Witchy Days 32: New Beginings

In the evening, the couple showed up at the recently renovated city restaurant for a nice calm meal. However, it seemed “calm” was not in the books tonight.

“This is nice,” Terra said, as they studied the menu. “Although, I do wonder if we should be dining out, seeing as we’ve both quit our jobs.”

“We’ve got enough saved for the time being,” Matthew chuckled. “And we might have more income coming in from gardening sooner rather than later.”

“Oh?”

“Wade and a couple of others asked to buy stuff from us.”

“Impressive!”

They were distracted by two of the waiters laughing their heads off inside, both blushing.

“What’s that about?” Terra wondered.

“Sorry about that,” another waitress approached them. “It’s just that, less than two hours ago, some guy streaked right through here. In full view of all the patrons and waiters.”

“And that impressed everyone so much?” Matthew chuckled.

“Well, you should’ve seen him,” the waitress laughed, winking.

“She must be single,” Terra told him once the young lady took their order and went inside.

“Or simply easily amused by human weirdness,” he supposed. “Although, I do wonder what the story here is. Did the guy do it for a bet? On a dare? Simply to show off?”

“Oh man!” she shook her head. “Maybe he was having a tryst somewhere and the husband walked in – so he had to run away in his birthday suit?”

“I guess, the only way to find out is to ask him.”

“Nope. Not dealing with that today,” she decided firmly. “I’d rather not have our date spoiled by weirdos.”

“Here’s your order, lovelies,” the waitress came back, running to her friend inside. “Enjoy your meal.”

They thanked her and once she was out of earshot, Matthew asked quietly, “So, that guy who’s at Ophelia’s. He’s going to be ok now?”

“According to him, yes. Which is just as good.”

“Do you think he was pursued on the way here?” Matthew supposed. “And that’s why he’s spooked?”

“It’s a working theory,” she agreed. “I wonder if his parents know he’s here yet.”

“They would be happy.”

“But not about him getting hurt.”

Come to think of it, she kind of imagined Bailey ending up in hot water over this with the Schlicks, but if he recovered, it would be simply hot and not boiling. Then again, the girl was trying to protect herself from a known creep. It wasn’t her fault things went awry.

“You’re pensive,” he noticed. “Worried about him?”

“About all of them, to be honest.”

“Let’s hope it all works out for the best.”

She was just about to agree when the waitresses came outside, laughing about something and discussing “snakes”. Neither of the couple could be considered prudes by any means, but that didn’t mean they enjoyed having their meal invaded by such topics.

“Want to go for a walk?” he asked.

“Oh yes, I do!”

“Check please!”

The pond was a popular fishing spot during the day, and now, in the light of the moon, a lovely example of nature’s beauty. It finally provided the couple with a little peace and quiet.

“I’m so sorry about this restaurant outing,” he apologized. “I didn’t think it would be so boisterous.”

“Oh? But I thought it was very entertaining. We were certainly privy to some high quality discourse while we were there,” she teased him.

“Yeah…” he laughed weakly.

“I’m just playing with you. I had a good time.”

“Me too. I always do, when we’re together,” he told her.

“Matt…”

“I’ve been thinking about something lately and I know you might think I’m rushing things, but being with you feels right in a way not many things do,” he continued.

“I feel the same way,” she told him.

“I’m glad to hear it. Because, I want to you to always be in my life, by my side, and I want to be by yours. As a family.”

With that, he was reaching for something in his pocket and getting down on one knee. Understanding what was happening, Terra could hardly keep the smile off of her face.

“Terra Sidheins, will you marry me?” he asked, ring on the ready.

“I will! Of course I will!” she beamed. This roller-coaster ride of a day had the best ending it could have. “When did you even go ring shopping?!”

“Earlier this morning. That’s why I was close to the bar,” he explained.

“You’ve played your cards close,” she laughed.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” he asked.

“Honestly? This is the sweetest surprise!” And it was, so sweet in fact, that she found herself tearing up.

“Hey, hey! What’s wrong?” he started to worry.

“No, nothing. Everything’s perfect. These are happy tears,” she pulled him into a hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he held her tight. “Way too much.”

“Did you ever think it would all turn out like this when your school got blown up?” Terra wondered as they relaxed by the pond.

“What? Meeting you? Us ending up together?” he asked. “I admit, my only idea that day was getting somewhere safe and figuring out what the hell was going on,” he laughed. “And once we figured that out, everything was even more confusing. Although, I did think Boris’s guest was very cute.”

“You did, huh?” she studied him. “You really do play your cards close.”

“I think you had plenty on your plate already at the time,” he shrugged. “And I wasn’t going to play tug-of-war with you like the others did.”

“And I really appreciate that,” she told him. Much as some people enjoyed others romantically competing over them, it made Terra feel like some kind of a toy, rather than a person.

“Besides, I didn’t realize you were into me until, well, until you’ve kissed me,” he admitted.

“I was just relieved to find out you weren’t dating Helena!” she told him. “I felt so awful over getting feelings for her boyfriend, that when I found out you were single, I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I should’ve. Just kissing someone out of the blue isn’t something I would normally do.”

“I’m glad you did, though,” he smiled, embracing her. “It told me I was wrong to stay away, especially when I’ve been wanting to get closer to you the entire time we were there.”

“How much closer?” she asked.

“Much, much closer,” he whispered, kissing her.

After a few more tender moments like these, she turned to him with a playful look. “You know, we’ve been out here for a while. Perhaps, we should go home and really celebrate our engagement, fiance dear?”

When it’s 4 am, but instead of sleeping you’re just laying there, looking at your fiancée and thinking about how differently life could’ve turned out, if not for a few unexpected circumstances.

---

Ophelia spent the morning busying herself with household chores and random things to distract herself. Feeling much better now that the previous day, she was nevertheless strung up like a fiddle because of Caleb sleeping in her house.

Approaching his room, she realized he was awake. Before she could scurry away, he greeted her.

“Hello. Please don’t be afraid. I’m not here to do any harm,” Caleb reassured her.

“Oh, I know,” she told him, instantly biting her lip. How could she know that, if she had never met him before?

“Of course, of course,” he laughed. “I suppose you wouldn’t save me and bring me into your home if you thought I was dangerous.”

“How are you feeling?” she asked him. “I’m sorry I didn’t finish the job properly yesterday.”

“Please, don’t be!” he hurried to quell her worry. “I’m amazed with how well you took care of me, especially considering your condition yesterday. Better than many professional medics. But how are you feeling? Does this happen to you often?”

“No, I simply overexerted myself,” she told him.

“You should be careful,” he warned her. “Magic depletion of such extent can be very harmful.”

“I know.”

“But I apologize, it seems I’m unable to stop behaving like I’m at work, even when I’m with normal people,” he laughed. “I guess it’s a doctor thing.”

“Happens. Would you like something to eat? I can bring it to you,” she offered.

“I doubt you would have something I can eat, but I’d rather see if I can get up. It’s good to stretch one’s muscles after such events.”

With Ophelia lending him a hand for support, Caleb managed to make it to the table.

“I guess you do have something I can eat,” he seemed surprised at seeing a blood pack in her fridge.

“It’s Moonlight Falls and I know a lot of people,” she explained. “Some of them are vampires.”

“Ah, of course, I keep forgetting this place is like a supernatural haven,” he took a few quick gulps, feeling stronger already. “Cute dog, by the way. She’s a mix isn’t she?”

“She’s got a bit of arctic wolf in her, from what I could tell, but she’s very friendly,” Ophelia reassured him.

“She’s very curious,” he chuckled. “But not much in terms of protection, is she, if she allowed a strange vampire into the house without even a routine bark? I don’t mean to presume, but you live alone don’t you? I hope my presence here doesn’t cause you more trouble than you can handle.”

“What sort of trouble? Does it have something to do with why you didn’t want to go to the hospital?”

“Yes.” He swallowed hard, before continuing. “I don’t want to fill you in on the whole ugly truth of it, but my siblings and I had to make a quick exit from our previous city of residence and I can’t be 100% sure I don’t still have a tail after me.”

“You’re talking about the vampire coven from Bridgeport, right?” she cut to the chase. “I know about them. A few people I know have also had trouble with them lately and I’ve been informed of their misbehavior. I don’t think they have agents nearby, though.”

“Misbehavior! That’s one way to put it,” he laughed. “But you can’t know they don’t have agents nearby. If I’m not mistaken, I saw someone they’re in contact with just before I got attacked. Nasty piece of work, that guy.”

“Coryn Maddox?” Ophelia’s eyes grew wide. “He works with them?”

“Works with, leeches of, whatever he does, he’s bad news,” Caleb growled. “I don’t even blame that girl for coming after me. He was after her and she defended herself. Shame she didn’t get him.”

Just at that moment, there was a hesitant knock on the door.

“Are you expecting someone?” he asked.

“Yes, they’re not here to cause any trouble, though,” she told him.

They opened the door to find two hassled-looking teenagers on their doorstep, both of who looked like the end of the world was happening.

“Hi, may we help you?!” Caleb asked.

“OHMYGOSHYOUREALIVE!!!!” Bailey exploded into wails. “I’m so, so, so sorry!!!”

“I know, and it’s ok,” he told the girl. “I know you were aiming for the other guy.”

“It’s not ok! I almost killed you!” Bailey insisted.

“She was really worried,” Jamel explained. “And when we came back to see what happened to you and you were gone, we thought you were a goner for good.”

“Well, I’m here,” Caleb told them. “And I promise you, there are no hard feelings on my part. You were only trying to defend yourself.”

“Why are you being so nice about this?” Bailey asked. “Aren’t you going to at least yell at me a little?”

“Whatever for? For making a mistake while under duress?”

“Still, is there any way I can make this up to you?” Bailey asked. “I can clean your house or cook, or whatever.”

“You want to make it up to me?” Caleb smiled. “Live your life well. Get 8 hours of sleep on the regular, eat a varied diet, and don’t do things you don’t want to do just because people tell you there’s only one way to live your life. And be careful of your surroundings, but I suppose it’s moot point in a city where you can easily get bewitched by random creeps. Oh, and one more thing, don’t offer to do anything you can for others like this in the future. There are plenty who will take advantage of you if you do. And all of this advice goes for both of you.”

“But how would us doing any of that help you?” Jamel asked.

“I’m a doctor. The healthier you live, the less chance there is of you ending up in the hospital. Less work for me to do, so I can get more time off!” Caleb chuckled. “Seriously, you two, it’s almost like you want to get grounded?”

“I guess we’ll go, then?” Bailey asked, still confused.

“Go on. Really, we’re good.”

“This was really nice of you,” Ophelia told him once the teens left. “Too many people would’ve taken advantage of her and her offer.”

“And they’re the sort you need to keep miles-long distance with,” Caleb continued her sentence. “What happened really wasn’t her fault. Besides, my parents might not take it well if they find out she stabbed me, so I’d rather they didn’t find out. I should probably tell her to keep what happened on the down low.”

“Have you gotten into contact with them yet?” she asked.

“Not yet, didn’t get the chance. Wait, how do you know my parents are close enough to contact?” he caught on to her knowledge.

She sighed deeply. It would be better to just tell him. “Look, I lied to you a bit earlier. I’m psychic. I get visions. Not about everything, but about many things. So I knew you would be in my house at some point – and that you aren’t dangerous. I didn’t foresee you getting injured, otherwise I would’ve stopped it.”

“Seriously? That’s impressive!” he lit up. “So, if anyone dangerous does show up, you can foresee it.”

“Hopefully.”

“That’s good, really good. I don’t want you to end up in danger once I leave.”

“You’re leaving already?” she asked.

“As soon as I heal up enough not to have my parents asking questions. I don’t want to impose on your hospitality,” he told her.

“Oh, of course. You’re not imposing, by the way,” she reassured him.

It was strange to behave like simple acquaintances with a person when you have already seen each other having a life together.

Chronicles of a Pessimist 12

The moment Anna got home, with a delay caused by the slow bus ride, she instantly became reacquainted with her good friend, the bed. Now, somewhat rested, she felt up for dealing with everything that happened lately.

The most important things were that Candace and Kevin were going to be ok. Everything else could take a backseat.

And her brother really was back in her life! She looked around the room. It wasn’t a lot, but they could make it work. She wondered when he’ll be released from the hospital, she’ll have to get a cab to bring him over.

They had so much to catch up on… but despite being injured, he seemed ok? She still had memories of him barely coherent and drunk that previous time they’ve met, but he seemed to be on better footing in life, from the short conversation they shared at the hospital. And he seemed happy to see her.

She could work with that.

Speaking of work. She did promise she’ll design something for Jasper’s shop. Might as well get started on that. Getting out the paintbrushes, she started playing around with some ideas she had in mind for an auto shop.

After she finished, she was left with a design she really didn’t mind. Of course, she’ll have to show it to him, but that’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

After a quick dinner, she knew she wasn’t done drawing for the evening, which was good – Candace wasn’t joking about them having far too many assignments for Prof. Zeeman’s class.

But when she sat back down and got a pencil in her hand, she couldn’t focus on any school assignments. She still wanted to draw, though.

Taking a deep breath, she thought about it. Pros: drawing her feelings out did seem to help deal with them, she might as well do it, and she needed more practice drawing people. Cons: she had some concerns about drawing people without their knowledge. But really, it wasn’t like anyone will see her drawings. This was just for herself.

---

The next morning, she got herself to Kevin’s hospital room just in time to find him up and pacing around. A suitcase and a bag were by his bed and she knew they weren’t there before.

“Hey! Why are you up? You should be resting!”

“Hi, sis. I’ll rest at home. You know I hate hospitals,” he smiled, seeing her. “Besides, there isn’t really anything they can do for me, ribs just need time to heal. And I still have work stuff to deal with, which I’d rather get out of the way as soon as possible.”

“Oh! Ok, let me take you back to my place,” she offered.

“Um… sorry, sis. I kind of already booked a place to stay. Don’t take it personally,” he hurried to reassure her, noticing her saddened expression. “I just need my space, you know me. Besides, how big is your place?”

“It’s a one-bedroom apartment,” she admitted.

“See? Don’t worry, I won’t disappear on you again. Last time… yeah, some stuff was going on. And when I tried to find you, you were nowhere to be found.”

“Sorry. If it was two years ago, then I admit I did fall off the face of the earth for a while.”

“Looks like we have a lot to catch up on,” he noted. “Want to help me get stuff to my new place?”

“Sure, I won’t be able to stay long though,” she admitted. “I have a shift later today.”

