To get her mind off of things she watched more Netflix. This time she didn’t order pizza. Instead she made some popcorn and put on Sixteen Candles. She forgot how racist the movie was with its stereotypes of Asian people. Every mention of the Asian foreign exchange student’s name, Long Duck Dong, was accompanied by a gong.
She rolled her eyes when the hot female ended up suddenly and drunkenly falling for “The Geek.” Candice couldn’t remember the last time that she’d been wasted and wanted to saddle up with some condescending asshole. There were enough of them in the Bay Area though. If she wanted to, she could go out any night of the week and get wasted and get into some asshole’s arms.
***
Work the next day was different. Being a copywriter meant that no day was ever the same. She began as normal with research. She read a slew of advertisements to get an idea of what she should do for her newest client, a start-up that was selling fancy alarm clocks that tracked people’s sleep patterns.
She tried to think of the words. Candice was to write the text for the website. She borrowed, invented, sliced, cut and copy and pasted from other sites and adverts. She thought about the client and then about the audience. Who were they? She went back and looked over her notes.
She spent a couple hours writing down things in her notebook. All she saw was an elaborate series of words and phrases that looked good at first and then crumbled into gibberish that didn’t make any sense to her.
Candice spent an hour talking with the graphic designer figuring out how the site would look. The words, the pictures, the design all had to go together. She quality checked a project she started nine months ago and looked at some past projects. She wondered about grammar and punctuation problems from those old projects and now. She wondered if it was all worth it, if all this pain staking writing and emotional labor was worth it.
Candice wasn’t sure. She was comfortable with the amount of money that she was making, but the Bay Area wasn’t getting any less expensive and she worried that in a few years that she might be pushed out of her apartment. Landlords all over the city were kicking tenants out and raising their rents, and Candice wasn’t in a rent-controlled apartment.
“Hey, Candice,” a voice said.
“Oh, hey, Tiffany.”
Tiffany, Candice’s coworker, was standing in front of her desk. Tiffany was tall and thin. She had dark black hair and olive skin. She was Candice’s age and the two had bonded during Candice’s first week of work. They had lunch together on an almost daily basis and the two frequently chatted about things both inside and outside of work. Candice liked Tiffany and the two had gone on weekend trips to Tahoe, Vegas, and Los Angeles together. Candice had even invited Tiffany to her home. Tiffany, who’d grown up in upstate New York, taught her about skiing and snowboarding, and Candice had taught her about surfing and burritos.
“Want to get lunch?” Tiffany said.
“Sure. Where should we go?”
“Want to get pizza?”
“Nah. I think I’m good.”
“Really, there’s a good new pizza place in the Ferry Building.”
“I have a new-found aversion to pizza, to be honest.”
“Oh, really?” Tiffany said.
The two had grabbed their jackets and began walking outside. Tiffany worked doing graphic design, so the two would frequently collaborate. While they argued occasionally about creative decisions, they both had defended each other in company meetings before. Tiffany lived in the city, and had somehow secured a rent-controlled apartment in the Tenderloin.
It was a bright warm summer day and there was a cool ocean breeze that tugged at the women’s jackets. The office was off of Hyde Street near the Embarcadero BART stop which made it an easy commute for Candice, and just a short walk from her home for Tiffany. Since it was early afternoon, crowds of office workers walked through the area on their way from meetings and lunches.
A group of people rode by them on Segways, led by a tour guide in a black hat who started talking about the beauty of the city.
“So, did something go bad with Mitch?” Tiffany asked as the two crossed the street to the Ferry Building.
“Yeah. I thought things had just dissolved after the pregnancy. I told you I saw him, right? At the bagel shop?”
“The one by the MacArthur BART?”
“That’s the one. He was just staring listlessly into his coffee cup. His eyes were beady and red. It grossed me out to be honest. Made me happy that I used the pill,” Candice said.
The two had entered the building and there were a variety of small artisanal shops selling all sorts of items. One shop sold a variety of different olive oils, another sold organic fair trade chocolate, and a third sold vegan donuts.
“To be honest I never liked him,” Tiffany said.
“You also never met him.”
“A good reason not to like him, right?”
“Anyways, I was in L.A. this weekend and I told him about the abortion.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I don’t know. Is there some sort of etiquette for these things? Like I should tell the guy I’m hooking up with about it? Or shouldn’t I?” Candice asked. She stopped in front of a small fruit stand and took a sample of a strawberry. She bit into it. It was sweet and juicy.
“I’m not sure, to be honest. I’ve been on birth control for a while.”
“That shit fucks me up. Gives me bad mood swings.”
“Anyways, what happened with Mitch?” Tiffany said. She took a strawberry and popped it in her mouth.
“When I told him about it, he freaked the hell out. He started screaming at me. I was on my parents’ lawn talking to him and you could hear his voice out of my phone like a mile away. It was so really awful.”
“I understand your aversion to pizza now. About the only thing interesting about that guy was his penchant for pizza.”
