The breast implants thing was one thing because Brian was playing around and Pat went along with it, but telling personal stories about my sex life was uncalled for. I got up out of my bunk and walked into the kitchen. Pat and Brian were sitting at the kitchenette table. I didn’t make eye contact with Pat, but I did smile at Brian softly. “Morning,” I said softly.
“Good morning,” Brian said.
I sat down and I opened up my laptop and turned it on. I logged in to my email account when my cell phone rang loudly. I sat up and hurried to answer it. “Hello,” I said looking over my shoulder to see if anyone was behind me.
“Hello,” I said. It was my husband Peter.
“Hi,” he said.
“What’s up?” I asked him.
The most distracting part for me is those breasts she never had and her mile long legs. I’m a man, how am I just supposed to pretend she isn’t here. I was about to change my clothes when I caught the end of a conversation I probably shouldn’t be hearing. “NO,” Chrissy said into her phone loudly.
She wrinkled her forehead in frustration and spoke again. “I can’t just get up and fly to Vancouver. I’m working,” she said.
The tension in her face was even greater this time. “Yes Peter you’re about as important to me as you consider my job to be compared to yours,” she said getting louder.
I was wondering who this Peter character was and why he wanted her to go to Vancouver. “Ughh,” she exclaimed as she slammed her cell shut.
She put her face in her hands and part of wanted to ask what was wrong, but the other part of was saying she’s pissed don’t get involved.
I walked past her pretending I didn’t hear her yelling and I could feel her eyes on my back as I got some clothes out for the day. I wanted so bad to say something, but nonetheless I ignored her again and walked off the bus.
“Hi mom,” I managed.
“What is it honey?” she asked me.
I heard the door and it was Eva. I smiled at her and she smiled back at me. God she was gorgeous. The sun beamed through the window and just illuminated her. “Mom, I want you to go into the attic and get my original GI JOE collection and my first drum set and all that other junk and sell it. Privately or on eBay, I don’t care just sell it,” I said.
I didn’t want to get rid of any of that stuff, but it seemed to be the only way. “Is that mom?” Isaac asked suddenly.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“But Zac, you love those GI JOE’S. Are you sure? Those are collectors items, I thought you were going to pass them onto your kids someday,” she said to me.
“Mom, I’m too old for that stuff. Please just sell it and let me know how much you get,” I asked.
“I want to talk to mom,” Isaac said as he reached for the phone.
“Ok mom I’m giving the phone to Isaac,” I said.
“I love you,” before I could hear her response, Isaac snatched the phone from me.
“Hi mom,” he said loudly.
I turned to my girlfriend who was waiting patiently for my attention. “Zac why are you selling all your stuff?” she asked.
I hated to lie to her, but I had to. “I just want to invest the money into something worthwhile, maybe stocks or something you know,” I said.
“Oh, it just seems strange to me that’s all,” she said.
Her black hair was glistening in the sun. “It’s no big deal really,” I said.
“You know Zac I haven’t had more than five minutes time alone with you since I got here. You’re always working or running off somewhere. We have a few minutes now,” she said as she wrapped her arms around me tightly.
I ignored the searing pain of my bruises and leaned in to kiss her. I reminded myself that there were only five days left before Sully’s goons did whatever it was that they were going to do to me. I pulled her in and kissed her again when she reached for the bottom of my shirt. I pushed her hand away. “I’m not in the mood,” I lied.
She looked a little hurt and disappointed. But I had to lie. If I told her I know she would give me the money herself and I just couldn’t do that to her.
“I’ll be done in a minute,” I said as I combed and gelled up my fauxhawk.
What else could Taylor possibly do, to make him prettier than he already is? I opened the door and Taylor practically knocked into me. He reached in and slicked deodorant under his arms. “That smells like my deodorant,” I said.
“It is,” Taylor said.
I could really punch him in the face. “Taylor that’s utterly disgusting,” I said.
“Dude I’m sorry. You know how I get under pressure,” he said following it with a puff of inhaler.
I want to take that inhaler and jam it up his ass, and I’m pretty sure his girlfriend feels the same. “So did you ask Christina out yet?” he asked.
He just had to go there. “Yeah, I did,” I said.
“And?” he asked.
I wanted to say everyone can’t get a date as easily as you, some of us ugly people know what it’s like to suffer, but I didn’t. “She said no, because she works for us,” I said.
“And so what?” he asked.
I swear he has shit for brains. “She is trying to be professional. She doesn’t like to mix business with pleasure,” I said.
“We don’t care about that shit, if there’s a girl we want to fuck,” Taylor said.
“Charming Taylor,” Jem said joining the conversation.
“Shut the fuck up,” Taylor said to Jem and she just took it.
“Sorry,” she said putting her head down.
“Dumb whore,” he mumbled.
“Anyway, Isaac you’re not giving up are you?” he asked.
I wish he didn’t have such an interest in my life all the goddamn time. “No, I have a plan. I’ll talk to you later ok,” I said as I ventured outside to find my good friend Pat McGee.
