"Hey, Hoying, help me out over here." One of my co-workers yelled over.
I quickly ran over and saw that he was having problems with one of the machines. It kept going in reverse and knocking things over.
"Why do you need my help? You know I don't work well with machines. Why not ask... anyone else?" I complained.
"Just get your butt over here!" He shouted, trying to control the metal beast.
I sighed and walked over. Ducking under the swinging crane, I finally climbed up to the seat. Once I got there, I immediately recognized the problem and rolled my eyes.
"Your key is in reverse, idiot." I told him, quickly fixing it. "Come on, even I could see that and I've never used one of these before."
"Huh... I could've sworn it wasn't like that before." He said, scratching his head.
"Well then maybe you bumped it. Remember, these controls are really sensitive. Can I go now?"
"Oh sure, thanks for helping."
"Yeah whatever, and be more careful next time." I told him, then I jumped down and made my way back to my section.
When it was in sight, I saw my partner, Jackson, struggling with the pipes. I chuckled at how much he was failing when he finally spotted me.
"Can you hurry up? This is a two man job so I can't do it by myself." He complained.
"Alright alright, keep your pants on." I laughed, and ran over to help.
I made sure to keep the pipes in place as he tied the rope around them. It took a couple tries, but we finally got them tied. Once I was sure it was secure, I slowly let go. They didn't fall, thankfully and we were able to push them to the pile of the ones we already completed.
"Ugh finally! I think that was the last one." Jackson said, as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead.
"Really? Huh, time really went by quickly."
"I know! Especially for a Monday... and speaking of Monday's..." He trailed off and I looked at him.
He had a big smirk on his face and I sighed.
"Come on Jackson, not today." I complained.
"It'll be the last time, I promise!"
"Last time you said it was the last time! I can't keep doing this."
"Please? Please, please, please? Oh please? This time I swear it'll be last time." He begged, grabbing my hand.
I groaned and finally caved.
"Alright! Fine, but only so you'll stop begging."
"Yes! Alright, how much you got on you?" He asked, bouncing excitedly.
"Not a lot since you said the last time was the last time." I told him, reaching in my pocket.
"That's fine just show me!"
I rolled my eyes and took out 3 fives, a couple ones, and some change.
"How much this time?" I asked, wanting to get it over with.
"Woah, woah, woah. You know that's not this works. If I see something I want in the pile, then that's how much we're doing."
He looked in my hand and took all the ones, and a five. He was going to move on when he saw something that really caught his eye.
"You have a half dollar?! Where did you get this?" He questioned, snatching it out of my hand and inspecting it.
"I don't know, it was just in my pocket." I told him, shrugging.
"Okay, forget the cash. I want this!"
"Really? You're gonna give up nine dollars for fifty cents?"
"It's not about how much it is, it's about what I want. Right now, I want this coin."
I stayed quiet for a moment, just staring at him, before I finally agreed. If he wanted a coin and was gonna give me back my cash, who was I to stop him.
"Okay, whatever you say." I told him, putting the rest of my money back in my pocket.
He looked at the coin a bit more before handing it back to me.
"Alright, let's get started."
~*~*~
We went to our usual spot and I waited for him to get set up. When he was finally done, he ran back to me excitedly.
"Remember, loser has to clean everything up." He said, with a smirk.
"Yeah yeah, are we doing this or not?"
"Of course we are, me first."
"Be my guest."
He walked over to the small pile of steel beams. He sat them in place with one of the cranes, and firmly grabbed one. Taking a deep breath, he slowly picked it up above his head and held it there for five seconds. He put it down with a grunt, and sat down on it.
"One. Your turn, Hoying."
With a sigh, I stood up and walked over to the pile. I grabbed one and dragged it out into the open. After a few deep breaths, I lifted it above my head for five seconds before putting it down again.
"One. Back to you, Malone."
He glared at me and we continued the cycle up to five steel beams. Jackson had six steel beams in his hands and slowly lifted them above his head. He held them there for a rough 5 seconds, before he finally put them down. He was gasping for breath and was sweating a lot, but managed to give me my turn.
"Six... Beat... Beat that, H-Hoying." He gasped, putting his hands on his knees.
