in the window. “One of my co-workers just asked me to pick up a job for him, and I said I'd do it. So...you want to come?”
“Pick me up,” she said without any hesitation. “I'll text you my address.”
“O--Okay,” I restrained my joy. “I'll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay, but hurry,” she giggled. “I wanna see this shit for myself.”
I thought that was a little weird, but who cared? Heather said yes to going out with me, even if it was to a crime scene I was supposed to clean, and that was fucking awesome. Now all I had to do was call Brian and let him know that Heather was coming along, and then I'd go pick her up. And being that Brian brought his friends to jobs with him all the time, I knew it wasn't going to be a problem.
About thirty minutes later, I again pulled up to Heather's building after driving around the block. I obviously ha
d to wait a little while before showing up at her door, so I'd just parked the car around the corner after hanging up with her and just sat there the entire time. It was a precautionary measure just in case Heather decided to wait for me outside. And just as I pulled up to the house, there she stood on the sidewalk waving at me the moment I drove up.
She didn't even wait for me to get out of the car and open the door for her. She just climbed right on in and gave me a big ole kiss on my cheek.
“Hey, handsome,” she greeted with heavy breath. “Thanks again for picking me up.”
“Uh, it's no problem,” I stared at her.
She was smiling at me, and I felt like I was sitting next to an angel. The way the street lights washed over her skin, twinkling in her big beautiful eyes. She was absolutely amazing, and I didn't even know what to say to her at that point.
“Uh,” she glanced over at the steering wheel. “You wanna get going?”
That's when it dawned on me that I wasn't only looking at her, I was fucking staring at her like a creep. But it had been worth it, even if she thought that about me. Then again, she was there with me to go and see what I did for a living, and I only prayed it didn't disappoint.
“Well, here we go,” I said stepping on the gas. “Hope you can stomach it?”
“Oh, I so hope I can't,” she laughed. “Like, barf fucking city.”
Again, that was a little weird. But coming out of her mouth, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. And all I could do was smile all the way to the crime scene.
I finally existed.
* * *
I little while later, about forty five minutes later, we finally pulled up to the address Jamal sent me. A rundown, two story, family home in the heart of 'The Hole', a stretch of neighborhood left to fall apart along the Queens/Brooklyn border, Heather immediately seemed fascinated.
She'd been telling me all about herself; where she was from, her family, her crazy times in college. And all I'd been doing was listening, hopelessly hypnotized by just being there with her. But the moment we pulled up to the house, all convo went out the window.
“Is this it?” she asked staring out the window.
“Yup,” I said staring at the long flowing locks running down the back of her head. “Welcome to 'The Hole'.”
Fling Confessionals: NICK Page 2