“Where do you work?”

“A sports bar.”

“Cool, can I come with you? Don’t worry, I won’t get drunk. Just want to see where you spend your time.”

“Sure. Where did your stuff come from, by the way?” she asked.

“Your friend brought it over this morning. Really cool guy, by the way. I’ll tell you all about it on the way.”

“What’s up? You two shot out of here like lightning after your last shift,” Dem smiled at Anna when he saw her. “Oh, hey, who’s this?”

“This is Kevin, my younger brother. Kevin, this is Demarcus, my coworker and friend,” she introduced them.

“Nice to meet you, Kevin. You’re looking mighty colorful. What happened to you?” Demarcus took in Kevin’s appearance.

“Dated the wrong girl. 10/10 would not recommend,” Kevin chuckled. “Do you have any wings here? Please say yes.”

“Of course we do. And I fully agree on the dating the wrong person part. Been there, done that. Total yikes.”

“You could say that, again. Can you believe this idiot stole stuff from our work? And guess where she stashed it? In my luggage!” Kevin complained. “I had a call with our bosses this morning about how to send it back. Luckily, they knew it was her – security noticed her going in and made the connection, whereas I haven’t even been to that area. Still, going back to work’s gonna be awkward as fuck now.”

“How did you even get with her?” Anna asked. She assumed her brother would prefer to end up with someone less problematic.

“Well, you know. She’s hot. And she seemed fun. Until she showed her true colors, that is,” he admitted.

“Yeah, that happens,” Dem noted sadly. “At least, you’re done with her now?”

“Oh yes, for sure.”

“Hi, everyone.”

The rest of them turned at the sound of Candace’s voice.

“Hey! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be taking it easy at home?” Anna asked.

“Taking is easy? I’ve been drawing since I got home. Anyways, I thought I’d take a break and check out where you work.” She looked at Kevin with narrowed eyes. “Now, there’s someone who should definitely be in bed rather than out and about.”

“Hey, now. I’ll sleep when it’s evening. And I’m here for the same reason as you,” he excused himself.

“Alright, I guess. Anyways, since we’re all here, I wanted to tell you that there’s a yoga section at the gym on Sundays. I already signed up and I could use some company. You two in?”

“I am,” he quickly agreed.

“Wait, you’re inviting me as well?” Anna asked in surprise.

“Of course! Why not? Need I list all its benefits?” she asked. “But really, if I have to exercise, even in such a beneficial way, I don’t want to do it by myself.”

“I’ll see if I can make it,” Anna promised.

“Sounds good with me. This must be your friend Demarcus?” she asked, looking at the person in question.

“That’s me!”

Letting Anna run the bar, he came over to chat with Candace.

“You must be her college friend?”

“That’s me. And you’re the cool bartender friend?”

“She said I’m cool? I’m flattered. I thought she’d say I talk too much,” he chuckled.

“Hmm, talkative is always a good thing in my book. So, let me try to figure it out – where have I met you before?” Candace wondered. Something about Dem was really familiar.

“Well, I’m always here, unless we’re closed,” he offered.

“You may be, but this is my first time at this bar,” Candace shook her head. “No, but I’ve definitely seen you somewhere before. Now, it’s going to annoy me that I can’t recall it.”

“Well, it’s not such a big city, we might’ve ran into each other someplace,” he offered another explanation, now a little sheepish.

“Yeah, maybe.” She knew when to drop something, but she wondered why this guy didn’t want her to make that connection. All the more mystery! Whispering , she asked “Has she been really moody lately?”

“You know it,” he chuckled.

“If I have anything to say about it, that’s going to change in a little while,” Candace promised.

Dem knew a matchmaker when he saw one and he fully approved. “Let me know if you need any help.”

“Maybe, maybe.”

---

Her shift was an early one this day and she ended up taking Kevin back to his apartment afterwards. The place was probably smaller than hers, but she understood his need for space. After he went to bed as promised, she was able to return home.

And just in time, too. The moment she closed the door behind herself, the lights went out. Glancing at the town from the window, she could see that while some of the business streets still had their lights on, most residential residences did not.

“What would you know? A neighborhood blackout.”

She would’ve been upset, except she realized it could’ve caught her in the elevator. It was lucky enough she made it home in time.

“Guess I won’t be making any more art today.” It was just as well. She could use a break. In Bridgeport, her friends never understood why she always made sure to have candles around. Well, this was why! You never knew when you’ll need them.

Landing on the couch, she half-regretted her choice not to buy any coffee or hot chocolate mixes the last time she was at the store. A nice hot cup of something would’ve been great right now, but the truth was, when she brought those things home, she inevitably drank them past the appropriate times of day, letting the caffeine mess her weird sleeping schedule even further.

A text message distracted her from the sugar cravings.

“Hey, I got your text with the sign design. I love it! You didn’t need to rush, by the way.”

“I didn’t mind. It was an interesting assignment.”

This guy!

How could anyone past their teenage years be irresponsible enough to just go into such a situation without thinking of all the possible negative repercussions? She had no idea how he managed to talk sense into that Marty guy, when Jasper himself seemed to have none.

Then again, maybe she was just a perpetual downer, constantly expecting the worst from everything? Sure, she could incorporate some optimism into her outlook.

At the same time, there was optimism and there was dumb luck. She suspected Jasper had a lot of the later, especially yesterday.

Leaning this information about the city grids made her feel vindicated. See? She wasn’t paranoid for preparing!

Also, she really didn’t mind texting like this. It took a lot of pressure off and she could think through all her replies before sending them…To her surprise, he called her.

“Candles are a good idea too. Sorry about calling, texting just tends to eat up all of my battery. Do you think you could send me the file for the sign? I want to get started on it.”

“File? I actually haven’t had a chance to scan it properly,” she admitted. She’ll need to use the college’s scanners for that, since she didn’t own any of her own.

“Oh, that’s not a problem. I could just use the physical form for it. Same difference.”

“Alright, I’ll bring it over on Monday,” she promised.

“Sure, that works. By the way, how is Kevin? Candace mentioned he left the hospital.”

“He did. And rented his own apartment, immediately.”

“You’re disappointed.”

“Of course. I hoped my brother would stay with me.”

“Give him some time. You haven’t seen each other for most of your adult life. You both grew up, but naturally, you still see him as your little brother. And he might feel that his big sister will try to tell him how to live. You both just need to get used to one another as adults.”

“You’re right,” she admitted, even though she hated that fact. “I guess I was just trying to catch up on lost time as much as I could. But he said he’s not going anywhere yet, and if he leaves, he’ll stay in touch. That’s as good as it gets, I suppose.”

Meanwhile, he thought about her bringing him the sign art. How? Wasn’t her car shot? That’s right, he did say he’ll fix it.

“Hey, about the artwork, don’t bring it! I’ll stop by your place tomorrow and get it. And I want to take a look at your car while I’m there.”

There was no reply.

“Hello?” Looking at his phone, he realized it was dead. “So much for technological advances of civilization.”

He’ll just have to wait for the power to come back on.

Over at her place, Anna also realized what happened when he didn’t respond to her question about a good time to drop of the sign.

Oh well. She just hoped the power will be back on tomorrow. She had a lot of things to finish.

Chronicles of a Pessimist 11

Meanwhile, Jasper was heading to where he recalled Marty lived, at least back then, two years ago. His address could’ve changed in that time, but it was still something he had to check out. Besides, when the guy came into his shop, he was going on about the amazing house he scored, with a great view of the waterfall. One wouldn’t be too eager to move from such a place.

He wasn’t sure how he was going to get Kevin’s stuff, but he had a strong feeling that it wasn’t a good idea to leave Marty with access to something that contained personal information. And it was bad enough to be stuck in a hospital in an unfamiliar city. He could at least get his clothes back for him.

Approaching the gate, he was about to ring the residence when something caught his eye.

A vehicle. A black Hummer vehicle. He might as well check it out, while he was here.

To say he was surprised to see the offensive license plate here would be to say nothing.

He was planning to run the number at the police station the next day, hoping to weed out any models with that combination from the area, but this was quite the coincidence.

Somehow, he wasn’t surprised that a guy like Marty would be involved in a hit and run and an in-person assault in one day.

Dialing a familiar number, he waited for a friend to pick up the phone. Soon, a familiar voice answered, “Hey, Jas! What’s up?”

“All’s good,” he answered quietly. “How would you feel about arresting a violent jerk for two crimes at once?”

“What exactly are we talking about?”

“This guy hit Candace with his car yesterday and beat up my friend’s brother.”

“And I take it you have evidence of those things?”

“I will by the time you arrive. Here’s the address.”

It took some time for the jerk to come to the phone, by which time Jasper was completely drenched, but eventually the man answered.

“Who’s there?” Marty sounded exactly like he recalled him, immature and spoiled.

“Jasper. I worked on your car once, although you probably don’t remember me. May I come in? I don’t think you want the neighbors hearing what this is about.” In his experience, dealing with people like Marty involved behaving like an adult, considering that they refused to be such. “It involves an incident with your car outside of the downtown Starbucks.”

“Incident?” Marty sounded truly confused.

“Like I said, it’s better to discuss this inside.”

The gate clicked open and he found himself walking into the house where a very confused Marty was waiting for him.

“What incident?”

“Did you drive by that Starbucks around 9 in the evening?” Jasper asked him, putting in an effort to sound polite and calm.

“Yeah, I guess I did,” the other man admitted. “It’s possible I don’t recall much from that time.”

“Could it be because you were rushing on your way to Brooklyn Square Park at that time?”

“No, that’s not where – now wait a minute!” he exclaimed.

Jasper has never beeen a fan of lying. However, in his experience, the best lies involved as much truth as possible. “You do know that the area has suffered from several muggings lately, don’t you?”

“Yeah…” Marty was starting to look more and more guilty.

“To keep themselves and their belongings safe, several of the residents installed security cameras on the premises of their buildings. And after that young man was found in the park, in such a terrible condition, the cops were quick to review the recordings. They are working on a warrant for your arrest as we speak.”

“Oh, shit!” Marty was beginning to understand how deeply he screwed up. “Oh shit.”

“Indeed. And you hitting that girl with your car isn’t doing you any favors either. The coffee shop’s camera got your license plate and the police already know it.”

“Oh no! Is she alive? Please tell me she’s alive! I didn’t mean to kill her, oh man, I didn’t!” he started stammering. “I mean, yeah, I beat up that dudebro, but he was with my girl, man. I mean, I maybe wouldn’t have cared about it if I didn’t know, but why did she have to rub it in my face like this, bringing him into our cafe?”

Marty did not have a good grip on his life at all, from what Jasper could see.

“What do you mean, your cafe?”

“It was our spot. We met there, man. We always hung out there. She had to know me or my friends will see them. I couldn’t just do nothing. I am truly sorry about the girl, though. It’s like, the moment my buddy called me, I couldn’t even see anything until they were pulling me off that fellow. Oh, man, tell me I didn’t do any serious damage! I didn’t … um, you know…” He made a gesture to resemble offing someone.

“No, he is alive. Luckily enough for you,” Jasper was starting to see a slightly different picture from the one he initially pictured. Josie said she didn’t know Marty would pull something like this. That he wasn’t supposed to know she and Kevin were in town. And yet, it seemed she intentionally took Kevin to the one place where they were bound to be spotted by Marty or someone who knew him.

Kevin really made a good decision breaking up with her.

But Marty did make some epic bad choices last night.

“What am I going to do now?” the man asked.

“You should work with the police, Marty. If you talk to them and tell them how everything went down, you won’t face serious charges. They look favorably upon honest confessions.”

This whole time, Jasper had a recording app going on his phone, but he was now having second thoughts about using the information he got.

“And the girl is in the hospital. She got a serious concussion, but there doesn’t seem to be any lasting dammage. But I want you to understand that all three of you were extremely lucky that this is the outcome of last night. It could have been much worse.”

“Oh, man, I’m sorry ok? What about the guy? He’s going to be ok?”

“Once his ribs heal.”

“Shit.”

“And I think, both he and the police will look more favorably upon you if they don’t realize you’ve stolen his stuff.”

“What?!” Marty’s eyes grew wide.

“You took your ex’s stuff, didn’t you? How sure are you that all of it is hers?”

“Get it out, man, get it out! I’m not a thief, I swear!”

Meanwhile, Officer Parker did his due diligence and took all necessary evidence.

“So, I’m going to go to the cops. Or wait for them here, I guess, if they’re on the way. And I’m going to tell everything.”

“Alright, that seems alright like a plan. And Marty?”

“Yeah?”

“Think before you do something next time, will you? Especially if it involves your ex.”

“Ha. Easier said than done. I still can’t believe she ditched me the way she did. One day everything’s great, the next day, she’s moving there ‘to become a star’. I mean, I would’ve come with her, but she was pissed at me because Pop said she had no talent. I mean, I didn’t say that. I just told her making it out there ain’t easy. I meant it nicely. But she got upset. I didn’t realize she’ll serve me the divorce papers in the mail.”

“I understand. But what if she does something like this again? Brings another man somewhere that’s ‘your spot’? What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, man. I want to say I’ll be nice.”

“How about you call me? Here’s my number.”

He gave the other man his card just in time because Wyatt came in just then.

“Mr. Henning? I have a few questions for you.”

“Officer, I was just waiting for you!” Marty instantly launched into a spiel, telling him the whole truth. If Wyatt was surprised, he managed to hide it well. He did shoot Jasper a strange look, but the later just winked as he walked upstairs. He had a few things to get from there.

After a couple of tries, he found everything in the master bedroom. For a two-week trip, Josie sure packed well. Kevin, whose two bags were labeled (for those who actually bothered to read the tags), was much more portable. Jasper just hoped nothing inside was damaged as a result of recent events, but this he had no way to control.

Coming out of the house, he was absolutely unsurprised to see Josie, but she paled when she saw him.

“What are you doing here? Leave my stuff!”

“Oh? Is your name Kevin Luis? Because that’s the name on the bags.”

“Hello, Ms. Henning. Good to see you here,” Wyatt approached from the house. “If you would come down to the station with me and Mr. Henning, we’d love to ask you some questions.”

“I’m not talking about anything without my lawyer present,” she huffed.

“Absolutely, do call him. Now, would you like a ride to the station with us or will you be arriving there on your own means?”

“Hey, man,” Wyatt pulled him into a hug. “Long time, no see.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who moved to another city,” Jasper chuckled. “Are you back for good now, or temporarily?”