I went over to the pile of beams and brought one out to my tiny pile. I sat the new beam on top of the five I already had, and wiped my hands off on my jeans. I put my hands under them and slowly lifted it up. I lifted them above my head and started counting to five. I was at three when I dropped the beams and put my hands on my knees. As I was trying to get my breath back, Jackson ran over to me.
"Yes! I win! Pay up." He said, standing by my side.
I glared at him as I continued to breathe heavily. Once I was finally better, I sat down on my pile and wiped off some sweat.
"Hello? I'm still coinless." Jackson said, impatiently.
I rolled my eyes and reached in my pocket.
"Alright, alright, hold your horses. Here." I told him, tossing the half dollar in his direction.
He caught it with a huge grin on his face and started inspecting it again.
"Thanks, I've always wanted one of these. I guess I better get going so you can clean up." He chuckled as he put the large coin in his own pocket. "See you tomorrow, Scott. Oh, and make sure you take a shower."
"I will but remember, this was the last time. Right?"
"Of course, of course. Promise. Catch you later." He said quickly, then he ran off.
I sighed and scratched the back of my neck. He always said it was the last time, then two weeks later he'd want to do it again. It was really annoying at times, but I owed him for getting me this job in the first place. Standing up and wiping my hands on my jeans, I looked around to make sure no one was near me. I didn't see anyone, so I quickly got to work.
I turned around to face my pile of steel beams and picked them up. All of them. Then I walked over to Jackson's pile and paused. I only had one arm available and they had to be picked up with two hands. After thinking for a few moments, I threw my pile in the air and quickly picked up Jackson's pile. Setting them under my arm, my pile came back down and I caught them one by one on my shoulder with ease.
I adjusted them so I'd be more comfortable and they wouldn't fall. Once I was situated, I turned around to put them away and saw someone standing behind me. I jumped, let out a startled scream, and quickly dropped all twelve steel beams. There was a very loud crash from all the beams hitting the ground. I quickly moved my foot so it wouldn't get crushed and looked at the stranger. It was a girl, wearing a hard hat, and she had a huge smile on her face. We stared at each other for a few seconds before I finally broke the silence.
"How long have you been standing there?" I asked quickly.
"Not long." She replied, the smile never leaving her face.
"Okay... but how long is not long?" I needed to know if she saw anything, which she probably did.
"Long enough."
That made my heart start pounding. What was that supposed to mean? Did she just see me somehow holding twelve steel beams by myself, or did she see everything? Maybe she saw one of the beams in the air fall down and when she got here, she saw me holding some? Yeah, let's go with that one.
"Um... You know this is a restricted area?" I questioned, my mouth suddenly dry.
"I know, but one of the workers said we could come in here as long as we had on hard hats."
"Okay, but it's still very dangerous for you to be here. You should probably go home, you could get hurt... also it's rude to sneak up on people."
"I've heard, but I'm not going anywhere. We actually wanted to talk to you."
I was about to protest again when I realized she kept using we.
"Why do you keep saying 'we'? Are you using the royal we or something?"
"Oh no, I'm using the literal we. You guys can come out now." She said looking behind her.
Two guys came from behind a stack of steel pipes, and I immediately took a step back.
"Who are you? " I asked her, balling up my fists, ready to defend myself.
One of the guys saw it and immediately put his hands up.
"Woah, woah, woah! Relax, we're not gonna hurt you. We just want to have a little chat."
"A little chat about what?" I questioned, not letting my guard down.
"Well... you. Or more specifically, your strength."
I froze and my heart started pounding again. The other guy came up next to his friend and looked at my feet. I glanced down and saw all the beams I had dropped.
"So I can pick up a few steel beams, other people can do it too. What's wrong with that?" I quizzed, glaring at them.
"I have no doubt that other people can pick them up. But I'm positive none of them can throw them in the air, let alone catch them without dislocating their shoulder." He told me.
'Shit, they saw me.'
I took another step back, ready to run, when the girl walked up to me.
"Please don't run away, we have a lot to explain. But we can only do it if you let us talk."
I examined them carefully and had an internal struggle. They didn't look like they had anything to hurt me... not that they could anyway. I finally decided that there truly was no harm in talking, and took a deep breath.
"Alright fine... we'll talk."