Rooftops

  “OK, see you tonight,” he says.

  “Unless you’re blacked out again,” she slams the door behind her.

  Joey stands up and stretches while yawning. He puts a tank top on and goes downstairs to clean off the front porch. Once down stairs, he sees Max sleeping on the sofa, inspiring him to go downstairs and see his brother before cleaning the cold vomit. He knocks on Jeremy’s door at the bottom of the second staircase; he answers the door immediately.

  “Oh hey, I’m surprised you’re up so early.” Jeremy is all showered and dressed for the day, looking 100 times better than Joey feels. “Is Max still there?”

  “Yeah,” Joey looks confused. “Why’d he sleep up there instead of down here?”

  “I told you we were just talking,” Jeremy walks across the room and sits on the futon he has folded into couch position.

  “Mhmm,” Joey smirks.

  “Besides, I’m not a slut.”

  “So how drunk did I get last night?” he asks as he sits on Jeremy’s computer chair.

  “You kept calling Max Jackie Chan.”

  “Shit,” Joey laughs.

  “You’re lucky he has a good sense of humor.”

  “Why? Does he know karate?”

  “Still drunk, I see.”

  “A little, but I’m just teasing.”

  “You know you puked all over the front porch?”

  “Yeah, I was just going to clean it,” Joey stands up and walks to the door.

  “And the guest bathroom. And the back porch.”

  “What the hell? I’m never drinking again,” he moans.

  “Yeah, we’ve all said that,” Jeremy says with a laugh as Joey climbs the stairs to clean his messes.

  ***

  Rhys gets out of the shower and puts on jeans and a short sleeve button down shirt. He runs some gel in his hair and slips some flip flops on, grabs his keys and phone and goes into the main area of the apartment. He looks around at the mess and thinks that he really should start cleaning, but Gene is sleeping and it’ll still be there for him when he gets back from looking for a job.

  Rhys locks the door behind him and makes sure that he removes the key. Next door Janie is sitting at the table reading a paperback while the twins are playing in their power wheels. “Good morning,” he says to her.

  “Oh, hi Rhys!” She dog-ears the page and puts the books down. “How are you doing? Better than yesterday, I hope.”

  He shrugs but forces a smile. “Apart from the…incident with Jared, and the burglary, I also got fired yesterday.”

  “Shit,” she says. She immediately covers her mouth in shock that she said such a word, but shakes her head and says it again. “That really is a terrible day. Yesterday wasn’t Friday the 13th was it?” She scoots out the chair next to her for Rhys to sit in.

  “No, but it was the 17th,” he says as he sits down, “which, interestingly enough, is considered bad luck in Italy while the 13th is good luck.”

  “I didn’t know you were Italian.”

  “Oh I’m not. But I really liked Under the Tuscan Sun, Chasing Liberty, and The Lizzie McGuire Movie.”

  Janie shrugs. “Sorry, I don’t see the connection,” she says with a laugh.

  “Oh. They all came out around the same time just before I started college, and they took place in Italy so I decided to take Italian, and one Friday the 13th our instructor told us about the 13th versus the 17th in Italy.”

  “So now you’re superstitious of Friday the 17th?”

  “Nah,” he says with a smile. “I’m just talking really.”

  “Ah,” she takes a sip from her coffee on the table and looks over at the boys chasing Newman in their power wheels. “So what are you up to today?”

  “Just looking for a job for a while, then Erick and I have to clean up from last night. Gene’s sleeping on the couch,” he adds as explanation for why he’s putting it off.

  Janie nods in understanding. “I do think it’s really sweet how you guys are letting him stay with you.”

  “Yeah, Erick even got him a job at the place he works at.”

  “Oh? What does Erick do?”

  Rhys shrugs. “I don’t really know. I think he wants to be an entertainment lawyer, but he’s starting at the bottom. He managed to get Gene a job running errands, though.”

  “Well, that’s great. Gene seems like a really nice guy; he deserves all the help he can get.”

