I watched the strange acting Lenny walk out the front door. "Dei?", Charlie said looking at me blankly. "You can go if you want." I shook my head realizing she had the wrong idea. "I wouldn't mind." She added in a nice tone. "If you want, we can go somewhere today."
"Sure." Was all I spit out. I felt like being cautious with my words.
The stairs creaked.
"Bye Cookie, I'll see you later"
Charlie turned toward Aaron
"See you later."
They kissed and he walked out the door.
"Well lets see, it's ah.." she looked at the VCR clock. "Eleven twenty three."
"We can go to lunch but i'll have to take a shower." She looked at me for a moment and continued. "You're not wearing that are you?" I looked down at my sweatpants and shrugged. She sighed, "Hun I believe you need a shower more than me, you look beat." I didn't understand what she meant.
Charlie walked over to a small closet and pulled out a light green towel. "You can use Aaron's things, he won't mind." She leaned down and moved a coaster on the table. I stood up and looked at her.
She must've felt as if I was confused since she added, "Second door to the right." My feet began moving toward the tall stairs. Then while I was stepping up them the light seemed to dim down.
"Left foot then right." I thought as I put one foot into the glass shower. Something felt off..
I examined the surprising well sized bathroom, first at the lime stained faucet of the separate tub in the corner. Then the waters spots on the glass wall around the shower part. Looking up at the shower I realized I was fully clothed. Not something I usually forget as everyone doesn't.
I began taking off my clothes then turned on the water. Hot.
Knock, knock, knock. "You okay in there? I have clothes for you i'll leave them for you in front of the door. Don't forget you can use Aaron's things", nothing else was said.
After I was done I stood up from previously sitting on the shower floor and turned off the water. I grabbed the towel and opened the door, leaning down to grab the clothes. Wearing the well fitted sweatpants and a big shirt I headed downstairs. Charlie was dressed nicely.
" I was thinking that we should go to Applebee's. I mean most bars aren't open now." I nodded.
She grabbed a keychain that was on the table and opened the door. I slipped on the shoes I had on previously and followed.
The cold air hit me.
"Afternoon Charlie." A woman standing at the door of the other side of the duplex waved. "Afternoon Gris." Charlie smiled and waved back.
The woman kind of sat in her doorway smoking a cigarette when we walked up to a grey parked car on the street and got in.
"I've been meaning to ask you if you had any careers you wanted to do after school?"
I watched her turn the steering wheel into place.
"I'm not sure." I replied.
"You're in your last year aren't you? Isn't it a good time to plan?"
I shrugged.
"What do you like?"
This was a question I never really thought of before. I've always just went along with things.
"Reading.. Maybe sports? She looked at me. I'm not sure about sports actually.." She smiled.
It got quiet.
"What I'm saying is to just follow your dreams, I know, I know I'm sounding like an old lady but we really aren't that far away."
She paused
"I don't know", she scratched her neck.
"I get what you're saying", I replied in a nice tone knowing she thought I didn't get her point.
"Don't worry about me, I have some things in mind." I continued, lying.
She smiled once more and turned up the radio.
How can someone who knows so little about me already be worried about my future life?
I pondered the question.
We pulled into to the shared parking lot for Applebee's and a cafe. Charlie hummed and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel while we turned. She then turned and pulled out the key and we exited and then entered the two front doors. In the booth in the back of the restaurant people chattered and laughed as it was rush hour. "What do you plan on getting?" Charlie said looking at her menu.
I held in my sigh as I've been asked this question many times before and each time I still hate to answer the damned question. "Lunch number six", I replied. "Looks good."
She told me what she planned to order then I leaned back. It was the time for "small talk."
A small frame of time where i'll be bombarded with questions that I, myself have no answer to. I prepared myself, feeling neutral.
"Do you know what career field you want to try for?"
I blinked and stared in her eyes, searching for an answer. "Medical", I replied as it was my first thought. "Oo.. interesting, I used to be interested in that kind of thing.
"How boring.." I thought. She continued talking.
Though today was different. .
I wasn't mad or upset, just more.. Thoughtful.
"Doctors and nurses make a lot of..." I zoned out thinking about Lenny.
He's not mad anymore. The thought brought a smile to my face. I actually found myself fighting a smile.