“Hopefully, for good. I didn’t much like Starlight Shores. Too much fake tan and even faker boobs,” he glanced in the direction of the house. “Did you come in here planing to talk him into a confession?”

“Well, you know me, I believe in giving people a chance.” The moment he heard Marty confess to Wyatt, he deleted his recording. It would not be necessary.

“And you didn’t have any nifty recording apps on your person or anything?” Wyatt inquired.

“No, that would be rather underhanded. Say, is everything going to be ok? I know he fucked up, but he seems truly sorry.”

“He does. I think he might lose his license for a while, and he might get a few months in the slammer, but I think the judge will look favorably on the fact that he willingly came forward to confess. That chick sure wanted to provoke him.”

“Yeah. Why do you want to ask her questions, though? To verify his story?”

“No!” Wyatt laughed. “We got a call from Starlight Shores. Apparently, our ‘movie star’ took a few ‘souvenirs’ from her studio when the director wouldn’t give her more lines. To be specific, expensive jewelry used for their latest period drama. The director called to see if we can get it back.”

“Yikes…”

“Yikes indeed. Well, what are you up to now? Want to grab a few beers in an hour or so?”

“Thanks, but I need to go home now before I pass out right here. Rain check?”

“Alright, man, take care.”

---

“Man, those brownies were delicious. Thanks for sharing. You sure they weren’t ‘special’ brownies?”

“Pretty sure,” Candace chuckled. “You’re welcome. Besides, I’m supposed to be eating less sugar. And exercising.”

She gagged at the idea. “I guess I’ll have to take my friend Isobel up on her yoga invite.”

“Oh, that sounds like a good idea. Dr. Hollow said I should try out some yoga breathing exercises once I’m out of here to speed up recovery.”

“When are they releasing you?”

“Hopefully soon. I hate hospitals.”

“Me too,” she agreed. “Want to play Last Letter?”

“Sure thing. Amsterdam.”

“Mecca.”

“Antwerp.”

“Perth!” she added.

“Hanoi”

“Istanbul!”

“You sure it’s not Constantinople?” he chuckled.

“Hmm, I don’t know, let’s see. Maybe there’s a 57-year old time traveler in a 13 year old’s body nearby who could tell us?”

The two of them burst out laughing, recalling the piece of media she referred to.

Her phone rang.

“Hey, it’s Jasper. Wonder why he’s still up?”

“Hey!”

“Good evening. Is Kevin there? I don’t have his number.”

“He’s here, yeah.”

“Cool. Tell him I have his stuff at my place. I’ll bring it over tomorrow. Oh, by the way, turns out the guy who beat him up is the same guy who hit you with his car.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, he’s at the police station now, confessing everything. He kind of got played by that Josie, which is what caused all the trouble last night. Tell Kevin it was a good call on his part, ending things with her. Turns out she stole stuff from their work. And she likely purposely brought him to that cafe. Anyways, good night.”

He ended the call and Candace relayed the information.

“Wait, you mean, she knew I’ll get spotted by his buddies there?” he sighed. “No wonder she was so set on grabbing a smoothie there. What a bitch.”

“Seems more like an attention seeker to me,” Candace admitted. “But she’s trouble, alright.”

“You could say that again. People at the studio know I’m dating her. They might assume I was in on it with her. Ah, that’s just my life.”

“You could call them and tell them you didn’t know. Are you going back there soon?”

“I don’t know, actually,” he admitted. “I was planning to, but with Anna here, I kind of want to stay a bit and catch up. Besides, now things are gonna be weird there because of Josie.”

“Anna would love it if you stayed. She’s been missing you for a long time. And hey, I think you’re pretty cool. I need a friend I can binge all my shows with.”

“Girl, me too!”

---

Meanwhile, at Jasper’s house…

It was a long day. Longer still due to having to deal with Marty. He kind of felt bad for the guy. Marty was almost his age, but it didn’t seem like his mental and emotional maturity were quite up there. Didn’t seem like he ever got to properly grow up. Getting married to someone like Josie couldn’t have been beneficial, either. But he did feel genuinely terrible about what he did, which meant there was a chance for him.

Then again, the day did have its moments.

Like waking up with Anna on his shoulder. He smiled at the memory. In truth, he woke up a few minutes before her, staying very still in order to not wake her. The sun was hitting her face in that really soft way, highlighting every freckle on her face…. He fell asleep with that image still firmly in his head.

Chronicles of a Pessimist 10

Kevin thought she’ll learn he was here eventually, but he didn’t realize it would happen so soon. Just like everything was great, Josie pranced into his room and started chattering away as usual.

“Honeybuns, oh no! Are you ok? Please tell me you’re ok.”

“The fuck are you doing here?” he growled.

“What do you mean? I came to check on you!” she looked genuinely surprised at his displeasure.

“Are you for real right now? Look at me! Your dumbass husband and his buddies beat the crap out of me last night. I have broken ribs, for fuck’s sake! And you came to check on me?” he yelled at her.

“He’s not my husband! We’re divorced!” she specified.

“Does this look ‘divorced’ to you?” he exclaimed.

“Well, how was I supposed to know he’ll do something like that? He wasn’t even supposed to know we’ll be in town,” she tried to make excuses.

“Well, he found out. And he was not happy. And frankly, neither am I. What the hell? This is the sort of thing you should warn a guy about?”

When he and Josie started seeing each other, he made sure to ask what her relationship status was – he had a previous bad experience when someone kept him on as a booty call while being in a relationship – and he was not too eager for a repeat. But Josie told him she was single and it didn’t seem like she was lying, until now.

“Honeybuns, are you mad? Aw, don’t be. Will a kiss make it better?”

She leaned in to kiss him and the smell of her too-strawberry perfume wafted over him, making him slightly nauseated. He was always sensitive to strong smells when he was hungry, and boy, was he starving right now? Except, this one was here and he knew food will have to wait until he managed to make her leave.

“Please don’t touch me. Look, when I asked you if there was anything I should know about your friends and family before coming here, this is the sort of thing I meant. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think it was a big deal. Marty and I went our separate way a year ago, I didn’t think he’d still care about all that,” she tried to shrug it all away like it was no big of a deal.

“Didn’t seem like no big deal to me. He said those documents aren’t valid. He said, you’re still married, for all he cares,” Kevin quoted her ex.

“Well, Marty is delusional! Sure, he didn’t want to give me the divorce and it took some threats from my lawyers to finally get his signature, but it’s a done deal,” she huffed. “Just because his ego is bruised, doesn’t mean he gets to still tell me what to do and who to date!”

“And just because his ego is bruised, doesn’t mean he gets to jump me!” he yelled at her.

“I’m sorry, ok?! What do you want me to do? Go back in time and warn you?”

“No, I want you to leave! We’re done!”

“You can’t just dump me!”

“Yes, I fucking can! Find yourself another idiot, but preferably one with a kink for getting beat up. I didn’t sign up for this!”

Candace was just taking a trip to the vending machine for some fruit snacks when she was distracted by the shouts coming from Anna’s brother’s room.

How interesting! This could only mean the girl in question was there. But from the sounds of it, there was trouble in paradise.

She had to check this out!

Approaching the room, she rapped loudly on the door, calling out “Hello? Not to sound rude, but you guys do realize this is a hospital, right?”

“Who the hell is that?” Josie turned around in annoyance, but Kevin was glad for a distraction.

“Hi! Do you want to come in? Whoever you are?”

“I’m Candace, I’m in the room across from here, and I’ve had a concussion yesterday, so I’m supposed to be resting in peace and quiet. Preferably, without loud arguments next door,” Candace put on her best diva persona.

“I apologize for any discomfort,” Kevin told her. “Josie was just failing to understand why she needs to leave and stop bothering me.”

“I’m failing to understand why not talking about my ex is reason enough to dump me so unceremoniously!” Josie continued.

“Because your ex is a psycho!” Kevin stated. “And if you have such problems understanding why I’m mad at you for not warning me about it, then the two of you are a perfect match. Please, leave.”

Ah! So that was what happened, Candace realized. And that would explain the “mugging.”

Glaring at the blonde, Candace summoned her most intimidating look.

“Listen here. If your failure to disclose important information put a person in harm’s way, it makes you directly responsible for whatever harm happened. Do you see those bruises on him? Yeah, your ex did that. Does this seem sane to you? Maybe you should figure out your relationships first, before you drag others into them?”

“And what gives you the authority to boss me around?” Josie rolled her eyes.

“The fact that you’re disturbing a patient in a hospital. Leave before I call both the cops and the doctors to deal with you. He should be resting.”

“And you, if you need anything, I’m in that room over there,” she turned to Kevin. “Let me know if you have any more disturbances.”

“Thank you,” he chuckled. “I think I can take care of it from now on. Besides, I’m sure you shouldn’t be spending so much energy on a near stranger.”

“Dude, you’re hardly a stranger. Your sister is a good friend of mine. And my friends’ siblings are like my siblings.”

“You and Anna? Wow talk about a coincidence! And you end up at the hospital at the same time as me…”

“Yeah, I know right? Well, I’ll leave you to rest now.”

She gave a final glare to Josie, motioning at the door. Despite her obvious annoyance, the girl followed.

“Oh, but do bring my stuff here,” Kevin called. “Or at least, leave it downstairs at the motel.”

“I can’t, Marty showed up and took everything with him,” Josie admitted, sheepishly. “I guess he assumed all the stuff was mine.”

“Oh come on,” Kevin groaned.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she told him. She totally wasn’t planning to do anything, but let him figure it out himself.

Leaving Kevin’s room, Candace came face-to-face with Jasper, who had by now realized he left his phone in her room and returned to get it.

“Hi again. Should you be walking around here instead of resting?”

“I’m not going to stay in bed all day, man. It’s dull. Came to get your phone?” she laughed.

“Yeah, Kelly sent some brownies, by the way. I put them in your room.”

“Now, that is some good news!”

“And this is?” his eyes shot to the blonde. He had rather hoped he’d never have to see her again.

A couple of years ago, she and this guy Marty (boyfriend? husband? hookup?) came into the shop to fix up their almost brand new BMW. Jasper knew it was a new car because it’s only been on the market for three months maximum. It was also in the worst condition he had ever observed in a car at that point. The brakes were shot, the tires looked like they had tried to to perform BMX tricks with the vehicle, the engine was dangerously overheated, and the expensive leather interior? Well, if a gaggle of wild boars had made a nest in that car, Jasper imagined it would’ve been in a better condition, plus cleaner.

That combined with the absolutely atrocious and idiotic behavior from both firmly convinced him that theirs was truly a match made in idiot heaven. After he and his team finally finished working on their car, they ended up closing down early and heading to a nearby bar for well-deserved drinks.

“Oh, her?” Candace rolled her eyes. “That there is the reason Kevin got beat up. Turns out her ex has some issues and didn’t like that she has a new boyfriend.”

“Are you kidding me?” Josie complained. “I said it wasn’t my fault.”

Turning to the blonde, he zeroed in on her. “Not disclosing about a potentially dangerous former partner is totally your screw up. Was it Marty?”

Her face told him everything. Those two truly deserved each other. Too bad they broke up.

“You have to talk to Kevin. He can’t just break up with me. We were supposed to have a vacation together,” Josie continued.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he nodded gravely. As soon as he turned away from her, he winked at Candace. “Our patient is up, I take it?”

“He is. Put in a poor mood. Which is rather understandable,” she looked at Josie with mild annoyance.

“Oh, yes.”

“Hey, man. How are you feeling?” he asked, coming in.

“Like death warmed over,” the younger man chuckled. “But better than yesterday, I suppose.”

“You sure gave us a scare.”

“You must be Anna’s friend? Yeah, that was not intentional. Didn’t exactly get to pick where those idiots were going to drop me.”

“They are idiots!” Jasper agreed. “How did you even end up with Josie?”

“Ah, we work together. Same movie studio. I’m a stage tech in Starlight Shores and she’s trying to be an actress.”

By the way he said it, it didn’t seem like Kevin thought much of Josie’s acting skills.

“She seemed fun and we got along well. Until now. This is some next level bullshit, man. I came here for a vacation, not for a hospital stay.”

“Good call on ending things with her. It’s like they say, with friends like these, who needs enemies?”

“Exactly! Too bad that idiot took all my stuff along with hers,” Kevin sighed. “I don’t care. If he as much as breathes wrong on anything, I’ll take him to court.”

“Good idea. Was there anything there that you really need?”

“Yeah, I guess. My laptop.” He frowned at the idea. It was a nice laptop. Who knew what that idiot would do to it if he realized it was his and not Josie’s? “Oh well.”

“Don’t worry about any of this. Just focus on getting better. The doctors said you need to take it easy for the next few weeks while you heal.”

“Thanks. I don’t intend to disobey the docs. I might have to warn them not to let her in, though,” he glanced at the door. Josie was gone, but she might show up again.

“I’d like to see her try to get past Dr. Cabral,” Jasper chuckled. “Well, I’ll let you rest now.”

“Alright.” He seemed nice, thought Kevin. So did Candace. It was good to know his sister had people like that by her side.

“How did you make her leave?” he asked Candace. “And why are you all dressed up?”

“I didn’t. Dr. Cabral caught her loitering about here and told her to make herself scarce,” Candace winked. He didn’t have to ask how Dr. Cabral knew Josie wasn’t supposed to be here. “And it’s not like I’m going to go to the cafeteria in my nighty. Going home already? You should. You must be exhausted.”

“Oh, yes, of course.”

He had one more stop to make before going home, but she didn’t need to know that.

After he left, she approached Kevin’s room and asked “Hey, I’m going down to get some food. Do you want anything?”

“Wait, hold up. I’ll come with you. I fucking hate hospital rooms,” she heard him start dressing. From the looks of it, she wasn’t going to be alone here for long. As long as she had someone to chat with, all was good.

“This isn’t bad. Their grilled cheese is actually pretty amazing!” Kevin exclaimed biting into the crispy warm bread.

“They cook pretty well, these days,” Candace agreed, digging into her mac’n’cheese. From her memory, the hospital used to have a much stronger focus on health foods – until too many patients complained. She was among them.

“You spent time here before?”

“Yeah, many months when I was 9. Had to skip a whole school year because of the chemo.”

“I’m glad you beat cancer. You’re cool. Thanks for dealing with Josie, by the way. She can be… dense.”

She snorted. “That’s one way to put it! So, Kevin, what do you watch?”

“Oh, a bit of anything, really. I’m still not over that whole GOT fiasco,” he grumbled.