“Exactly. I hung up on him and told him that I didn’t want to talk to him anymore but he kept calling all night. I had to shut off my phone,” Candice said. The two continued their walk and sat down at a sandwich shop. They ordered their food and waited while their lunch was delivered to their small table.
“Have you heard from him again?”
“Luckily, no. I don’t know what I should do if he contacts me again.”
“You should probably slash his tires.”
“Ha. I do know where he lives,” Candice said with a laugh. “His bike is shitty too.”
“That’s the way to deal with it,” Tiffany said. She picked up her sandwich and took a bite out of it. She chewed for a while and then looked at her friend. “So how was L.A.?”
“It was good.”
“Anything exciting?”
“I met my dad’s friend, Alex. He’s nice and he’ll be up here soon. I think this weekend.”
“Oh? You met him or you ‘met’ him.”
“Ha ha, you’re terrible!”
“Look at you, moving on in the world. Good for you and your dad’s best friend. Sounds hot. Is he handsome? Does he have a silver mane?”
“Yeah. He’s sophisticated. He has a nice simple place down in L.A. It has a minimalist style to it,” Candice said.
“You were over there? Did you spend the night? Give me the dirt, girl,” Tiffany said, leaning forward in her seat.
“Well, we had cocktails and then we went back to his place. The sex was good. Really good. He’s a gentleman you know. Nothing like Mitch…”
“Soo… is there gonna be more?” Tiffany said. She leaned in further with a mischievous smile.
“I hope so… We’ll see. Anyway what’s new with you? Did anything happen to you this weekend?”
“Not really. I signed up for that marathon. I’m going to start doing training runs. Want to come with?” Tiffany said.
“Uh, no. That’s far.”
“Oh, I forgot you just like those culty SoulCycle classes or those culty CrossFit courses.”
“It’s not a cult,�
� Candice said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Tiffany said looking away.
There was a rumble in Candice’s purse.
“One sec,” Candice said. She looked at her phone quickly. “Speaking of the devil…”
“The handsome devil or the devil devil?” Tiffany said with one eyebrow raised.
“The handsome one,” Candice replied.
“Well… go ahead.”
“Give me a second,” Candice said getting up from her seat.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Tiffany said. She grabbed her friend’s arm and pulled her to her seat. “You don’t have to go anywhere. You can feel free to talk to him while I am here. Besides, I want all of the juicy details!”
Candice rolled her eyes at her friend and then answered the call.
“Hey, Alex!”
“So, I’ll be in town this weekend. Clae, my son, has a hockey game. I was thinking that we could get together.”
“I’d like that.”
“Saturday?”
“Sure. What time?” Candice replied.
“Well, he plays right down town at the rink near 14th Street. You know the place?”
“It’s next to the Fox Theatre, right?”
“You got it,” Alex said. “Let’s meet around there at 8 p.m. I’m going to stay at the Marriot downtown.”
“Awesome. I’ll see you soon.”
“See you soon,” Alex said.
“Ooooh, someone has a date with an older man,” Tiffany said with a smile. “Are you gonna call him daddy?”
“Shut up!!” Candice said with a smile. She lightly slapped her friend and took the last bite of her sandwich.
Chapter 5
The next few days passed quickly for Candice and soon enough the weekend had arrived. She tried to get Tiffany to go out for drinks on Friday but she said she had to start exercising. So Candice did what any other fun-loving twenty-something would do on a Friday night: she ordered take out and watched Netflix.
Having gone through all the Home Alone series and having been appalled by the narrow-mindedness of the 80s she found via John Hughes’s Sixteen Candles, Candice decided she would watch The Goonies.
She was halfway through the movie when she started getting Facebook notifications. Mitch had started a new account and was harassing her friends and posting on her wall.
She’s an abortionist, he’d written on her mom’s Facebook wall. Underneath his post her mom asked how to delete his post.
Baby killer! Baby killah, he’d written on her dad’s Facebook page. Underneath the post her mom again asked how to delete the post.
Candice called up her father.
“Dad?” she said.
“Oh, hey, Candice. How are you? What’s this all about on Facebook? I don’t use it much, but your sister said something to me about someone posting something on my wall. Your mother has been getting weird messages too. Who is this Mitch character? What exactly is going on?”
“He’s some guy I dated,” Candice said. “If you could call it that.”
“Why is he calling you a baby killer?”
“I got pregnant. I didn’t want to have the baby. I’m not ready for a child.”
“Having children is hard,” her father said softly. “I’m not sure your mother and I were ready for you and your sister to be honest. Things were different then, though.”
“I’m sorry you had to deal with this, Dad.”
“Whatever. Screw this shithead,” her dad said. “He seems like a real loser. Who goes around and posts shit like this on parents’ Facebook accounts? Doesn’t he know how old we are and how irrelevant this seems to us?”
“You’re funny, Dad.”
“Did I tell you about my brief stint as a comedian?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s not a very funny story. Anyway, sorry about all this. Your mother wants to know how to delete the messages.”
“It’s pretty easy you just go to the top of the message and click in the upper right hand corner. There should be a box that drops down so you can delete it. You’ll also want to block him.”
“You can block people on Facebook?” her father asked.