  “Yeah,” Rhys says as he stands up. “But I better get going. You know…I’ve got jobs to apply for, but no one’s hiring. That’s the saying, right?”

  “Well, good luck,” she smiles at him before picking up her book.

  As he walks down the stairs, he can hear Cindy yelling for the twins to stop chasing Newman. He smiles to himself, comforted that life is going on as usual, despite the shit day that he had yesterday. He pulls his phone from his pocket and sees the text from Erick. Checking the time, he realizes it’s been nearly a half hour and Erick should be back soon, so he dials Erick’s number.

  “You’ve reached the voice mailbox of – Erick – Please leave a message at the tone.”

  “Hey, it’s me. So I really need to talk to you about something – I don’t want to leave it as a message. Anyway, I’m going out for a while but I should be home in a few hours and I’ll help you clean then. I would have started before I left, but I thought I’d let Gene sleep. Anyway, see you later.” He ends the call and decides to check out some of the other coffee shops. He walks a few streets over where he remembers seeing some other coffee shops and cafes.

  The first one he comes to is a café called Espresso Self. He enters the shop and is in a large room. To the right is an art gallery with works from local artists. To the left is the counter with the coffees and treats; between the two areas is an arched doorway leading to the dining room. He goes to the counter and orders a peppermint mocha latte and asks for an application, which he takes to the dining room. The dining room is a space just as big as the gallery. In the center of the room is a raised wooden stage surrounded on all sides by tables made out of barrels and driftwood with mismatched chairs.

  He sits at one of the tables near the back of the room and starts filling out the application when he’s distracted by a woman talking loudly on her cell phone as she comes out of the bathroom.

  “ – was a disaster!” she’s saying in a thick Irish accent, which Rhys immediately recognizes. “All of the applicants were complete crap! Most of them were still in school and looking for something part time, but I really need someone fulltime!” Sinead sits at a table across the room and sips from her cup as she listens to the person on the phone.

  Rhys goes back to work on his application, keeping one eye on Sinead. The minute she hangs up (which is 15 minutes after he finished the application) he walks over to her and sits next to her as she’s putting her phone in her purse and finishing her latte. “Hi,” he says, startling her.

  “Oh my God, you scared me,” she says with a laugh, her hand on her chest. “Oh, I remember you! You didn’t show up last night!”

  Rhys raises his eyebrows. “Really? I think you’ll find that you’re the one that didn’t show up.”

  “Uh, I think I would know if I was there or not.”

  Rhys takes out his wallet and pulls the paper she gave him out of it. “You were at Putóg?”

  Sinead reads the paper and sighs. “Oh no! I gave you the wrong one! That was where we held interviews two weeks ago.”

  “Oh, well that’s a relief. I was feeling stood up. But good news: I’m available for the full time job! Sorry, I couldn’t help but to overhear while you were walking by.”

  “Really?” she asks in surprise. “You’re interested in housekeeping?”

  “What? No. I thought you said yesterday that you were looking for an assistant.”

  “Right, I am, but it’s not fulltime…” she trails off in thought. “Oh right, the phone call. I had interviews yesterday afternoon for my housekeeper; that’s what
I was talking to my mom about. Unfortunately the assistant is part time and unpaid.”

  Rhys’ face falls.

  “I’m sorry,” Sinead says, taking his hand. “It’s just that I’m struggling to make it in America and I just need someone a few hours a week to update my American website and social media, maybe walk my dog if I have an audition or something…things like that. I’m just going to be over here sporadically since I’m still filming Cupcake Street, which I do think I remember you saying you watch?”

  “Yeah,” he nods. “You’re one of my favorites on there. And Ted, he’s dreamy.”

  “He’s even nicer in real life,” she says with a smile, leaning closer to him. She rests her chin in her hand and chews her lip in concentration. “How about you meet me and my manager on Monday for a formal interview, but if you’re interested I’ll tell you now that you have the job…”

  “Oh, wow, thanks!”