He was outside wandering around looking a little lost. “Hey Pat,” I called over to him.
“Oh hey Isaac. What’s up?” he said.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about something,” I said.
“That’s fine, but Brian and I were just going to get lunch. You can join us if you’d like,” I said.
“Yeah Pat. I’d like that,” I said patting his shoulders.
He looked at me strangely for a moment and then motioned the way to the white van.
He has been acting strange lately. I brushed the hair away from his forehead and stroked his cheek with my hand when there was a knock on the door of the bus. That was really strange. The only people that don’t knock on the bus are those that don’t sleep on this bus.
I opened the door and in front of me stood two very large scary looking men. One was like 5’11. He looked he had been using steroids for quite some time. He had on white pants, a white jacket, a red turtleneck, and white croc print shoes. The other had on khaki pants, a navy blazer, a navy turtleneck, and both of them had gold chains bearing the same symbol. “Can I help you?” I asked.
“We’re looking for this kid?” they said handing me a picture of Zac.
“Umm he’s sleeping. What do you want with him?” I asked.
They looked like hit men to me and they made me very uncomfortable. “Just be sure he gets this,” the smaller of the two men went to hand me an envelope.
I reached for it and he pulled it away. “It is very important that he gets this. Do you understand?” he asked.
I nodded and grabbed the envelope quickly. I just wanted them off the bus. Their presence was creeping me out. I shut and locked the tour bus and curled up on the couch. What was Zac up to?
Brian was busy looking for something to order. “Actually, it’s about Christina,” Isaac said.
Brian suddenly put the menu down and all his attention was on me. “I don’t want to talk about her. Next topic,” I said.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Isaac asked me.
“ I’m kind of angry with her right now,” I said.
“Oh well maybe you can bend just this once to discuss some issues with me,” Isaac said.
I breathed in deeply and supposed I could help the kid out. “Ok what’s up?” I asked not sure where we was going with this.
“I was just thinking that you’re a sexy man and you get lots of chicks. And you landed Christina, so maybe you can give me a few pointers?” Isaac asked me.
“You want pointers from me on how to pick up chicks. What does that have to do with Christina?” I asked.
“No, I want to ask out Christina. You’ve dated her, you can tell me what she likes you know,” he said.
I could feel my lungs start to close up. Never in a million years did I expect to hear that. “W-what?” I asked.
“You don’t have a problem with it do you?” Isaac asked.
“Yeah do you?” Brian piped in.
Now I was not only competing with her husband, but with Isaac and Brian as well. And that pisses me off. Brian and I have been friends forever, he knows what Chrissy means to me. He has no right to even ask me if I’m ok with it. And what if Chrissy likes Isaac? I just can’t handle this. “No, it’s cool,” I said.
“So then what can I do to woo her?” Isaac asked.
“Actually, I don’t think I can help you. I don’t know her at all anymore. If you asked me about Chrissy and this was twelve years, I’d tell you anything you wanted to hear, but this Christina, it seems I don’t know her at all. So I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,” I said.
And that was only half the truth; there was no way I was going to help him steal the woman I love. “ Did you really nail her in your truck?” he asked.
“I’m sorry that’s personal,” I said.
“Well do you really think her breasts are fake?” he asked.
I laughed a little. “Next topic. I don’t want to talk about Christina,” I reminded him.
“Oh yeah sorry, but if you think of anything else. You let me know a.s.a.p. Ok,” he said.
“I’ll be sure to let you know,” I said.
I can’t believe this is happening, everyone and their mother wants Chrissy and she won’t even look at me. Good job Pat.
I rolled my eyes. “What does it look like moron?” I said.
I really had no patience for him. He infuriates me. “Is it too late for me to get a hoodie?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“Please, just one more. It gets cold on the bus at night sometimes,” he said.
“Here. That’s $40.00,” I said.
He is so fucking annoying. I grabbed his money and handed him a hoodie. “I wouldn’t need this if I had you to warm me up at night,” he said.
“I think I just threw up in my mouth,” I said and then Taylor came prancing in.
“This isn’t a time for chit chat. We are waiting for you to be cleaned up so we can leave,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” I said as I finished taking down the display.
“We weren’t talking. I’m a paying customer,” Chardy said in my defense much to my surprise.
“Jem you don’t ever charge the opening acts for merchandise. Can’t you do anything right?” Taylor screamed at me.
He handed Chardy back his money. “And what is this?” he screamed.
“What?” I asked.
Wondering what it was that I did wrong this time. “There are still 15 hoodies in here,”
“Taylor I’m sorry, I..”
“We have to sell 25 a night or we are spending more than we are making. Jessie sells 25 a night and you sell 10,” he yelled.
He took out his inhaler and took a puff. “I swear you’re the reason I need this,” I glanced over at Chardy for a moment who was still standing there.