I saw that Charlie stopped talking and was staring at me blankly. I tilted my head, "Sorry what did you say?"
Before she could reply I heard a woman exclaim "Charlie!" and not a moment later she stood up and walked across the area to hug an unknown girl. They stood there and talked while I was zoned out. "Hey Dei, come meet my old friend." I heard.
I stood up and walked toward them, not really wanting to meet someone new. "Nice to meet you I'm" Yatah, yatah, yatah. I didn't really listen until she asked for my name again. Then I replied "Dei." and she just smiled and stood there talking to Charlie. "You have to see the new car I got two months ago." Charlie squealed. "New car? I wanna see this. Dei we'll be back."
They both walked toward the exit while I just stood there.
"Um Sir?" I turned around to see a waiter. "If you're not using your booth then we'd like to use it for other customers."
"That'll be fine." I said without thinking
He then walked away. Hold up..
We lost our seats.
I sighed, confused at what just happened. Searching for a seat I found a bar area with only two people sitting on the stools. I sat down although painfully being under the age of drinking the bartender still poured me a cup of seltzer.
Only alcoholics would drink at this time, I thought. And so they do as the other two people looked like depressed businessmen.
"Hey young man, how are you?"
The chair next to me shrieked as it slid across the floor.
I turned. "It's odd seeing a young guy drink alone." The guy said.
I sat there studying him since I didn't know him. He had brown hair with a brown mustache and a little stubble. He looked around twenty three or twenty four. Not really someone who would call another person "Young man."
I smiled and shrugged, not knowing how to reply. "I'm guessing you're a new drinker, twenty one?" The bartender stood in front of me cleaning glasses. Giving him a quick glance I decided to lie about my age to risk not getting kicked out. I put on a big fake smiled, "Yeah, how did you know?" He returned the smile, "I don't know, intuition?" He gave a small laugh and I followed on, trying not to seem awkward. "Can I ask why you're at the bar this early?" He said in low voice.
I didn't think of a reply fast enough so I stated the truth "I lost my booth but came with my friend, she's outside." I pointed my thumb behind me toward the exit. "She left you here?" His tilted head and weaken expression gave me the reasoning that he had the wrong idea. "Oh no, she said she'll be back." His face turned back to his other expression again.
"Awe that's a shame, you seem like a fun guy." I felt awkward, I didn't understand the meaning of his statement. I just replied, "ah thanks."
He then proceeded to grab one of the throw away coasters sitting on the bar table and pulled out a pen. He wrote something on the coaster and then looked up at me, holding out his hand. "I'm Dylan by the way." my body spoke for itself. "Dei." We shook hands. "Well I have to go but if you ever want to drink together, give me a call." He gave a little wink and slid the coaster toward me. I looked at it, eyeing the number then turned to where he stood and realized he was gone.
"Dei, Dei. There you are! Why'd you give away our seats?" Charlie walked toward me. I stood and slid the coaster in my back pocket. "Uh.., sorry." I scratched my neck not knowing what to say. "It's alright. She interrupted. I wasn't that hungry and I hope you weren't either", she said in a more up tone.
When we left the building she said her goodbyes to her friend and they exchanged contact info. We ended up driving home but not before stopping at a McDonald's drive thru to pick up late breakfast hotcakes. It was around 1:30 (pm) when we got home.
Mostly for the rest of the day was spent playing multiple games on xbox. Nothing too exciting for someone else but for me it was enjoyable.
6:30 pm
We were mid to late game in a match on Bo2 when the front doorknob rustled. I heard the key pull out and the sound of people stomping in. "Hey guys, whatcha' doin'?" I heard Rose say excitedly. "Oh you guys are back already?" Charlie said moving her head to look at Rose but failing when the characters on the screen would distract her. "Oh and I see you both are in the same spot you were when we left." She jokingly said. "I mean we did go out... she interrupted herself.. Shit!" Charlie set her controller down on the coffee table and did what I presumed was stand up since I felt the sofa pillows move a little. "I give up." She said annoyingly. "I suck."
I didn't take my eyes off the screen. Her voice was farther away. "Yeah, we went out for lunch but I ran into blank. After talking to her I felt kind of out of it, I don't know. It's my day off."