  “But the pay,” she sits back and sighs. “I was really hoping for it to be an internship or something – guess that’s kind of stingy of me though, eh?” she laughs. “I can pay you minimum wage and get you Cupcake Street merch: posters, calendars, and maybe one day a flight to meet Jason Dexter.”

  “I can meet Cupcake Street’s Ted Smith! Swoon!” he puts his hand against his forehead like he’s going to faint.

  “Well, not right away,” she laughs. “I mean, you’ll have to last for a while so I can get to know you. I can’t afford to have Cupcake Street fly you over straight away to meet Jason. Especially not until I find out if you’re crazy or not!”

  “Nah, I’m pretty sane.”

  “Pretty sane? Judging from what I’ve seen in this town that’s a step or two above the rest.”

  “I just moved out here,” he shrugs. “I haven’t been corrupted by Hollywood yet, but not for lack of trying.”

  “Ah, so you want to be an actor, eh?”

  “Yeah, but I’ve only had a few auditions; they’ve all been disasters.”

  “Well, I was just going home to go over my lines for an audition; maybe we can go to a park or something and run them together? That way you can get some practice and I’ll hopefully learn my lines.” She stands up and pushes her chair in.

  “That sounds great,” Rhys says, jumping at the opportunity. “But I thought you were going home…why are we going to a park?”

  She looks at him, her eyebrow raised. “I’ve not had a chance to do a background check yet or learn anything about you; I’m not going to just invite you to my house.” She puts her sunglasses on and takes long strides outside.

  “Fair enough,” he says as he runs after her. On the way out he stops at the counter and turns in his application. “Thanks,” he says when the barista takes it from him.

  Rhys @RhysHesPNutbutr 1m

  Hanging out with @SineadGriffin4Real #PinchMeI’mDreaming

  ***

  At 2:30 Erick’s alarm goes off, waking him from his nap. He’d gotten Rhys’ message when he got home and decided to sleep a while until he got home, or 2:30, whichever came first. Maybe I just didn’t hear him get home and he’s already out there cleaning, he thinks as he gets up. He opens his curtains and looks out of the window at the street below at Coffee Cafe across the street. I can’t believe it’s been over 24 hours since he got fired and he still hasn’t told me. Not for lack of trying though…he has called me several times… “Ugh!” he yells. “How can he leave his keys in the door?” He opens his bedroom door and storms into the living room and stands in the middle of the mess.

  “What?” Gene rubs his eyes and sits up.

  “I just don’t understand how someone could forget their keys in the door.” He walks to the kitchen and gets some furniture polish from under the sink; might as well dust while putting everything back.

  “I’m sure it wasn’t on purpose.” Gene gets up and folds his blanket up before putting it and his pillow in the closet by the back door. It was supposed to be a pantry, but since they’re poor they only use one shelf for food – the rest of the shelves are for blankets, sheets, and board games.

  “Well, I know it wasn’t on purpose.” He dusts the top shelf on the book case and puts the candles and cactus back on it. “I’ve known him for four years and he’s never done anything so reckless. Is that the right word? Foolish? You know what I mean…he’s never done anything this stupid.”

  “So can’t you forgive him then?” Gene walks to the pile of mess and starts organizing it based on where it goes. “Surely he already feels terrible, and you not speaking to him is only making him feel worse.”

  Erick sighs as he picks up the picture Rhys’ mom took of him, Rhys, and Joey at graduation. She’d sent them each a copy of it in one of her homemade frames. Erick notices the glass has several cracks in it. “If I believed in signs I’d be worried about this,” he says, putting the damaged picture on the TV table.

  “I believe in signs,” Gene says. He walks over to the picture and picks it up to look at it. “I’d say this is a good sign actually.” He puts it back down on the table.

  “How’s that? It’s broken.”

  Gene shakes his head. “It’s a little damaged, but it’s still holding together; the glass is cracked, not broken.”

  “But it’s too damaged to be useful anymore.” Erick sits on the chair and leans his head back. “I feel like that’s what’s happening to us here. We’re still OK, but there are cracks in our friendship that are straining it beyond repair.”