“Oh, man! Tell me about it. Dany should’ve had the throne, she’s the freaking Mother of Dragons!”

“I know, right? And I was totally shipping Arya and that Gendry dude. I mean, come on, you bring them together after all this time for only a bit and then she just leaves? Talk about being let down by the creators,” he complained.

Oh, this was great, she thought. Finally, she could talk fandom with someone!

Chronicles of a Pessimist 9

The ambulance guys didn’t want to let both of them ride with them, but Jasper turned out to be very convincing when needed and they conceded. The two of them, once again, found themselves in the hospital, where a familiar face approached them – the guy from the barbecue, accompanied by another strict-looking doctor, whose card read Dr. Cabral.

“Hi. Sorry about the ambulance,” she greeted them. “This the guy from the park?”

“Yes,” Anna explained. “Please take care of him.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, we will,” the woman’s face softened. “I’m just annoyed because they won’t do anything about the crime in that neighborhood. Ridiculous, really.”

“From the bruising, I expect he has some broken ribs,” Marvin cut in. “And we should check him for internal bleeding.”

“Prepare the scans. And some painkillers. This guy’s going to wake up soon and he’ll need them,” Dr. Cabral agreed.

As they wheeled her brother away, Anna didn’t know what to do. This was not how she wanted to find him.

“Easy, easy. Let’s go sit down, alright?” Jasper tried to reassure her. For once, she didn’t tell him not to comfort her.

“You heard them. What if he’s seriously injured?”

“If he is, he’s in good hands. I remember Dr.Cabral from the time Candace was an inpatient here. She’s good people and always does well for her patients. We just need to have faith that he’ll be fine.”

“You haven’t seen him for a long time, right?” he asked, once they found themselves back by the patient rooms.

“Or talked to him,” she nodded wearily. “We both left home as soon as we could. We tried to keep in touch, but somewhere along the way, his number stopped accepting calls.”

“You must’ve been really worried.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah…” She had her reasons, too. Ever since they lost their mother, both of them didn’t fare that great. While she found herself spending time in questionable crowds and situations, she knew Kevin started partying and partying hard. From the few people she kept in touch with back in Twinbrook, she knew he became a teenage delinquent for a while. She kept on calling him, trying to reason with him, but she wasn’t doing much better herself and besides, he didn’t really care to listen. The one time she was able to drive back to Twinbrook, she managed to corner him, but he was drunk and told her to go back where she came from.

And then, around the time Rudy passed away, her calls stopped reaching him. She could only imagine the worst, especially knowing what was happening to him previously, but she was in no state to start looking for him.

“This isn’t my first time starting college,” she found herself admitting. “I first started after high school. Everything seemed to be going well, until the moment I checked my student account. My parents were paying for school and they were supposed to pay for the next semester. Turned out, there was no money for next semester. It was all spend on Mom’s cancer treatments. Kevin was away from home, too, at one of those sports schools. He was 13, but due to being really good at soccer, they let him in early. Imagine being 13, away at boarding school for the first time, and finding out your Mom is dead.”

“I’m sorry. Neither of you deserved to go through this.”

He was looking at her with sadness and concern and she found herself feeling a strange calmness for the first time in a long while. The words just kept on coming from her.

“We didn’t care about the money,” she explained. “Money is money, it comes and goes. College and sports could be put on hold too. But Mom’s been in treatment for months. Months! Practically the entire time we were at school, she was sick. We called home so many times. And every time, they talked to us like everything was fine. I can imagine that Mom wouldn’t have wanted to worry us. She was proud that way. But Dad, how could he? He played right along. He never told us anything until it was too late. I think this was the worst part of it.”

“You never got to say goodbye,” he understood.

“No. By the time we found out, it was already all over. At least, we got to attend the funeral.”

“You don’t talk to him, do you? Your father?”

She shook her head. “I can’t bring myself to. I imagine this is why Kevin got into so much trouble when he had to live at home. He couldn’t trust him anymore either.”

“He’ll be ok. Your brother will be ok. Look, the doctor is coming over and she doesn’t look too upset.”

“Hello, my dears,” Dr. Cabral greeted them. “Well, there is good news and there’s bad news. The bad news is, your brother has some broken ribs. He’ll be in a lot of discomfort for these next few days, but ultimately, these things heal. The good news is, there is no internal bleeding.”

Anna felt a huge weight drop off her shoulders. Kevin was going to be ok.

“See? Told you,” Jasper smiled reassuringly.

“However, I don’t think your brother was mugged,” the doctor continued. “His wallet, with all the money inside, was on him. From the looks of it, someone just really wanted to hurt him.”

As the doctor took leave of them, Anna was stunned. What had her brother gotten himself into?

Very early the next morning, Candace woke up, head still pounding, but already annoyed with having to stay here, in bed. Also, she was starving. If her memory was good, there was a vending machine filled with all sorts of unhealthy but delicious snacks just around the corner.

Careful so as not to wake her brother, she crept up and made her way towards the hallway. Opening the door quietly was the biggest challenge.

Of course, she didn’t get very far.

What she saw made her stop in her tracks, but in a very good way.

Of course, she had rather hoped they had gone home and slept comfortably and peacefully, but this wasn’t bad, not bad at all. She was pretty sure this happened by accident, but people did often do things subconsciously if they really wanted to. Maybe a good friend could give them a little push in the right direction?

“Candace? Why are you out here?” Ashton approached behind.

“Shhh. Look,” she whispered, pointing at their friends.

“Oh. Huh…” he didn’t see that coming.

Pulling him back inside, she quietly shut the door.

“Well? What are we going to do?”

“Oh, no no no. I know you’re now in full Ship Mode Activated, but they’re people, not TV characters, Candy. You can’t just ship real people,” he tried to stay firm, but she laughed.

“Sure you can. How do you think matchmaking came to exist? Besides, haven’t you noticed the looks they give one another? Please tell me you have,” she was appalled at how clueless he was in the romance department, but he honestly shook his head.

“Oh, brother dear. No wonder you were surprised when Rio and Beth hooked up on the show. Look, I’m not saying we need to do anything serious. But maybe, giving those two more reasons to end up in the same place at the same time can be arranged.”

“What if they don’t want that?” he argued weakly.

“If they don’t, nothing will happen and I’ll admit I’m wrong. Sounds good to you?”

“Sure. Now, why were you going there? You’re supposed to rest.”

“Can you get me some chips? Pretty please?”

“Anything for you, sis. Just please be careful with yourself.”

A little while later.

When you sleep in front of a giant window, it’s no wonder when the rising sun hits you squarely in the eyes.

If that’s not a rude awakening, how about finding out you’ve fallen asleep on the poor guy you’ve spilled your whole tragic backstory to?

“I’m so sorry!” she sat up with a start. “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s quite alright, don’t worry.” It’s not like he wasn’t leaning right on her. Quite awkward indeed.

“Did we really spend all night at the hospital?”

“Afraid so. But our patients should be awake now,” he smiled. “Do you want to check if your brother’s up?”

“Oh, yes, definitely. I wonder if they’ve given him more painkillers yet. I know he could use them, but I don’t want him to get used to that stuff.”

“The doctors don’t start making their rounds until a bit later. You still have time to check on him. I’ll talk to Candace and then stop by the Starbucks. I’m on good terms with their manager and I know she adores Candace, so I have no doubt she’ll show me the video footage.”

“Good luck. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

As usual, Candace was glad to see him, but she did want to know why he and Anna haven’t gone home.

“We did,” he explained. “But then we came back when we found Anna’s brother beaten up on the street. He’s here now, in one of the other rooms.”

“Her brother?! The one she’s been out of touch with this whole time?” she exclaimed. “Wow. That’s a hell of a way to get back in touch with a sibling.”

“You could say that again. So, how are you feeling? Better? Any changes?”

“Mostly annoyed at being here,” she groaned. “But Marvin stopped by a few minutes ago – Dr. Cabral wants to run a few tests on me. Apparently, my blood-work isn’t as great as she’d like.”

“Nothing serious?” he asked carefully.

“I don’t think so, she just doesn’t think I’m eating and living as healthy as I should be.”

“Well…” he wasn’t going to say it, but Candace did have a fondness for unhealthy foods and sweets, to the point that she always had something sweet with her. All those sugary drinks probably weren’t doing her any favors either.

“I know, I know. I’ll try to do better once I’m out of here. What are you up to today?”

“Going to stop by your favorite place and ask to see their camera footage.”

“Tell Kelly I said hi and not to worry, will you? She’s already nervous enough about things,” she giggled.

Despite being at a hospital, she was pretty cheerful, he thought. That was good. Positivity was the best way to deal with anything.

Kevin was still asleep when Anna came into his room, but he woke up a little while later. Seeing his sister by his side was a big shock.

“Anna?! How are you here?”

“My friend and I rode here in the ambulance with you after finding you. You were right outside of my building.”

“You live here? In Brooklyn Heights? Damn…” he sighed. “How long have you been here?”

“About a month, I guess. You?”

“Nah, I was in Starlight Shores until a few days ago.” He tried to move his shoulders to be more comfortable, but ended up grimacing in pain.

“You have broken ribs,” she warned him. “What happened to you?”

“Ran into some assholes,” he grumbled. “You have some rough people in this city.”

“And they just attacked you? Just like that?” She knew her neighborhood had some problems, but she doubted there were such violent gangs around the place. He was hiding something.

“Well, I wasn’t just going to give them my money, I need it myself,” he reasoned. “I didn’t think they’d take it so seriously.”

“How nice of them, then. Beat the crap out of a guy and leave his wallet on him…” She didn’t want to accuse him of lying, but she always hoped their meeting would go better than this. “How are you feeling? Do you want something to eat? I can bring something from downstairs.”

He didn’t answer for a few minutes and she took it to mean he that wanted her to leave. She tried to stand up, but he called out “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” She didn’t know what to expect.

“For being a dick that last time we’ve seen each other. I wasn’t in the right state of mind, but I know it was no excuse for how I talked to you.”

“Oh. It’s ok.”

“No it’s not. I drank too much back then. I shouldn’t have pushed you away. I missed you, Anna.”

“I’ve missed you too, so much,” she found herself tearing up.

“Hey, don’t cry. Now that I know where you are… well, I’m not going to disappear on you again. I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” she smiled. Maybe things weren’t so bad, after all?

“So, how have you been? It’s so stupid, isn’t it? My old phone got messed up and I didn’t even remember your number.”

“Well, a lot happened. I’ll tell you all about it in a little while. But now you should rest.”

After talking to Kevin, somewhat calmer, Anna knocked on Candace’s door.

“Come in!” her friend was excited to see her. “It it true? Jasper said you found your brother.”

“It’s true. Kevin’s across the hall from here.”

“EEEK! This is great! You were worried about him and all and now he’s here. So, what happened? Do spill.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be resting?” Anna asked, curious at her energy.

“Girl, how am I supposed to be resting? I don’t even have my laptop here, so I can’t have a Netflix binge. I’m bored. And I’m fine. I don’t even care what they say, I’m not staying here one minute longer than I have to,” Candace complained.

Knowing her history with hospitals, Anna couldn’t blame her.

“I’m sure they’ll release you soon. They just don’t want to be liable for releasing you too early.”

“I know… so, what’s the deal?”

“He got seriously beaten up by someone. Broken ribs and all. And he’s saying it was a mugging, but they never took his wallet,” Anna relayed the facts.

“There’s a girl involved,” Candace pronounced.

“What?”

“He must be lying because a girl is involved. Is he seeing anyone?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s my best guess. He probably doesn’t want to get her in trouble. But then again, if she’s the reason he got beaten up, is it even worth it?”

Anna wondered how her friend always had such sharp appraisals of these situations, but it was a good thing she did. Candace seemed to be better at picking up social cues and signs.

“You’re worried about him, I know. But you guys haven’t been in touch for a long time. Look on the bright side. He’s back in your life. You can get reacquainted now. It’ll just take some time.”

“You’re right.”

“What is it, now?” Candace asked, noticing Anna tearing up.

“I’m just glad you’re ok. Jasper just came in to talk with me when we got the news that you were here. We probably ran 3 red lights coming here. And then, waiting for you to wake up…”

“Hey, I’m ok, it’s all good. I bet Ash and Jas thought I was sick again. They spilled all about it, didn’t they?”

“Yeah…”

“It’s cool. It’s not a secret, I just don’t like talking about it. But if you’re worried, just know that it was a long time ago. I’ve been healthy for quite some time now.”

It was ridiculous that a patient had to reassure their visitor in the hospital, but Anna needed to hear those words.

“And that’s all very dandy, but if you want to keep on being healthy, you need to reevaluate your eating habits, Miss Byrd,” Dr. Cabral came in. “You are only 20. You’re not supposed to have such high sugar levels at this age. How many sweets do you consume in a day?”

“Hi, Dr. Cabral. Yes, I know my eating habits aren’t the best. How about I make a serious promise to improve them?”

“A serious promise? Well, that I can live with. Pencil in a regular exercise routine somewhere into that promise, and we have a deal.”

“Ok, doc. Say, how long am I going to stay here?” Candace asked.

“Tomorrow. If your condition doesn’t get worse and you don’t get any more dizziness or nausea, we’ll send you home,” the doctor promised.

After Dr. Cabral leaves, the girls burst out into laughter.

“Well, that was Dr. Cabral. She was actually my old doctor when I was little. I think she transferred to general medicine sometime when I was in high school. And as you can tell, she’s got a fun sense of humor.”

“It has to be a requirement, working at a hospital,” Anna agreed. “It’s a stressful job.”

“No kidding. Medical professionals are legends in their own right. Anyways, you should go home. Get some sleep. We still have a lot of homework due next week, don’t forget that.”

“I’d never.”

---

Meanwhile, after a quick stop by his apartment for a shower and a change of clothing, Jasper stopped by the Starbucks to talk to the manager. Like Candace said, Kelly was prone to freakouts over small things and having someone hit by a car outside the shop might’ve already put her on edge.

“Hi, Kelly. Do you have a moment?”

“OMG, Jasper, how is she? It was terrible! That car came out of nowhere!”

“Yes, I know. But she’s alright, mostly.” After filling the woman in on Candace’s condition, he got to the point. “I was wondering – your cameras face the street, don’t they? Could I maybe have a look at the footage from yesterday?”

“Of course, no need to even ask. But I must warn you, the police were here already, and they said they couldn’t see the car’s number. And the idiot had those really dark windows, so his face was barely visible. And I was like, well that’s a violation right there, you can’t tint your windows so dark. They should do something about this.”

