“Such as it is,” she adds after the long interval.
“Yeah,” I say, “well. I appreciate it. Are you sure I can’t pay you for your time?”
“Unless you’re hiding it somewhere I’d rather not think about, you don’t have a wallet,” she says.
“Fair point,” I tell her. “Well,” I stick my hand out to shake hers, “thanks again.”
She looks down at my hand and shakes her head.
“Nice to meet you, Mason,” she says.
“Okay, can we go now?” Jana asks, and I’m starting to think that I’ve outworn my welcome. “Get your clothes on and get out of our way.”
“You know, I remember you being nicer,” I tell her.
“That was when I liked you,” she says.
I quickly slip on the white t-shirt and sweats I apparently left at Jana’s old place and turn to the door, opening it.
“So, where are you two ladies headed this evening?” I ask.
“None of your business,” Jana answers.
“Neptune,” Ash answers. “It’s a new club that just opened up in Milwaukee.”
“Getting kind of a late start if you’re heading out of town, aren’t you?” I ask.
“Ha!” Jana exclaims.
Ash locks the door to their apartment and we walk down the hall and out the side door of the building.
“Well, I guess this is it,” I tell them.
“I swear, if you give another big, long goodbye, you’re going to have another bruise on your face,” Jana says.
“And I guess that should about do it,” I say. “See ya.”
“Hold on,” Ash says. “I think the corner’s coming loose on that bandage. Hold still.”
“Will you hurry up?” Jana complains. “By the time we get there, we’re only going to have like an hour.”
“This will just take a second,” Ash says.
“So, is Ash short for something or are your parents Evil Dead fans?” I ask.
“My full name’s Ashley,” she says, patting down one corner of the bandage on my forehead.
“Good to know,” I say. It’s kind of awkward having this near-stranger attend to me like this, but not awkward enough to complain.
“Well,” Ash says, “that should about do it. You have yourself a good night, Mason. Try not to get into any fights on the way home.”
“If only I could promise that,” I smile.
“I’m going to the car,” Jana says as she turns and starts walking away. “If you’re not there by the time I get it put in gear, I’m coming around the block to run over both of you.”
“She doesn’t like you very much, does she?” Ash asks.
“I think it’s because you’ve spent all this time flirting with me,” I tell her.
“Oh, I’ve been flirting with you?” she asks.
“Pretty brazenly,” I answer. “I was going to say something, but I was just so shocked by how incredibly attractive you find me.”
“You’re actually going to walk away thinking that, aren’t you?” she asks.
“What if I am?” I ask.
She shakes her head, putting her hands in her pockets. “Then you probably should go to the hospital, because I think you must have gotten kicked in the head a few too many times,” she says. She pulls her hands out of her pockets as I’m starting to turn to walk away and she says, “Hey, just one more thing.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“I was rude to you before,” she says. “You offered me your hand and I didn’t shake it.”
“Oh,” I say, furrowing my brow a little. I extend my hand once more and this time she takes it, only there’s something in her hand and she’s closing my fingers around it as she’s pulling her hand away.
“Have a good night,” she says. “Be safe out there.”
“Yeah,” I answer. “You, too.”
She jogs away toward wherever Jana has the car, and I’m headed back toward home, my hand still closed around the folded paper in my hand.
I wait until I’m back between the buildings on the other side of the road before I start unfolding it. By the time I’ve got it open, it’s too dark for me to see what’s written on it, but it doesn’t take long before I’m back within range of the streetlights.
It’s Ash’s phone number.
I’m not quite sure how I managed that, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Tonight turned out to be a pretty good night.
Chapter Two
Surprises
Ash
“Just give me a minute,” Jana says. “I promise, you’re going to be so excited when I tell you.”
“Then why not just tell me now?” I ask as she continues to push me backward toward the couch.
“I have to make a quick call first,” she oozes. “It’ll just take a minute.”
With that, my calves hit the front of the couch and I fall back into a somewhat awkward sitting position.
“Stay right there,” she says.
“I was going to run to the store for a few things,” I tell her. “Can it wait until I get back?”
“No,” she says. “Just stay there. I promise it’ll be worth it.”
She leaves the room.
There’s a reason I’m putting up such a fight. When it comes to surprises, Jana’s got a perfectly awful record. The things that would actually make for great surprises, she just blurts out. When she says I’m going to be “so excited” about anything, I start getting a little nervous.
We’re really different, Jana and I. Sometimes I wonder if we’d be friends if we didn’t go to elementary school together.
She’s a good person and everything; she’s just kind of erratic. When she told me she was looking at moving into a two-bedroom apartment, asking me if I wanted to be her roommate, I was a little hesitant.
It wasn’t until I’d made her swear a blood oath over a schedule of chores that I felt comfortable moving in with her.
Jana comes back into the room, saying, “Well, I guess I probably could have just told you. My mom’s coming to visit.”
“Oh,” I say, really trying to project some kind of enthusiasm. “For how long?”
“That’s the thing,” Jana says. “I wanted to talk to you about this first, but time was kind of a thing, so…” she trails off.
“Jana, how long is your mother staying?” I ask again sternly.
“It’s not like it’s really that long when you think about it,” she says as if she’s already answered my question. “I mean, she is my mom and everything. You said you’d be cool with it if she came to visit every once in a while.”
“Jana,” I say, “how long?”
“A few months,” she answers, “and I know that sounds like a lot, but when you really think about it, I mean, I was living with her for like eighteen years. Besides, my mom’s awesome. Everybody loves her.”
The best policy is to not respond to statements like that.