“Yeah, of course you can,” Candice replied.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. I’ll block him and afterwards, I’ll block your uncle. He is always posting motivational quotes and exercise videos. I only log in once a month and all I see is his saggy butt in spandex talking about how life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of our reactions. Drives me freaking insane!”
“You’re a riot, Dad.”
“Glad I can still sway a crowd. Oh, Alex said he was going to come up to Oakland for Clae’s hockey game.”
Candice blushed into the phone. She didn’t know how much, if anything, Alex had said to her dad about their liaison.
“Yeah. We might meet up for coffee,” she said.
“Sounds good. Real solid guy, that Alex. Anyways, you have a good weekend. I’m off to block your uncle. Sorry about this Facebook twat,” her father said.
“Thanks, Dad. Love you.”
“Love you too!”
Candice put down her phone and walked outside. She wanted to scream. Mitch was fucking up her life. She didn’t know what to do. She debated whether to send Facebook a message, but they were notorious for being indifferent to online harassment, and she realized that little could be done.
It was dark out. Candice looked up and could see a few stars in the sky. When she was younger, she and her father used to look at the constellations. She’d memorized where all the different planets were and could always find the North Star. She’d forgotten where some of the stars were, but she still liked looking up at them. It reminded her of how big the world was, and how small and insignificant her problems really were.
Candice sat on her front steps for half an hour, and then went back inside. She watched the rest of the movie and felt a little cathartic relief when everything ended happily ever after. She went to bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.
***
The next morning, she decided she would go on a run again. This time she ran towards the downtown area. The course that she made wasn’t straight, and so she ran aimlessly through the town. She ended up outside the ice rink. Some of the kids were walking inside getting ready for the game. She didn’t see Alex, nor did she see Clae. She didn’t really know what he looked like, but she watched as the children went inside with their heavy bags and sticks.
She ran back to her house, and on the way turned the volume up on her phone. Candice liked listening to music when she ran. She usually listened to pop music. There was something comforting about having Britney Spears blasting in her ears as she made her way back home.
When she got home, she showered and cleaned her apartment. She had some time to kill before meeting up with Alex so she started to read a new book. She got most of the way through Joan Didion’s Play it as it Lays, when she realized that she should get ready to meet Alex.
She took an Uber downtown. She was a little early to their date so she went to Dogwood, a nearby bar where she ordered a martini. The bar was full of white-collar office workers and techies.
“Did you hear about Uber coming in?” a particularly pasty looking man said to a rotund red-faced friend.
“That was ages ago,” the red faced man said. “There are people trying to block it. Can’t stand progress.”
Candice rolled her eyes and sipped her cocktail. She’d been on a vodka martini kick. When she had gin martinis, they were too herbal. It was like drinking an ice cube straight from and evergreen forest. Olive martinis created a saltier flavor. The brine of the olives covered the alcohol in the vodka on the front, but at the end of each sip Candice could still tell she was having liquor. The vodka came out. She took one of the cocktail olives off its skewer and put it in her mouth. She rolled the small ball around and then crunched down on it. It tasted richer than the cocktail and she enjoyed the delicate flavor of the vodka on the vegetable. Sh
e closed her eyes as she ate the olive.
“Am I disturbing something?” she heard a voice say. Candice opened her eyes and there was Alex. He was dressed in a button-down shirt and chinos. His shoes were as black and dark as his eyes. He smiled widely, and Candice felt herself melt a little.
“No. You’re right on time,” Candice replied. She closed her eyes again and kissed Alex. She wondered if he could taste the brine of the martini on her lips.
Alex ordered an Old Fashioned from the bartender. Candice tried it. It was sweet and richer than her drink. Alex took a sip as well, and then sat next to Candice at the bar. The two faced a row of bottles. Behind them there were a few long tables. Candice could still hear the tech workers talking about different start-ups and JavaScript.
She’d come to the date dressed well. She wore a cocktail dress that she’d bought a few months ago when she went with Tiffany to a wedding reception as her friend’s plus one. Everyone had complimented her on the outfit. The dress had a keyhole back, a high halter neck and was sleeveless. The lace of the dress covered the top of her breasts but her cleavage still peaked out. A light ribbon for a belt wound around the upper part of her waist to add a visual curve to her body. The dress was dark black, and the pencil cut of it exposed her legs to her advantage.
“I’m glad. Sorry if I’m a little late. Clae lost his hockey game today. He was a bit upset. He cried a little. Kids get really wound up about things,” he said.
“Did he do well?”
“Yeah, he actually did. Better than his last game. He was able to score twice which was twice more than last time. He also looked better in his skates. He has been practicing a lot. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”
“You never played hockey?”
“Nope,” Alex said. “Too much rough and tumble for me. He grew up in L.A. and I don’t know where he got the idea of playing hockey. His mom isn’t from Canada.”
“Where is she from?”
“She’s from Miami, her parents immigrated there from Thailand. We met a while ago on a set. She was working as well. We hit it off and got married and then things faded. We tried to make it work. It was a good run for sure but we couldn’t do it. We thought it’d be best if we split,” he said.
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