“Yes, they really should,” he agreed. Kelly’s energy, he always thought, was wasted being a coffee shop manager. She belonged out there, on the front lines of some protest movement.

“But yes, the footage. Let me just get my laptop.”

As soon as he got the video to play at the right time, he could see what Kelly meant. The car was perpendicular to the camera, and therefore, the license plate couldn’t be seen.

Although…

He looked closer. There, for a brief moment, the number, or part of it, was reflected in a passing car’s windows.

“HUO” he repeated to himself, not that it was necessary. The blessing and curse of having near-photographic memory was that he remembered all the things he saw. “Or maybe it’s HU0?”

“You saw it?” Kelly asked with excitement.

“Part of it. I don’t blame the police for not spotting it. It’s not a lot, but it’s something.”

“Thank you. I hope you can find this bozo before he hurts someone else,” she fretted.

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking of doing,” he reassured her. “Thanks for helping.”

In truth, he wasn’t sure what he would do once he found the driver. Sure, he could throw a good punch at them, but would this do any good? But still, finding that person was a priority.

Chronicles of a Pessimist 8

A few days later.

“Good afternoon! Ooh, I like your picture. Gives me that sun-kissed feel,” Candace came in, cheerful as usual.

“Hey! Thanks. Egypt’s cool. I still kind of wonder at how fervent they were about those pyramids. Did you know they weren’t really built by slaves like popular culture would have us believe? Apparently, it was considered a major privilege to work on their construction and only elite workers could do it?” Anna asked. “It was considered an honor to work on the pharaoh’s final resting place.”

“Huh, I guess nothing really changed in all the centuries,” Candace chuckled. “Sure, no one’s lugging around big stones, but this is corporate business to a t.”

“You are not wrong. So, how was yesterday? You said you were hanging out with Hunter?” Anna remembered.

“Yeah, hanging out. As friends,” Candace shook her head. “I kind of thought it would be cozier with just the two of us there, but I’m afraid there isn’t any chemistry.”

“I’m sorry. You’ll meet the right person,” Anna reassured her, but Candace shrugged.

“It’s no big deal. Friends are good too. Speaking of friends, I talked some sense into Jasper. He’ll contact you soon to talk things over.”

“That works. He has my number, right?”

“Yes, and here’s his.”

“What if we have an argument again?” Anna asked. She wasn’t really looking forward to figuring out a mess she didn’t even cause.

“I have it on his assurance that he won’t start any conflict,” Candace winked. “I made it very clear that he’s not allowed to put people into awkward positions any more.”

“Umm…”

“Don’t worry about it. You have my number. If he starts up any issue about not accepting back gifts, just shoot me a text or a call.”

“Ok.” In all honestly, Anna didn’t want to drag Candace into a conflict involving one of her oldest friends, but she didn’t know how to deal with this herself. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Yep. Starbucks, 5 pm.”

“I’ll fill you in on everything, then.”

---

“So, you’re going to meet up with the guy? Good luck,” Dem winked.

“What’s with the wink?” she asked, finding it hard to be annoyed. Dem was just a silly guy who loved joking about with everyone and he didn’t ever mean anything badly.

“Only the fact that your whole posture changes whenever I bring him up,” he chuckled. “Seriously, I don’t get why you’re so set on avoiding him. Doing the opposite can help get rid of all that tension. Speaking from experience.”

Before she could react to his suggestion, her phone rang with the number given to her earlier by her friend.

“Hello?”

“Anna? This is Jasper. Do you have time to talk right now?”

“Well, I’m at work right now,” she started, but Dem was nodding towards the clock – her shift was almost over. “But I’m almost done.”

“Great. Do you work far from your home?”

“No, it’s that bar, The Pig Skin.”

“Perfect, I’m actually in the neighborhood right now. Be there soon.”

He hung up, with Anna not knowing whether to feel annoyed or just glad that they were getting over it sooner rather than later. Besides her, Dem was giggling like a schoolgirl.

“OMG, do I actually get to meet that guy face to face? Can’t wait!”

She tried not to scowl when he came in, greeting someone familiar with an easy smile. What even was that? Did he know someone everywhere he went? Did anyone actually live that way?

She didn’t have much time to ponder that because he came straight to her.

“Hello. Look, before you say anything, I do want to apologize properly for this whole mess. I should’ve realized my actions would put you in a difficult position and not doing so is a screw up on my part.”

“Oh…” this was not how she expected this to go, but this was good. “Apology accepted. And I’m sorry for coming in and yelling at you, for whatever it’s worth.”

“Apology accepted on my end, as well,” he smiled uneasily. “Look, do you want to talk it over somewhere in private? It’s pretty loud here.”

“Sure, let me just grab my jacket.”

It didn’t take her long to change into warmer clothes and return to the bar room, but when she did, he was looking at his phone with a stony expression.

“Alright, I’m ready.” He didn’t seem to hear her. “Is everything alright?”

Finally he looked up, putting the phone away, informing her with a dead voice.

“No. Candace is at the hospital. ER. I don’t know what happened, but I’m one of her emergency contacts and they just notified me.”

“Please be careful!” he freaked out after they were nearly t-boned by a reckless driver at one of the crosswalks. “It wouldn’t do for us to end up in the hospital as well.”

“I’m doing my fucking best,” she growled through gritted teeth. Since he was on foot when they got the news, she drove both of them and now he was freaking out openly, but she was doing the same on the inside.

She had just talked to Candace this afternoon! She was perfectly healthy, what could be wrong?

Anything. Anything could be wrong. That’s how it usually happened. One would be going about their daily business, not bothering anyone, and life would decide you pissed it off one way or another.

This rain wasn’t helping the road either.

“Sorry, it’s just, I’ve already had a bad run in with an idiot in a Humvee,” he apologized. “I’m afraid, the moment they buy one of those cars, they pay for it with whatever remaining brains they had.”

She didn’t disagree. Eventually, they got to the hospital in one piece.

“You guys! What’s going on?” Ashton arrived at the same time, freaking out even more. “The hospital called me and I came as soon as I could. They didn’t say what happened. Oh, man, I hope it’s not cancer again. She’s been healthy for so long, we can’t go through that again.”

“I’m sure it’s not,” Jasper tried to reassure him. “It’s ER, not oncology. I mean, she’d be there if it was.”

He didn’t sound completely sure.

“Wait, let’s not freak out just yet. We need to talk to the doctors first,” Anna tried to stay calm.

“Ok, ok, that sounds right,” Ashton answered, trying to think reasonably.

Approaching the hospital staff, he tried to find out what happened to Rochelle Byrd, to which he was told she was currently with doctors. There’s been a car accident and they were making sure she was ok.

“So. Rochelle?” Anna asked after they were told which room Candace will be brought to once the doctors will finish running scans on her. All they could do now was wait.

“Yeah. She hasn’t used that name in years, though.” Ashton took a deep breath. “She wanted to change her name to Candace when she was undergoing chemo. Said it reminded her of candies. You don’t just say no to a little kid who’s going through that.”

“She was 9,” Jasper added. “She pulled through it all like a trooper. I don’t know if she realizes these days how close she came to…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, taking a deep breath instead. He didn’t have to finish it.

“I’m sorry,” Anna told them, pushing down the tears that threatened to start spilling. “I didn’t know any of it.”

“I don’t think she likes to talk about it,” he explained. “Not that I blame her.”

This explained a lot about Candace, she thought. Her constant strive to experience everything, the love for life and everything in it, the outgoing personality. She came too close to losing all that once and now she held on to these things as firmly as anyone could.

Except, now she was in the hospital again.

“Did the doctors say what happened?” Anna asked. “Is it serious?”

“They’re saying she got lucky,” Ashton sighed. “This car came out of nowhere, speeding, and if she’d been standing or walking slightly differently, we wouldn’t be here right now. As it was, the force of the collision threw her backwards and she fell. But she hit her head and they are certain she got a concussion.”

He leaned back, looking out the window. He didn’t need to talk about all the bad side effects of head injuries – they were fully aware of them.

But she was alive and that was what mattered.

“Are they running scans to make sure there isn’t any internal bleeding?” Jasper asked.

Ashton nodded. “They’ll bring her back here soon, they said.”

“She won’t be happy waking up here,” Anna noted. “I doubt she has many good associations with hospitals.”

“No, but she’ll be thankful that she’s awake,” Jasper sighed. For the first time, Anna noticed the small wrinkles on his face that she didn’t pay much attention to before. This was the second time that someone he cared about was hurt by reckless drivers. She had to give him major props for putting on a brave front near Ashton.

“She’s here,” the young man breathed, as the doctors brought in his sister. “Can we go in with her?”

“Yes, but not all of you at once,” the doctor warned.

They decided it would only be fair for the brother to stay with his sister at this point. At this point, they had to wait for Candace to wake up.

“Let’s leave them be,” Jasper suggested once Ashton went in. “There’s a cafeteria downstairs. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t get some caffeine, they’ll need another bed for me. ”

“Yeah, it’s been a long day.”

Only this morning, everything was fine. And now, her friend was in the hospital with a head injury.

Why did she feel like that was somehow her fault?

“You ok?” he asked, sensing her discomfort.

“More or less.”

“She’ll be ok. She has to be,” he grimaced. “If it wasn’t so, the doctors would’ve told us.”

The cafeteria was empty at this time of night. The silence was deafening, until Jasper started thinking out loud about the events.

“I wonder if she spotted anything about the car that hit her. But if she did, she probably won’t remember it, if it happened so fast.”

“You’re assuming she’ll be thinking about that once she wakes up,” Anna huffed. Who cared about the driver? As long as Candace was alright and healthy, the driver could go screw themselves, for all she cared.

“Oh, Candace will care. And what kind of a jerk just takes off after hitting someone with their car? Someone who should be held liable, that’s who,” he argued. “I’m going to stop by Starbucks tomorrow and take a look at their security footage. It should show me the car and the number.”

“Hoping they’ll come into your shop?” she asked.

“Hell no! Going to call the cops on them. I’m not a vengeful person, but I wouldn’t trust myself with the vehicle of someone I knew was responsible for this,” he admitted.

“I’d trust myself, alright – to puncture all of their tires and smash their windshield,” she found herself smiling. This was good. Talking it out was a good way to deal with this development.

“Well, your answer is probably more honest than mine,” he admitted. “it just irks me, you know. Sometimes, we get clients at the shop and you know they don’t give two shits about who they hurt in their daily business. And I’m not talking just about their questionable driving either.”

“Oh, yes, we all get that sort.” She recalled a few nights ago, when Dem had to throw out some idiots who were making female customers uncomfortable – on purpose. “By the way, we never got to finish our conversation back at the bar.”

“I was hoping you’ve forgotten all about that,” he gave a wry smile.

“My memory isn’t that bad.”

“No, I suppose not. Look, I understand why you feel bad about taking the money from me. And I would feel weird taking it back. How about an alternative repayment – how would you feel about doing some designing work for me?” he offered.

“What sort of designing?” she was curious.

“You must have noticed I have practically no signs on the shop building,” he explained. “I used to, but my relations with my former signs guy ended on a rather poor note and I didn’t want to continue using anything by him. So, could you design me something for the building?”

“Sure, I can do it. Are you sure, it would be enough, though?” she gave some merit to the idea. She wasn’t sure designing shop signs cost quite as much as she was trying to return.

“Absolutely! And if you’re not sure about how much those things usually cost, just check the listings online. If anything, I might end up owing you,” he reassured her.

“Alright, then. May I ask what happened between you and the old signs guy?”

“I referred some of my business-owning clients to him,” he told her. “And then he double-charged them. And afterwards, tried to lie to me about it. I preferred to sever any business relationship with him afterwards. Who knows what else to expect from this person?”

His phone pinged. Checking it, he smiled. “It’s Ashton. She’s waking up!”

Throwing away their cups, they headed upstairs once more. They didn’t know what to expect, but Candace was fully awake when they arrived in her room.

“How are you? Are you dizzy? Nauseated? Do you remember what happened?” Anna barraged her with questions, but the younger girl chuckled.

“Ooh, I’m an extraterrestrial from planet Weird. Who are you people? Where am I? Just kidding. Chill, Anna. People get concussions all the time.”

“So, you’re not feeling any weird memory lapses or a feeling of general disorientation?” Jasper asked, recalling some of the common symptoms of concussions.

“I am feeling kind of dizzy and yeah, my head hurts, but it’s to be expected. Hey, Ash, remember how you gave me a hard time about buying those tall shoes? Well, guess what saved me? If not for them, I wouldn’t have been pushed away from the collision. The heels literally saved me!”

“You can wear all the heels you want, honey,” her brother breathed a sigh of relief.

“Do you happen to recall anything about the car that–”

“ –Hit me?” she finished Jasper’s question. “Yeah, some jerkface in a black Humvee. I think you might be right about those cars costing their owners whatever remaining brains they have.”

“A black Humvee, you say,” he recalled the car that almost hit him earlier that day. Nah, it would be too much of a coincidence, wouldn’t it? Then again, stranger things have happened.

“Yeah. So, why are all of you in your jackets? Aren’t you hot in here?” Candace asked.

Ashton promptly started feeling her forehead to see if she was feverish, but Candace was right – it was hot. They were just so freaked out by her admittance to the hospital that they forgot about all else.

“You guys are probably tired?” she asked. “I mean, it’s kind of late. You should go home.

They agreed – after all, she probably wanted to rest and Ashton was staying with her.

“So, that’s it. I hope there aren’t going to be any more side effects for her?” Anna wondered as they left.

“I sure hope not. In any case, I know the docs here are good. They give their patients as much care as required.”

It was still raining when they came out, even harder than before.

“Let me drive you home?” she offered.

“It’s alright, I can take a cab,” he tried to refuse, but she insisted.

“No, it’s not a big deal for me. It can be hard to get a cab at this hour.”

He saw the logic in her idea. After all, she was the one with wheels at the moment, and they still needed to discuss the logistics of what she was supposed to design for him.

As she drove them, they settled on a few points. Nothing too flashy, but something that made sense for an auto-shop and was at least visible from the road.

Around the time they reached Anna’s neighborhood, the car made a sound that reminded Anna strongly of an old weary man sighing at life’s troubles – and stopped.

“Oh, crap.”

“Water in the wiring,” Jasper quickly pronounced. “We should’ve expected it, I suppose. It’ll need to dry out a bit and then I’ll be able to restart it.”

