Needles

4

    After a quick shower, Genevieve headed to the bar and restaurant right in front of the motel. Porky's was the name of the establishment, and Mister Jindal was part owner of it. She walked in and found herself in a nostalgic-for-the-fifties themed diner, which was only fitting for a firm in a little old western town in the middle of the desert. Kansas played from the restaurant's old, beaten jukebox and four men sat at the bar, day drinking and grumbling to each other almost in a whisper as a man in a ponytail and apron cleaned the counter with a dirty washcloth. The booths surrounding the perimeter of the building were torn red leather with bits of cotton poking out, the tables were wobbly and the surface of the polished deep brown wood was carved with dashes and names by customers of the past.

She fell in love with Porky's immediately.

    Genevieve sat on one of the booths behind the men. They all turned to her, wondering who let a young girl such as herself come in here all alone. "Afternoon, pumpkin. What will it be?" A thin waitress with a cigarette between her lips walked up to Genevieve's booth and held a little notebook up expectantly. She took a menu from under the napkin dispenser and looked through the damaged laminated list. "Let me try the chicken curry. With a Guinness, please." The man at the counter dashed into the kitchen, making all four men and the waitress turn. The waitress coughed out a laugh. "Looks like Mister Abadi finally got the chance to whip up his signature dish," she scribbled down on her notebook. "I'll bring ya a glass of water, too, pumpkin. Be right back." She walked back into the kitchen.

    A group of four barged into the diner laughing, two of them clearly a couple. Genevieve watched the souls in the restaurant and how they interacted with their surroundings and each other as she enjoyed her curry. She has visited Needles every labor day weekend of her life, yet she knows little to nothing about the town and its residents. She comes and escapes here, but she wondered what it felt like to live here. Actually live here. Eat, sleep, work, meet...

    "Morning, boys," A voice walks into the diner and the four men holler in unison. "If it ain't Davy!"

- "Good to see ya, kid!"

- "Where you been, haven't seen ya since last week in the shooting range! Hey, I'm gonna need my silencer back!" He walks towards them and sits next to them, one of them patting him harshly on the back. "Oh, you know. Wanderin' around, breakin' a few hearts 'ere and there," He chuckles and the old men jeer playfully. Genevieve blinked at him. Looks like David is a local. Except what would a local be checking into motel rooms that clearly don't belong to him? She blew a stray lock of hair away from her face. "All done, sweetheart?" The waitress showed up and took Genevieve's empty plate. "Yeah, thanks," She smiled at the woman. David turned from his conversation and was surprised to see Genevieve here. He grinned. "Hey, careful there, Kathy. She ain't no sweetheart." He winks at Genevieve and she rolls her eyes as the other four men instigate to themselves. "Are you following me now, Gen?" Genevieve scoffed. "For your information, Da-vid, I was already here. And by the way, weren't you the one who followed me all the way to the river this morning?" David's smile disappears in an instant. "It was a-"

- "Coincidence, yeah, yeah." Genevieve finished her beer. "Who knows, maybe you being here is also a coincidence. Not like you might've asked Mister Jindal where I was at. Again."

- "Creep," Kathy coughed as she passed by. "I happen to be here every day. Ain't that right boys?" he patted one of them on the back. "You want us to lie for ya, boy?" They cackle and David frowns. His pout made Genevieve laugh and she stood from her booth. "You can make it up to me by buying me a drink." She sat right next to David and propped up her elbows to rest her chin on her knuckles. "Two beers, please, Kathy," David says out loud while locking eyes with Genevieve.

    Almost everyone in the restaurant was long gone, except for David and Genevieve, who drank their seventh beer. "So, you're a gardener?"

- "Mmm-mm," David chugged the remainder of his drink and shook his head in disagreement. "Landscaper. Diggin' trenches, movin' boulders, that stuff." He placed the bottle down and took a hit of the cigarette between the knuckles of his index and middle fingers.

- "Ah, okay, extreme gardening," Genevieve mumbled against the opening of her bottle and David smacked his lips as the smoke escaped his nostrils. "And what about you, does your job involve traveling?"

- "In a way, yes. I work at an agency. It's pretty decent."

- "What's a traveling agent doin' in Needles, of all places?" David scoffs. "I know, right? I can go anywhere my little heart desires. I've been to Hawai'i, New York, Washington, Florida- Iowa,"

- "Iowa!?" David howled in laughter. "It was for a wedding!" Genevieve laughed in response. "But," She wiped a tear from the corner of her eyes. "I like Needles. It's off the grid. A little worn out, but peaceful and quiet. My family used to come here every year."

- "Oh yeah? So why don't your family do it no more?" He asked and she grew quiet for a moment. "They're dead,"  David said nothing. He assumed that she wasn't close to them anymore and that she parted ways from them. "Shit, Gen. I'm sorry."

- "No, don't be. It was so long ago." She sighed and smiled. "You know," Genevieve snatched the cigarette from David's fingers and took a hit with it between her ring and middle finger.  "The room where you're staying at was the room we'd book every single time. Room 26. There's nothing special about that room. Just the fact that it was... our room." She looked down at the counter, remembering as she'd jump on the bed every morning to wake her family up. She blew smoke out.

    "You... want to see it?" Genevieve turned to David. His expression was soft and genuine and it made her smile. "I'd like that."