To be honest I can't find myself to focus on the name since it was so bland, unimportant. My brain felt so full with names that I couldn't handle it. One person won't hurt, popped in my head when a random game invite came up on the screen. The cushion next to me moved. "You two getting along?" I heard behind me. I didn't really reply to Rose's question but I died and turned around to see Rose's expression but all I saw was Lenny sitting next to me. He was netural watching the remainder of people survive the their last lives on One in the chamber.
He looked tired. "Have you guys eaten yet?" I shook my head and I'm guessing Charlie did to when Rose said were were going out. We all packed in Rose's car, Charlie to in front and Lenny and I in the back like two children. I sat in the same place I have sat in since we've been with Charlie and Rose. I mean I didn't mind them, this all was almost like routine. A routine I was getting familiar with.
We got in a booth in a local restaurant and stayed there pretty late congregating.
I sat with Charlie and Rose while Lenny stepped out for a little with a phone call. "Hey we'll be back, we're going to the bathroom." Rose said sliding out of the booth. "Don't lose our seats." Charlie said smiling.
I did nothing but sit there for awhile and got curious about what Lenny was doing.
I went out the front door and saw Lenny standing next to the car talking. Moving and turning often.
Whats wrong?
I walked toward him to see his expression looked more as pissed and soon he shooed me away in a annoyed tone. I refused to leave though so I stood next to him staring at my feet.
He tapped me and in between the person talking on the phone he mouthed some words and nudged his head toward entrance door. Go. I saw him mouth slowly and I listened knowing that he would be angry soon.
Going back to the booth I noticed that the two women were still in the bathroom.
I stared at the wooden making of the glossy table.
"Hey what're you doing here?" My eyes followed the voice. "Two places in a row?" He said nicely. I watched his moustache move with his words. "Hey." I said awkwardly. "You're alone again?" I turned and looked at the empty booths around me. What should I say? "Yeah", I smiled. "That's a shame, if you want you can come drink with me and my buddies since earlier we didn't have a chance." He chuckled.
Thinking about the the offer I felt like I'd be more weird to decline. "Um sure." It'll only be quick.
We sat at yet another bar and the guy introduced me to his friends that I really paid no mind to.
"What do you like drinking? We aren't going to go hard tonight. Since Blank (He pointed to a man) has work tomorrow." I only told him to get me whatever he wanted and continued to have a conversation with his one buddy about things I didn't care about. The two buddies of his left talking about their work in the morning.
While we both were left I heard ice cubes clinked when he slid my drink toward me. "Here's my suggestion." He said watching me and waiting for my first sip.
I took my sip and scaringly I had this feeling that this was amazing. It was tangy and fruity and the right taste. Maybe I've gotten used to alcohol, I thought nonchalantly.
The talk we had while we drank was fun. He told me about his work and life and I told him about my fake life as a newspaper journalist.
Things felt actually normal.
"I'd hate to ask this of you but could you help me with these boxes?" I looked down at the two boxes next to his stool. "Sure." I said happily hopping up, Slightly tipsy from being a leightweight."
"Thanks so much."
I grabbed the semi heavy box and followed him. "This one's mine." The car honked twice from his key chain. I paid no mind. Popping the trunk he set his box in then I set my mine next to his .
"You.. k..nn..oo..w IIII...I reee....aallly apperciate yyy.......oo.o..uuu hee....ll..p.ii.n.g m..e."
D a r k n e s s
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Authors note: Gris is pronounced like Gree. Fun fact: gris also means grey in French.
Also "One in the chamber" is a game on black ops 2 which is when everyone in the game gets one bullet in a KAP-40 (A type of gun) and has to try to get a kill with it. If you use your bullet you only get to knife people. It's just a game to see who can get the most kills with little amo and only 3 lives.
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Hello everyone :-) it's been awhile since I've last posted. I am aware that I have not kept up with my last postings and for that I am very sorry. As anyone at the beginning of the year I've been busy with many things and these past two weeks have been sick. This made it virtually impossible to write but as always I am going to try my best to get chapters out. While writing this chapter I had the idea to state my Instagram on here for anyone who might be interested in talking. If so, you can dm me on here to ask :-) and maybe give some feedback. You all are great, Thank you :) -vonboncon