“Dry out?” she looked at the sky, still full of storm clouds. That would have to wait. Luckily, they weren’t far from her apartment. It looked like he’ll have to get a cab, after all. “We’re not far from my place. Let’s go before we get completely drenched.”

They made sure to walk briskly, considering what’s been happening in the neighborhood lately. It was a good thing that Anna’s building was just across the street from the park.

They almost crossed, when something caught their attention, or rather, someone.

“Do you think that guy is ok?” he asked, as they observed someone passed out at the park. Homelessness wasn’t a big issue in the city, and those who found themselves in a difficult situation could get a spot in a shelter without much trouble.

Of course, the guy could just be drunk, considering that the bar was nearby.

Looking at the young man on the ground, Anna couldn’t believe who she was seeing. And now, he was passed out right outside her apartment!

“Kevin!!!!”

Before he could stop her, she was running towards the young man, forgetting all about the rain.

“Oh, no, honey, Kevin!”

This was definitely among her worst nightmares. How many times had she imagined something terrible happening to him? And here he was, covered in strange bruises on the street.

“Do you know him?” Jasper ran over, looking the young man over. He immediately started checking his pulse

“He’s my brother. I just don’t understand. Why would this happen? Did they try to mug him? Did he resist?”

“Possibly. But he’s alive. Just very hurt.”

Personally, Jasper didn’t think this was a mugging. The young man wasn’t dressed exactly extravagantly and hardly anyone would think he had much money on him. And what sort of a mugger would do so much damage?

Pushing away all other thoughts, he dialed the ambulance, since Anna was too beside herself to do it.

“Hello, we need an ambulance at Brooklyn Square Park. There’s an injured person. Young, male, passed out and covered in bruises. No, I don’t know what happened to him. Perhaps, you can ask him once you treat him and he gets better. Ok? We’ll be waiting.”

Chronicles of a Pessimist 7

A simple online search for “Jasper Dyer” and “Mechanic” brought her to this location. Approaching, she did see a small sign over the door – “Dyer Autobody and Repair”.

The girl at reception, Marissa something, tried to stop her from going in without an appointment, but she firmly told her she needed to speak with Mr. Dyer. Anna guessed she gave off a major annoyed customer impression, which made arguments seem like a bad idea.

She wasn’t sure what she was going to say to him or do, but the longer she put this off, the smaller her resolve would get. So she walked straight to where his office was.

The door was unlocked, so she just let herself in. He was sitting at the computer, although it didn’t look like he was busy with anything.

“Anna? Hi, what brings you here? Car trouble?” he stood up, seeing her.

“No. Account trouble. There’s been a strange activity on my student account. Something about my tuition being paid off in the full.”

She had to hand it to him, the guy had a great poker face.

“You’re not going to say anything?” she asked. “Don’t try to act like it wasn’t you. I know it was. Just tell me why?”

And, he knew when to tell the truth, it seemed. With a deep sigh, he admitted, “Ok, yes. It was me. And it was supposed to be anonymous for this very reason – I didn’t want you to feel awkward about it.”

“So, you didn’t think I’ll be suspicious? You thought I’d just see my tuition being paid off and not think there was a mistake of some sort. Do you know how hard I was freaking out? I thought someone hacked me!” she found her voice getting louder.

“I’m sorry? Like I said, I didn’t want to make things awkward, I just wanted to help,” he sounded apologetic.

“You could’ve asked if I needed help in the first place. How did you even find out? Did Candace tell you?”

He shook his head. “The window was open when you told her and I was right there. I just don’t understand why it’s such a bad thing that I paid the bill. You were really worried that day. And you’re already going to school and working full time. I just wanted to make things a little easier.” He sighed, admitting, “And I didn’t think you’d accept if I offered.”

“No, I wouldn’t have,” she agreed. “Thank you. I do appreciate the intention.” It was true, she really could use the help. And he did make it easier to get the money together. “But I’ll pay you the money back. Please.”

 

“There’s no need. Seriously. See, this is why I tried to stay anonymous,” he frowned. “Look, please don’t pay me back. I’m not going to accept it.”

“Excuse me? So it’s ok for you to give me money but not vice versa?!” she felt affronted.

“That’s not what I meant. What I meant was, I did this as a gift. Whoever gives back a gift?”

“A person who feels put in an awkward position by it, that’s who,” she felt felt the tears coming on.

She turned away from him, but he realized things were really not going well.

“Look, I’m sorry. I apologize for making things weird.”

His hand on her shoulder was so not helping.

“Look, please stop. I will pay back this money. And that’s that. Ok? Ok. End of discussion. Now I’m out.”

Thankfully, he didn’t try to stop her from leaving.

---

She wasn’t sure how she drove to the Starbucks by her school safely, but now she was having second thoughts about coming here. The couple behind her was involved in the middle of a serious “I love you” fest and she wasn’t sure she could handle another “Love Bunny” or “Cutie pie” from them without shouting at them to scram.

Who even talked like this in public?

This sucked. Going to that auto-shop was a dumb idea. She was such an idiot. Dem was right, she should’ve just closed her eyes to it all. After all, the transfer was anonymous and she wasn’t supposed to know.

The truth was, she wasn’t even properly angry with Jasper. At least, not in the way she was supposed to be. Yes, he did cross a big personal line by giving her the money. But in all honesty, it was a nice thing to do.

She was angry because, by doing so, he made himself strictly off limits. Not that he wasn’t before, but this made it more real. She couldn’t possibly take the guy’s money and then have any sort of a relationship with him. Even fantasizing about it seemed wrong now.

She sighed. It was so messed up, but the entire time she was in his office, she imagined getting him out of his clothes. It was a really good thing she left when she did…

The couple behind didn’t stop their relentless flirting and it didn’t seem like they were going to stop any time soon. She so needed a smoke.

The cigarette seemed to help a little, and what helped even more was the annoying couple leaving. Finally!

“Hey! There you are!”

She heard her approach even before Candace called out. The girl slid into the seat across from her, studying Anna with a concerned look on her face.

“Ok, what’s going on? Jasper’s been blowing up my phone for this entire hour, saying he fucked up with you, but he can’t explain himself in a coherent manner. What happened?”

“You don’t know? Apparently, he overheard us talking on Friday, so he paid off my tuition. Anonymously. I still found out, though,” she explained.

“Aw, man, tell me he didn’t. Here we go again…”

“Again?” Did this guy have a history of doing stuff like that?

“Yeah, this is classic Jasper behavior right there. Come in, observe the situation, and ‘fix’ it without even asking anyone if that’s what they want. That’s why I didn’t even mention your issue to him. I knew he’d do something like that.” Candace shook her head, wondering why her friend just couldn’t understand when people freaked out at such acts of kindness. “I assume that’s why you rocketed out of school as soon as class was over? To go see him and talk about it?”

“Yeah, it didn’t go too well, though.”

She filled Candace in on how the meeting went, more or less, keeping out some of the more inappropriate parts of her presence there.

“Yeah, I’m not surprised you freaked out,” Candace sympathized with her. “I would’ve too. Even if I know I have a friend who has such fixer tendencies.”

“Fixer? Is that the term for someone like this?” Anna wondered.

“I have no idea what the proper term is, honestly. But for all his great qualities, Jas has one awful trait – if he perceives a problem somewhere, he’ll try to fix it. Right there and then. Without talking it over with anyone.”

She burst out into laughter recalling an event from her younger days.

“When I was about 11, I was staying over at a friend’s house and he came to pick me up. Well, my friend’s house had a squeaky door. So, tell me, what should a person do the first time they come to someone’s house, when they haven’t even met the people living there? Maybe come in, introduce themselves, ask how the people are doing. What did Jasper do? Took out his tools and started fixing the door. That’s exactly what my friend’s parents saw when they came downstairs – some strange guy digging around in their door hinges.”

“Oh my… is he, like, ok?” Anna found herself laughing as well at the image that easily presented itself in her head. “I’m sorry, but this is so wild!”

“Yeah, I don’t know. I guess everyone has their quirks. Some more than others. But I’m glad you told him you’re not happy with what he did. Someone other than our family needs to talk sense into him every once in a while.”

“I really want to give the money back. Like I told him, I almost had enough to pay the bill myself. I was going to do it next week. But he said he won’t accept it,” Anna explained, but Candace reassured her:

“Don’t worry. I’ll settle this issue. He doesn’t get to put someone in an awkward position and not give them the option out of it.”

“Say,” asked Candace, moving closer. “You’ve been smoking for a while, haven’t you?”

Her eyes were on the still lit one in Anna’s hand.

“Yes, unfortunately. Take it from a smoker – the best way to go with this is not to start?”

“I know. I’m not planning to either. Have you, by any chance, left a pack of cigarettes at out place the other day?”

“No, why?”

“I found a pack. I know Jas has a smoke occasionally, but they definitely weren’t his. And not yours either…”

“Well, a lot of people were at your house the other day,” Anna shrugged.

“That’s true. I found them among Ashton’s things, though. It’s so weird, like, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t smoke. So why would he have a pack?”

Ashton didn’t strike Anna as a smoker either. And according to Candace, he was single, otherwise Anna would’ve assumed a girlfriend left them.

“Yeah, he’s been acting kind of strange, lately,” the girl sighed. “Anyways, hungry? There’s a diner not far from here.”

“This place kind of reminds me of this diner back home,” Anna noted when they came in.

“Where was home?” Candace asked, studying the menu.

“In Twinbrook. Kind of your typical industrial all-American town,” Anna explained.

“Only child?”

“No, I have a brother. Probably,” Anna cringed.

“Probably?” Candace was confused by her usage of that word.

“We haven’t been in touch for several years now. The last time I’ve called the only number of his that I knew, it was disconnected,” she explained, trying not to think too hard about what it could all mean.

“That sucks. And there’s no one you can ask about him?”

“I don’t really know.” She could probably ask her father, but whether he’ll give an honest answer was up for debate. And she didn’t want to be fed any more lies by him. “What about you? Just you and Ashton?”

“Pretty much. Mom and Dad had us both when they were older. They’re still alive, but very retired. Moved where it’s warmer as soon as they filed for retirement. They wanted me to come with them, but I like it here.”

“I can understand that. It can be trying to change your whole environment.”

When their food came out, Anna was surprised to see Candace pouring extra sauce on her fish and chips.

“What?” the younger girl asked, noticing her smile.

“I remember, this one time I was hanging out with some friends in Bridgeport and they gave me grief for ordering a high-calorie dish. I’m glad that’s not going to be an issue with us.”

“Girl! People who count calories, especially others’ calories, are the biggest buzzkills. At the salon, we had this one girl come in. Her friends have been telling her she had extra pounds. I mean, what sort of Mean Girls crap is this? We all told her to get better friends. She listened, luckily. She’s doing well now.”

“Some people are only out to bring down others, it seems.”

After a delicious meal, Candace had to run home and Anna had a bar shift to get to.

“You take care now. Like I said, don’t worry about anything, it’ll get settled down. And if Mr. I Can Fix the World gives me any grief about not accepting anything from you, I’ll throw him all the tantrums I didn’t throw as a kid.”

That night, after work, she found her thoughts drifting to the day’s events and all the information she received.

Candace said Jasper had fixer tendencies. Was that just a personality quirk or a side effect? She wondered if he was the same way before his wife died. As she knew firsthand, losing a loved one could make a person develop unhealthy coping mechanisms.

She remembered his face at the auto shop – he looked lost when she told him she wanted to give the money back.

And now she felt bad for flipping out at him. Maybe she could’ve gone about everything in a more peaceful way.

She looked at the window. Autumn was strongly making its presence known and soon they’ll have even more frequent rains. Rain always made her more melancholy than usual.

And, after spending several hours with the chatty Candace, she was feeling the silence. Not in a good way. Maybe she was less of an introvert than she previously thought.

Even though she tried not to, she kept wondering what he was doing right now.

---

Somewhere across the city…

He knew it was stupid, paying off a near-stranger’s bill, especially anonymously. No wonder she flew into a panic.

He couldn’t not do it, though.

The moment he saw her, it felt like he’d known her his whole life. Except, of course he hadn’t – he had never met her before! He wasn’t sure what the proper name for this feeling was, but it unsettled him.

During the entire party, he observed her. She smiled, did her best to look friendly and happy, but something about her told him that she was not happy. He thought that was wrong. She was young, talented, had her whole life ahead of her. It wasn’t right that she should feel this way.

When he found out she was going to school and working full time, it was a painful flashback. A flashback to him and Rose, both practically penniless, pulling double shifts just to put food on the table and pay rent. Maybe if they weren’t both so tired back then, maybe if she didn’t need to work on that poorly-lit street, then maybe Rose would’ve been here still.

Turning around, her went inside. These days, he could afford to live comfortably. He could also afford to help people when his conscience told him to.

Except, now that kind of made a mess. It’s ok, he’ll figure it out.

 

Chronicles of a Pessimist 6

The next morning, she was woken up by her doorbell ringing. To her surprise, it was Ashton.

“Hi… I’m guessing, you either didn’t get the messages or Candace didn’t text you…” he realized, seeing as she was still in her pjs.

“The messages?”

“She wanted to have an outing at the park today. I know she was going to invite you, but I don’t know if she remembered to let you know,” he explained.

“Let me see.”

No,  no, there they were, three different messages from Candace about hanging out today. After her less than decent dreams the previous evening, Anna took some sleeping pills to help herself knock out – and missed all the correspondence from Candace.

“Give me a few minutes, ok?” she asked Ashton.

“Sorry about this. She actually asked me to come up here and check on you. When you weren’t replying after all this time, she kind of worried,” he explained.

“I would do. Rough night.”

Candace was already waiting for them at a park not far from her apartment. She didn’t seem to be in a great mood, however.

“Hi, Anna. Sorry about this. I was planning to have a cookout here, but look at this weather.”

It was pouring cats and dogs and any talk of barbecuing could fly right out the window.

“That’s alright. So, what are we doing?” she asked.

“Just getting coffee for now and then we can decide when everyone’s here,” Candace explained.

“How many others are coming?”

“Hi, sorry I’m late,” she heard the familiar voice before she even saw him. So much for avoiding the guy.

“Not exactly park-friendly weather we’ve got,” he commented, sitting down.

“No, we’ve been wondering what to do,” Ashton explains. “We haven’t had a decent weekend for a while, now. Would be a shame to let it go to waste.”

“We could go to a baseball game,” Jasper offered, but Candace and Ashton both grimaced.