  Gene goes into the kitchen and starts on the mess in there; it’s the room he fills more comfortable organizing. “Friendships aren’t glass, even in metaphor. They’re stronger than glass. They’re like…I don’t know…”

  “Silly putty,” Erick offers, sitting up and looking at Gene. “They can stretch and warp and twist and bend and even break apart…but they can always be put back together. Right?”

  “I don’t know about always. “ He fills the sink with soap and water to clean the pots that were thrown on the floor last night. “I don’t know if Beth and I can ever be like we were. But then, she did something a lot worse than Rhys. So, in metaphor speak, you and Rhys are indeed silly putty, but Beth and I are like a slinky. It does the same stretching, twisting, and whatnot that your silly putty does, but there’s a point where if you stretch a slinky too far it can’t be fixed, no matter how hard you try.”

  “But what if Rhys and I are slinkies?” Erick stands and walks into the kitchen. He gets a glass of water and sits on the counter.

  “You think you can’t save your friendship just because someone broke into your apartment?”

  Erick sighs. “I don’t think we can save the friendship because now that we’re out of school I’m not so sure we have as much in common as we originally thought.”

  Gene shakes his head and leans against the counter opposite Erick. “They do say that people come into your life for just a season…”

  “I don’t know.” Erick finishes his water and hops off of the counter. “But I don’t have time to think about this right now…I have to clean this mess, get stuff for tonight, and shower before Adele gets here.” He goes back to work in the living room.

  ***

  “Am I an idiot?” Joey asks Jeremy that night. They’re at a small pizzeria in town sharing a large pizza and pitcher of beer (despite Joey never drinking again).

  “Yeah,” Jeremy says as he takes a bite of pizza. “But why? Is there something specific you did?”

  He watches the bubbles in his beer float to the top. “So it turns out Cheryl is taking summer classes for me.”

  “Like you didn’t really graduate and she’s taking the classes as you so that you can finally pass? She’s a little manly, but I don’t think she can pass for a man. And Joey isn’t really a name that can be male or female – but having said that, there is queen of the worry wart lip biters – Joey Potter. Did you ever notice how in practically every scene of Dawson’s Creek Joey is biting her lip?”

  “No…not really
,” Joey shakes his head. “Anyway, that’s obviously not what I’m talking about.”

  “Can’t be that obvious, or I wouldn’t have said it,” Jeremy says under his breath.

  “Cheryl said she’s taking all of these summer classes so that she can graduate early and so we can move to California with Rhys and Erick.”

  “Wow…that’s really nice of her.” Jeremy is taken aback. “Wait…what about the lease? Are Tiffany and I going to have to find new roommates? Am I actually going to have to talk to Tiffany? You know, except for that first night here, I think Tiff and I have only spoken once…twice maybe?”

  “Regardless of whether or not I leave, you should get to know Tiffany. She’s a nice girl, and you share the bottom level with her. In case of disaster you two would have to work together.”

  “What kind of disaster? Like zombies attacking the house and we have to fight them off? Or evil wizards wiping out all of humanity except for our basement besties? And then being the last two people alive because of our magical basement, we have to repopulate Earth? Honestly, I think I’d sooner let humanity die out than have sex with a girl. Besides, there might be another magic basement somewhere on Earth.”

  “I was thinking more like tornado, we’d have to take shelter down there. Or if there was a fire it’d be nice if you made sure she was safe, and I’d expect the same from her. On that note, maybe you should stop reading so much YA.”

  “Oh I don’t just read it, I write fan fiction of it!” he says with a straight face before laughing.

  “You laugh, but I have a feeling your serious.”

  “It’s not weird to write fan fiction about the Brady kids being sent to Hogwarts and Alice hooking up with Hagrid!”

  “Actually, I think you’ll find that if you surveyed 10 people, 9 of them will tell you that it is indeed extremely weird.”

  “I’ll give you some to read; you’ll see.”