Rummage Sale Stories

Today I found my friends - 2

Today I found my friends - Part 2 

Don was like a lost puppy, waiting there by the stage. If he'd had a tail, it would have wagged the way he perked up when he saw me. I sighed, wondering what I'd gotten myself into with this guy. I motioned to the door with my head. The bar was even more of an eye sore in the light of day. He shouldered his ever present guitar, shoved his hands in his pockets and made his way to the door.

“Sorry,” I said once we were outside. “I'll take the drizzle over being in that place any longer than necessary.”

“Oh,” he muttered, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. “I didn't think it was that bad, fond memories, I guess.”

“Used to frequent the place, eh?” I asked. “It's just work to me.”

He nodded. “Yeah, some friends and I have played there on occasion, but more often we just watched other people play. Drank a lot.”

I shot him a suspicious glance. As far as I knew, no one had played there much in years. He hardly seemed old enough to remember a time before the music had died in that dive.

“Better times, huh?” I added for good measure.

He only nodded and shuffled along.

“Well, I've got a stack of text books, hope you're ready for a crash course.”

“Don't worry about teaching me. I'm here to help you study, right?”

I smiled and glanced at him. “I thought you were only doing this to get your own free anatomy class...”

His hands were thrust deep in his pockets, and he only shook his head. “Think I'm using you?”

“Nah,” I laughed, pulling out my keys. “Just can't figure out why you'd want to hang out on a Friday afternoon helping me study if there weren't some ulterior motive.”

“I dunno, I guess I do have an ulterior motive. Haven't had much company, or much to do lately. But lets pretend I'm helping you. Sounds better than admitting to being some guy in need of a friend.”

I let out a nervous little laugh I wasn't sure he caught. With a shiver I glanced up at the sky thick with clouds. The damp wasn't letting up and I would have to go get my books if we were to work in the over loud, over crowded coffee shop.

I studied him as we walked. I could trust him, right? Invite him up to my room, just prop the door open, and I'd be safe enough. The halls tended to have pretty high traffic this time of day. With any luck, Stef would drop in, scold me for having a stranger in my room.

I'd left the heat on and it was rather stuffy. Don took up a seat on my window sill, puffing away on a cigarette, the smoke drifting lazily to the ceiling, only some escaping through the open window. It was nice, his presence was quiet and unimposing. It was different than the way Stef seemed to fill the room, boisterous and laughing.

Once I had the texts laid out across the floor, jotting notes on a clipboard, he joined me, pouring over one of the illustrated texts.

“You mind?” he asked, pointing to it.

I shook my head and he flipped through the pages. I smiled. He wasn't much of a help, but I was glad to see him so immersed. After I'd gotten through a chapter, I paused. “You like that one, you should see the one I got for Christmas.”

“Oh?” he asked, his head still bowed over the book.

I chewed on the end of my pen. “Yeah, it's an anatomy coloring book. Don't have time to mess with it much myself, but if you like...”