“It’s Llamas versus Dolphins. Remember what happened the last time those teams played?” Ashton reminded.

“Ugh, yeah,” Jasper cringed. Turning to the confused Anna, he explained, “Both of those teams have very eager fans. So eager that when things don’t go their way, food fights ensue.”

“I definitely did not enjoy getting the Pepsi out of my hair last time,” Candace recalled. “All the lounges are still closed. And they’re all formal and not that fun, honestly.”

“How about the movies?” Ashton asked.

“Wait, when was the last time we’ve gone singing?!” Candace exclaimed. “The Nook’s open.”

“That’s true,” her brother instantly agreed.

Anna thought Jasper was less than eager for karaoke hour, but he put on a smile and agreed to go.

Meanwhile, Candace knew she wasn’t just imagining the tension at the table. She wondered if her brother noticed, but he generally wasn’t too attuned to such things. She files this piece of information away for later.

The Nook was a relaxed place with a little bit of everything. There was the karaoke, there was food, there were games, and more than anything, there was a comfortable environment to spend time with friends.

And there was their classmate, doing his best rendition of Uptown Funk, much to Anna’s entertainment. Surprisingly, he wasn’t half bad.

“He’s adorable,” Candace chuckled, leaving her seat and going towards the stage to get a better view of the performance. The rest of them followed. “Ash, let’s sing after his turn.”

“Sure thing,” he willingly agreed.

“What about you?” Anna asked Jasper. “Are you also a fan of singing karaoke?”

“Not really,” he admitted. “I prefer to watch.”

She could agree with that. Getting up there and trying to sing the right notes was a little too humiliating for her liking. But she was sure Candace won’t let her sit this out.

As soon as Hunter left the mic, Candace ran to take it. She and Ashton started belting out a pretty good rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Me”, a choice that didn’t surprise Anna. The siblings turned out to be pretty good singers and she relaxed a bit.

“This is one of Candace’s favorite spots in the city,” Jasper startled her from watching the duo on stage. “It was a given that she would want to come here.”

“She’s very outgoing,” Anna noted.

“Oh, yes! Very. I have yet to find a person she didn’t endear herself to,” he chuckled. “The biggest grumps are not safe to her friendliness.”

“Hmm? Well, I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest grump…”

“Ha, ha, no shade intended,” he laughed heartily. “It’s just something I’ve observed multiple times with her. You’re not grumpy. Just reserved. Which is understandable. Not all of us have the boundless energy to experience the world to the fullest like her.”

She had no words in response. Why does this guy seem to understand so much about her? It was creepy.

Before she could ponder it more, Candace was already pulling her up towards the mic.

“It’s cool, just follow my lead,” she urged her. “Do you know this one?”

“Yeah, more or less.”

Candace’s choice was something she knew pretty well, Under Pressure, and Anna was more than happy to let Candace sing all the “fun” parts, especially since she had the voice for them.

While they sang, Jasper and Ashton talked about work.

“I don’t know how many times I’ll have to tell that Robertson guy to stop braking so hard. One of these days he’ll wear out his brakes completely and crash, and it’s going to be too late to help him,” Jasper complained.

“I warned him too. He accused me of trying to up-sell him services,” Ashton knew the problem customer. “With some people, you just can’t reason, I’m afraid.”

“I know, I’m just worried for the guy. He’s old. I’d hate for something to happen just because he can’t take safety seriously,” Jasper sighed.

“We can warn people and worry about them. That’s all, I’m afraid. And maybe, tighten his brakes up every time he comes in, a little bit,” Ashton chuckled.

“True. Are you going to the gym tomorrow evening?” he asked, but Ashton shook his head.

“Sorry. Cheat day tomorrow.”

After their karaoke session, the four of them ended up getting crepes, as per Candace’s recommendation.

“So, have you been thinking about what you’re doing your final project for the class?” Candace asked. “It seemed like such a straightforward assignment, but I’m kind of stumped right now.”

“Actually, I haven’t really thought about it yet,” Anna admitted. Although, it probably was a good idea to start thinking.

“It’s like, you can’t focus a whole set of art pieces about something insignificant, can you? At least, I don’t think Prof would want us to,” Candace pondered.

“That’s the hardass prof you’ve mentioned, isn’t it?” Jasper asked. “He’s really that strict?”

“More like, demanding,” Anna explained. “He doesn’t seem mean, though.”

“That’s a good thing. Some educators really miss the whole point of their job,” Ashton huffed. “Remember Mr. Upton?”

“Oh, man, don’t even remind me,” Jasper sighed. “I still enjoy remembering the day he got caught altering the tests of the kids he didn’t like.”

“Someone actually did that?” Anna exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah. Some people really are that terrible. Anyways, what are we doing next?”

“You guys are. I have a shift to get to, but thanks for the day out, all of you.”

Anna had to leave or she was going to miss her downtown club gig.

That evening, she dug out her old canvas and let the inspo flow. The downtown gig went better than she expected. A couple of other shifts like this and she would actually be able to pay off the tuition without an issue.

For once, she didn’t hate the fact that she was thrown into a busy nightclub atmosphere. The loud music and bustling people were a great way to clear her head from the rest of the day.

She had intentions to avoid that Jasper guy, but spending time with him and the Byrds was actually really fun. Maybe she didn’t have to avoid anyone?

How did professor Zeeman put it? “Go out there, live.” That… really wasn’t such a bad idea. If she got invited out with them again, she won’t say no.

---

She was using the art lab after class when Professor Zeeman came in for a chat.

“I just wanted to say, you did really well on the last few works you’ve turned in. Keep up the good work.”

“Thank you, professor.”

“And congratulations on getting that tuition issue sorted out.”

“What?”

“I checked you student profile this morning – there aren’t any holds,” he explained.

This didn’t make any sense! She had only just sent in her scholarship application. There was no way it got approved so quickly.

“This has to be a mistake…”

“Is it? I hope not!” he frowned. Although, billing mistakes did happen, as far as he knew. “You should check it on your end. Please let me know if there really is an issue.”

She rushed downstairs. Logging into her account, she instantly saw that, as the professor mentioned, her tuition was paid off in the full.

With a one time deposit. From a source she did not know. If anything, it looked like a money transfer, but there weren’t any identifying marks to tell her who sent the money. What was going on?

Going straight to the main office, she tried to find out what was happening from the lady there, but the woman was extremely unhelpful.

“What do you mean, you don’t know where the money in your account came from?”

“I mean, it’s a strange transfer. And I know it’s not from my scholarship or financial aid.”

“Well, if it’s there, it’s supposed to be. Why worry?”

“Because it could be a mistake!”

“Oh, chill. If it’s a mistake, it’ll disappear.”

Exactly. She didn’t want her account to be in trouble again, but if the money was there by mistake, she wanted to give it back. Hopefully, without any trouble.

Of course, unless the money was transferred to her by someone out to make trouble for her for that very reason.

“Hey, where’s your uniform… what’s wrong?” Dem asked as soon as she ran into the bar that evening.

“Dem, did you pay off my tuition?”

“What?! No! You didn’t ask me too, yet,” he answered warily. “Why?”

“Because it’s been paid off and I’m freaking out. I know the money is not supposed to be there!”

“That’s weird…”

“Yeah, weird… I mean it, there’s nothing identifying on that money transfer. No routing numbers or account, just a transfer. What if it’s some sort of a hacker thing?”

She sank into a chair and tried to steady her hands from shaking.

“Um, why would anyone be trying to hack you?” Dem asked in confusion. “No offense, but you’re not exactly this big Persona Non Grata.”

“Not to you, I’m not…” she shuddered. There was a person who might still have a grudge, even an unreasonable one, on her.

“You’re worried about that guy who was in here back then.”

She nodded. Kade, despite his pleasant appearance, had some questionable computer skills and she knew for a fact he used them before on someone who crossed him. Sure, he knew she wasn’t really to blame for his brother’s death, but if he had some weird vendetta against her, who knew what he would do?

“Hmm…” he thought about her concerns. It was possible there really was something wrong with her account. But he could help with this.

Sitting next to her, he whispered, “Look, come to my place after the shift today. I don’t know what he can do with computers, but I have some cyber skills of my own. Maybe I can track down where that money came from.”

“For real?”

“Yes. I used to work in IT Security when I still had the office job and you could say I still have some useful skills in that aspect. And if there’s anything funny with your account, I’ll be able to see it.”

“Thank you. Are you sure it wouldn’t be a bother?”

“Well, just don’t mention it to your friend Hunter. Or his sister, of course. Dating or not, this sort of thing can be frowned upon by legal authorities,” he warned her. “But honestly, I’m kind of curious about this, now that you mentioned it. The mystery, the intrigue!”

---

Coming to Dem’s address after work, Anna wasn’t sure what to expect, but it sure wasn’t the biggest definition of a “Bachelor Pad” she’s seen in her life.

“Come in, come in. Do you want anything to eat? Drink?“ he welcomed her in. “The comp’s this way”

“Thanks. I’m good. Let me just log in for you to see what’s up. By the way, I see you’re really into electronics,” she noted.

“Ha ha, guilty. But they just make things more fun. And besides, who doesn’t prefer to watch games on the big screen.”

Following him into what was probably supposed to be an extra bedroom, but was now a computer and entertainment room, Anna wondered how Dem managed to come off as a mature adult this entire time. His whole home was a teenage boy’s dream, down to the galaxy wallpaper. She never thought there were actual people who would keep arcade machines at home, but there she was…

“It’s pretty easy to track any money transfer, even an encrypted one, if you know what you’re doing. I think a lot of digital crooks think they’re the only ones who know their way around a computer – that’s how they get caught. Anyways, if there’s anything weird with your account, it’s going to be easy to notice. I’m not surprised that office chick didn’t take your concern seriously, though. When I was at uni, they once made a mistake and enrolled one of my comp sci friends in an advanced surgical lab class. How? No idea. The class names weren’t even similar to any of our usual classes. But he and another medical student just had the same surname and first initial.”

“Wow. How long did it take them to figure it out?” she chuckled.

“When he came into the lab and passed out at the sight of his assignment. Not everyone’s made for med school.”

Once Anna logs in, her eyes land on the object on Dem’s table. “Woah, is that one of those VR experience things?”

“Oh, yeah! You can use it, as long as it doesn’t make you ill from motion and stuff,” he explained.

“Cool!”

It’s an interesting item and she can see how some would shell out the big bucks for these things. The images inside almost feel real and it can be cool to have an intergalactic adventure or a medieval fantasy through something like that.

“Ok, I’m looking at it now,” Dem told her. “The transfer is a real one. Let’s see. It’s from one of the local banks. They actually have a branch not far from us. And let’s see. It does seem like the owner of the account wanted to keep his name off the transfer. But it’s really not an option, these days. Like it or hate it, in the internet age, anonymity in financial matters isn’t an option. Too many big boys tried to use it to hide their offshore money. And there’s his name. Do you know any Jasper Dyer?”

“What!?” she spluttered, glad that she already put down the VR goggles, because she would’ve dropped them for sure.

“You ok?”

“I don’t know. That’s the guy. The one you were teasing me about the other day. I mean, I didn’t know his last name until now, but I don’t know any other Jasper.”

“Well, we know it’s not Kade now, right?” Dem asked.

“Yeah, but why did Jasper pay my tuition? How did he even know about it?” Wait, Candace might’ve told him. It was actually quite likely, since she spilled his entire romantic history to her in minutes…

“But you said he’s pretty cool. So, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Dem couldn’t understand why she wasn’t happy with what they found out.

“So, what are you going to do now?” he asked.

“I don’t know. You know, I almost have enough to have paid the bill myself. Like I wanted to do, in the first place,” she admitted.

“And he just went and paid it off, the way he did,” Dem understood. “I bet he wouldn’t have done it if he’d known you’d freak out like this.”

“Which is exactly why people shouldn’t do such things out of the blue and anonymously!” she exclaimed. “I’m a near stranger to him. Don’t worry, whatever I’ll do, I won’t mention your name in connection with any of this.”

“I wasn’t worried about that,” he shrugged. “It’s just, is it really such a bad thing that he did this for you? You seem angry.”

“I’m not angry, just unsettled. Call me too neurotic, but I just can’t deal with things like this happening. They just shake everything up.”

“Understandable. But can I give you a bit of friendly advice? Don’t let these worries make you shut yourself off from the good surprises, too.”

That night she kept thinking about what to do. On the one hand, the guy transferred the money to her anonymously. On the other hand, she now knew. She couldn’t just stay quiet and pretend she didn’t know!

But why? Why do something like this?

And he was just sitting there, talking to her like nothing happened, too! Did he just assume she wouldn’t wonder where the money came from? Is there anyone who would ignore something like this?

And Candace… of course she told him. She should’ve known better than to share personal information with such a chatterbox. Or at least, she should’ve warned her not to tell anyone. But she didn’t have reason to expect such a turn of events…

She’ll have to confront him. Only this way would she get any peace about it. And find a way to give him back the money. She really couldn’t just accept this big sum from a guy she barely knew.

Chronicles of a Pessimist 5

“Well, that was quite a party,” Candace joined her on the couch that evening. She sounded tired, which conflicted with her outgoing personality.

“It was something, alright. Do you regret inviting those guys?” Anna asked.

“Lord, yes! What even was that? You know, they even tried to hit on Alayna and Edith – two women clearly in a relationship with one another. How out of touch must one be for that?” She sighed. “I just didn’t want to cause drama by not inviting them.”

“I get you. I was just thinking how much Rodrigo and Donovan seem to have in common. Did you know Donovan tried to hit on me at the bar the other day? Even though he has a wife and child.”

“Two! He has a wife and two kids!” Candace exclaimed. “The eldest is a teenager. I think he got his wife pregnant when they were very young. Wonder how that happened,” she added sarcastically.

“Looks like that didn’t teach him anything,” Anna observed dryly. She leaned into the couch’s headboard. Despite the many people and the snags, she didn’t hate the party. “I’m actually glad I was at your party. Looks like getting locked out was life’s way of telling me I need to get out more.”

“An extreme way, but it sure worked,” Candace laughed.

“What were things like for you in Bridgeport?” Candace suddenly asked. “Whenever it’s mentioned, you get really sad. Unless you don’t want to talk about it, of course.”

“Yeah, it was kind of sad. Things there were kind of lonely.” She found herself filling Candace in on everything that happened, with Rudy, with her so-called friend group.

She told her, how, afterwards, she ended up putting most of her belongings in storage and taking to the road for almost two years. How, after she came back to Bridgeport, things were, somehow worse.