“Look at me when I talk to you,” Taylor snapped. “You’re useless you know that. Maybe you should have stuck with taking your clothes off. It’s the only that you seem to be good at besides screwing,” Taylor said to me.
I glanced over for a quick moment and Chardy was gone.
Pat is good with this kind of stuff; he would know what to do. “Taylor was just out there blowing up at Jem over some stupid sweatshirts,” I said.
“What do you mean blowing up?” Pat asked.
I could sense that he was not happy. “He was yelling at her and calling her useless and stuff,” I said.
“He yelled at her,” Pat said.
He was getting heated. “I know man, I know. And we will set him straight, but someone has to tell her not to take that from him. She just lets him treat her like shit,” Chardy said.
“I will work on that, but you keep your eyes and ears peeled and let me know if he gets out of line again, because my patience is wearing thin,” he said.
“Aight peace dawg,” I said as I climbed up into my bunk.
“I have nothing more to say to you,” I said.
“I don’t like the way Taylor is treating Jem,” he said.
“That’s mighty noble of you. But that doesn’t change the fact that I have nothing to say to you,” I said.
I know Taylor can be mean sometimes, but I will talk to Jem about it, the last thing I need is Pat getting involved. “Christina I’m sorry. The things I said the other night were totally uncalled for. I was out of line,” he said.
I looked up at him and I could see the sincerity in his eyes. He was still so cute. He didn’t look a day over 24. I brushed the hair out of his face and put my hand on his cheek. I stood up and pulled him into me. I lingered for a while feeling the familiarity of his embrace. I could feel his soft light breath on my neck and then I pulled away. “Pat we have too much history to be fighting like this,” I said.
“I know. I’m an idiot. I haven’t seen you for twelve years and then I go and make you mad at me,” he said. I looked at his soft eyes.
They were so deep. Pat always had so many layers to him. “What about Jem?” I asked.
“Taylor was yelling at her out there about the sweatshirts and she just lets him,” he said to me.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Chardy told me,” he said.
“I’ll talk to her tomorrow about this. She doesn’t respect herself,” I said.
He stared into me deeply, so deeply in fact that I almost couldn’t breathe. He took my hand in his. “Do you want to tell me about Peter? I overheard your conversation today by accident,” he said.
“Peter’s my husband,” I said.
I really didn’t want to talk about this with him.
I could feel little pinches in my heart knowing that another man exchanged sacred vows with her. “No Pat. We are separated,” she said softly.
I looked at her and could see the pain in her eyes. “I- I’m so sorry. I didn’t know,” I said.
I really felt like a jackass now. “You must be going through a rough time. I’m sure you must miss him very much,” I asked.
Maybe that was unfair, but I had to get the truth. “No Pat I don’t. I wish I never married him or even met him,” she said.
The pinching in my heart lessened. “Why? Did he hurt you?” I asked suddenly to dismember his body parts if necessary.
“No. I was just never in love with him. I thought I was and I was young and not thinking clearly. I’ve never felt real love for him. I just thought he could take care of me, and I was wrong,” she said as a tear slid down her cheek.
“The girl I used to know could always take care of herself,” I said.
I was really shocked right now. Chrissy would never do something like that. “I wasn’t myself,” she said.
She looked embarrassed. “It’s ok. Everyone changes Christina,” I said.
“Pat It’s Chrissy,” she said to me.
I stared into her brown eyes trying to find the Chrissy I knew. But all I could see were broken pieces of the girl I gave my heart to. “I’m sorry if I could call you Chrissy I would, but you’re so different. I don’t even know you. You’re Christina now,” I said.
I think maybe she might take offense to that, but I wasn’t saying it to hurt her. I’m only saying it to be honest. “I’m still the same girl,” she said as a few more tears poured out of her eyes.
“You’re different, but it’s not entirely your fault. If I was Peter and you married me just so I could take care of you, I’d make you fall in love with me. So he’s an idiot for letting you get away and so am I,” I said as I touched her face gently with my hands.
She moved in close to me and pressed her forehead against mine. I gently reached up and brushed her tears away with my thumbs, all while my forehead was still pressed against her. “Don’t cry,” I said softly.
“I’m a failure,” she said.
Her eyes were mesmerizing and her scent absolutely intoxicating. She had me totally entranced at that moment. My whole body was telling me to kiss her. “You’re beautiful,” I said not even realizing I let that slip out.
“Pat I.”
“Ssh,” I said as I pulled her into my chest.
I had to put her head to my chest to avoid looking at her lips, which in this case would only cause me to kiss her, which is going against a promise I made to myself. I’m only here for closure, and maybe friendship. “You should get some sleep. Because we have a lot of catching up to do tomorrow,” I said forcing myself to let go of her.
“I’d like that,” she said looking down at me.
I always hated that she was taller than me. She was going over to her bunk when I pulled her to me and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Goodnight,” I said.
“Goodnight,” she said.
I watched her crawl into bed and I climbed into mine as well. The scent of her was still all over me and I didn’t mind. It brought back some nice memories that eventually put me to sleep.