“It was like, I knew the city, but I also didn’t. Every time I saw someone I recognized, I would go out of my way to make sure they didn’t see me. I’m pretty sure, many of them pretended not to, even if they did.”

“That sucks. I can’t believe they all just believed that Kade guy. I don’t care what the ‘evidence’ is, you don’t just assume your friend is a drug dealer and turn everyone against them. That’s a slimy thing to do,” Candace was beyond herself. “Are you sure he didn’t have some strange feelings for you?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure about anything anymore. I wasn’t in my best mindstate when I met all of them, so it’s possible I ignored some red flags,” she admitted.

She definitely missed the fact that Kade had a shitty personality.

“Can I do your nails?” Candace suddenly asked.

“Uhh…”

“Nothing big or fancy. Just a nice coat or two. I find it makes people feel better.”

“Alright. It probably won’t last long, though,” she agreed.

“It’s not meant to. Nail polish is meant to be fun, not permanent!”

“And there! All finished. A couple of minutes and it’s going to be set,” Candace finished painting the last nail. “Doesn’t it look nice?”

“Thank you, it really does,” Anna admitted. Candace chose a nice, non-glittery, dark red coat that actually looked like something she would’ve picked out herself.

“Like I said, getting their nails done tends to put people in a nice mood. And let me get us some bubbly while it’s drying. Champagne is cool with you, right?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Over the champagne, Anna felt a question bubble up from her. “So, what’s the deal with that Jasper guy?”

“Oh, Jas! He’s great! He’s like our honorary older brother, of sorts. Why”

“He seemed interesting. What with his early exit and all,” Anna explained her curiosity. Truth be told, she wasn’t completely sure why she cared.

“He is. And I don’t blame him for leaving early, what with Isobel being here. They have a good relationship these days, but sometimes it still gets awkward.”

“Oh?”

“They used to be married, then there were the ugly breakup and divorce…” Candace sighed.

“And they’re on good terms now?!” Anna was surprised.

“Well, it was a long time ago. Years pass, wounds heal. People see things more clearly. Anyways, he hasn’t had anything serious since. Resigned to being a perpetual widower, probably. Sad, he’s still young.”

“Wait, I thought you said he was divorced?” Anna asked in confusion.

“Yes, he and Isobel divorced. His first wife is the one who died really young. Which is, basically, why the second marriage ended.”

“He and Rosalind were high school sweethearts. Married as soon as they graduated. I was too young to really remember her apart from the stories, but by all accounts she was an absolutely lovely person. It was a hit and run – poorly lit road, reckless driver, you know the drill. Jasper was crushed for a really long time and Isobel was there by his side through the worst of it. She went to school with him and Rosalind and was friends with both. Many thought she was pining for him even when he was with Rose, but, yeah. She was there, he relied on her, in the end, they tied the knot. Anyone could’ve told them it was a terrible idea. You can’t remarry while you’re still grieving a loss of your big love. Likewise, you can’t build a relationship with someone who is still not over a dead person.”

“Who called it quits?” Anna asked.

“She did. She lasted with him for three-four years, but in the end, she couldn’t deal with it anymore. He wasn’t in the best state, back then. I think Isobel leaving was what it took to make him pull himself together,” Candace admitted.

“So, neither of them got with anyone since then…”

“Well, they haven’t remarried. I know Isobel had boyfriends since,” she winked. “The kind who spoil her rotten and treat her like a queen, until she gets bored and moves to the next one. I’m not sure about Jasper. He probably had a fling or two, but nothing serious.”

This would explain the strange look she saw him give his ex wife, Anna realized. The amusement mixed with sadness.

“Does she have a tendency to make out with her exes when Jasper’s present?” she asked.

This made Candace laugh heartily. “Oh, yes. Unfortunately, she does. It’s a bit ridiculous. I’m not sure what she’s trying to prove by that. She’s the one who called it quits, after all. But hey, everyone has their quirks. More champagne?”

Anna woke up early once more and wondered how long she’ll have to stay here. Not that the Byrds were anything but welcoming and wonderful, but she felt very uncomfortable staying with them when she barely knew them. She was eventually drawn out of her thoughts by Candace’s giggles.

“Oh, hey. I made you a coffee!” she told her, continuing to giggle at something on her screen. “It’s Hunter. He keeps sending me funny memes. Get it, this guy’s dog dragged the sprinkler into the house!”

“Lol. And he took a picture first?” Anna chuckled.

“Why, of course. How else would people believe him? He’s kind of cute, isn’t he? I mean Hunter, not the dog.”

“He’s not bad, yeah. Why? Are you interested?”

“I mean, if he asks me out, I won’t say no,” Candace admitted with a sly smile. “Say, is everything alright? You were muttering last night when I came out for a glass of water. Something about things falling through?”

“I was? Sorry. I just got some bad news about my tuition being higher than I anticipated. But I’m working on it.”

“Ok… If you need any help, let me know. Seriously,” Candace offered.

Why was everyone here so helpful, thought Anna. She quite liked it but it was also unsettling.

“Thank you. I’m getting there, but in case I can’t get the money myself, a friend offered to loan me the sum,” she reassured her. In truth, she wasn’t sure she wanted to take Dem’s money. He was a great guy, but she hated owing people.

The two of them are interrupted by knocking on the window.

“Oh, hey! Jas is here,” she jumped up to let him in.

“Hello, girls,” he greeted them. “And hello, Anna, specifically. I’ve been thinking about your problem. What kind of an apartment do you have? Is the door something impressive and electronic of something more physical? If it’s the later, I might be able to help.”

“Really? It’s a basic door with a lock, but the lock is good.”

“That’s wonderful. I brought my toolbox with me. If you have time, we can go to your place now and I can give it a try,” he offered. “Free of charge, of course!”

“That would be really nice of you,” she thanked him. “Are you sure it’s not a bother?”

“Nonsense! It’s been a while since I got to dig around a lock,” he chuckled. “These days, my clients are better about not forgetting their keys inside the car.”

“Ok, then!”

After a big hug from Candace, the two of them set out towards her apartment.

As Anna drove them, she made sure to be extra careful about all the rules of the road, considering Jasper’s history. It wouldn’t do to freak the guy out, when he was so willing to help her.

“So, how long have you had this car?” he asked.

“For a while, actually. I bought it shortly after high school, and it’s been with me ever since.”

“And it still runs this well? Impressive.”

“I’m rather surprised myself,” she admitted. “I’ve stopped counting how many miles I put on it.”

“It’s an old model. They used to make them sturdier back in the day. Modern models tend to wear out faster. Say, isn’t this the area where someone got mugged a month or so ago?”

By now they were approaching her building and she bit her lip. It was true, her area didn’t have the best reputation these days.

“Yeah, that’s the place. It happened in the park.”

“And you live here? Do you own a mace or pepper spray?”

“No, but I find that they’re pretty useless if a person doesn’t have a quick enough reaction.”

“Also, true.”

As soon as they came up to her floor, he dug out his tools and got to work. Clearly, Ashton wasn’t joking about his skills, because soon, Anna heard a click and her door budged. 

“Aaaand we’re in!” he announced, turning to her with a huge grin.

“Thank you so much!” she stepped in, her eyes instantly landing on the object that caused the whole situation in the first place. “Oh, man, this is embarrassing.”

Hey keys were right there! Right on the table! How could she have forgotten them? Was her head so deep within her ass that she stopped thinking?

“But that’s great! At least, you haven’t lost them. Trust me, that would be much worse, especially if the wrong person finds them.”

He sure had a point there.

“Can I offer you anything? Water, juice?” she asked.

“Thank you, but I already had a hearty meal. Is everything set?”

“Yes, everything seems to be in order.”

“That’s great.” His eyes landed on the piece she got back from the professor the other day. “Did you paint this?”

“Yes.”

“It’s impressive. You have real talent. Could I see more of your work, sometime?”

“Ah, I’m afraid everything else is currently submitted to my professor. But I’ll get it back soon, so, sure, why not?”

“I’ll keep you to your promise. Well, I must go now. Take care.”

---

“Dude, you will not believe what happened to me over these past two days!” She started spilling everything as soon as she saw Dem. “I got locked out, had to sleep over at my classmate’s house for two days, had to go to a party!”

“Yikes! How did that go? Although, you don’t seem as miserable as I imagined you’d be after that. Hmm… You’re also kind of flushed.” He winked in a knowing way. “Anyone interesting at the party?”

“Nooo!!! I mean, it was just Candace, her brother, our classmates and their friends.”

“And yet, you’re totally blushing. It’s ok, you can hold on to that info for as long as you like. Not like I’m bursting at the seams from curiosity.”

“Ok, so I did meet someone cool. He’s the guy who let me in and he’s a mechanic. Pretty useful. I think we can be friends.”

“Friends…” He wasn’t even trying to contain his chuckles. “Gotcha. Same as Toya and I are friends.”

“No, I’m not looking for anything romantic. A relationship is the last thing I need in my life right now, besides I’m pretty sure this person’s on the same page.”

“Eh, from my experience, relationships tend to happen to people whether they’re looking for them or not. But hey, it’s all up to you. Speaking of that, a friend of mine at the club downtown needs a replacement bartender for a couple of nights. Do you think you can help him out?”

“What about you and the bar?” Anna asked.

“Weekends are usually quieter in here, and the clubs are more bumping. I think you should take the gig.” He didn’t need to add that the clubs downtown usually had more of a tip income.

“Thank you, Dem. I appreciate it. Tell your friend I’ll be there.”

---

Their bodies pressed together, the steam of the shower being only slightly less hot than the blood in their veins. It was perfect. His hands were holding her tight and his voice whispered sweet nothings. It was the moment she waited for this whole time…

She woke up with a start.

What the actual fuck! Why was she dreaming this?

Screw Dem for putting things in her head with his jokes and teasing.

And now she was embarrassed for even having that dream. What was wrong with her? She had just heard about his tragic love life and now she was, at least subconsciously, thinking of this?

She needed to cool down.

Iced water was always a good idea. Cool down, refresh her mind.

She was serious about not wanting any romantic relationship. The last one was more than enough for a lifetime. Besides, this guy clearly had major baggage of his own.

She didn’t want to put her heart into this precarious situation again.

She thought he had an interesting face, though, the kind she’d like to draw.

Fuck.

This is what she thought about Rudy when she first met him.

No, no, no. This was so not the plan.

She’ll just have to avoid Jasper if possible. She was sure it wouldn’t be too difficult. The guy seemed to be a busy person and so was she. And as they say, out of sight, out of mind.

Chronicles of a Pessimist 4

Candace’s house was quite far from the city center and Anna thought her car might run out of fuel on the way there, but in the end, she got there without a hitch.

As soon as she saw her, Candace ran out grinning.

“You made it! Come in, come in!”

The interior didn’t look expensive, but comfortable and lived-in.

“So, we have two queen beds, so you can either share with me, or you can take the couch. Which do you prefer?”

“Uh, the couch is fine, thank you. Are you sure it’s ok for me to stay here like that?” Anna still felt really uncomfortable.

“Like I said, we have people crashing with us all the time. Ok, let me get you some pjs and you should be set. Bathroom’s over there and we have some food,” Candace waved aside all her concerns. “Do you have any dietary restrictions?”

“No, none. Speaking of food, can I give you my groceries?”

“Sure thing. They’ll be safe and sound in the fridge.” A young man who bore a strong resemblance to Candace emerged from the bedroom, a little groggy. “Oh, and this is Ashton, my big bro.”

“Hi!” the young man called. “You must be Anna? Nice to meet you. Please feel at home.”

“Thank you, you are all so welcoming,” she smiled at his easy manner.

“We try. And hey, I’ve totally been in your shoes. Getting locked out is the worst. Well, take care, I’m off to the gym.”

It took her some time to fall asleep on the Byrds’ couch, but she woke up mostly well-rested. It was still early, but the house was already busy.

Candace and Ashton were busy arranging something, getting food and drinks out of the fridge, freezing beverages and otherwise preparing for people.

“Hey, what’s up?” she approached her friend, who smiled and reminded her:

“The party, remember? It’s Friday!”

“Oh!!! Right! I did forget.”

And unless she wanted to pretend to be scheduled to work today, Anna was staying here. Considering that Candace let her stay here without any inhibitions, she didn’t want to lie.

“Cool. Can I help with anything?”

“Thanks, dear. We mostly have it covered. We have the keg set up, some other beers, some soft drinks… and Ashton’s going to be making hot dogs later on. I don’t even try to get between him and the grill – he’s way better at it than I am.”

“Same, honestly.” While Anna wasn’t going to burn down the kitchen anytime soon, she also wasn’t winning any cooking competitions. “So, who’s coming?”

“Everyone from class, except the professor. I think he’s afraid the school won’t be happy about him coming to student parties. I mean, they usually don’t care. And a few of mine and Ashton’s friends, too.”

It didn’t take long for people to start showing up. Even though it was before noon, the promise of free food and drinks was enough to rouse most before their time and people were ready to mingle.

Some, a little too much.

Anna was busy chatting with Alayna about their latest school assignment when Rodrigo showed up with some flowers, which he tried to present to Anna with what he thought was a smooth expression. Combined with the fact that Donovan was also present, and giving all of them a fascinated look, Anna was left with the biggest Pepe Le Pew impression of her life.

“Thank you, really. Maybe you should give them to someone else, though!” she excused herself. She spotted another party-goer, a blond guy heading for the patio, which seemed like an amazing decision. Besides, Ashton was cooking out there, and he gave off Protective Big Brother vibes. Maybe they could extend to her as well.

“Hi, there. Can I help with anything?” she offered, but Ashton smiled and pointed at the already toasty sausages.

“It’s all done, but thanks. Hey, Jas! What’s up? You’re back in town?”

“Sure am. And those hot dogs smell amazing. Dibs on the first one,” the blond guy replied. Must be one of their non-school friends, thought Anna.

She saw him fill up a cup from the keg, and honestly, this seemed like a great idea. Maybe a beer or two will make her feel less crummy about having to be with so many people.

Hunter must’ve noticed her discomfort, but she gave him a small smile to reassure him that all was well.

“Hey, you made it!” Candace gave Jasper a hug. She hated parties without him, as he was someone who could find a common topic with nearly anyone.

“Of course, I did. No way am I passing up Ashton’s cooking,” he joked.

Coming back in, Anna felt a pang of envy. Here were real long time friends, happy to see one another.

On the other side of the house, an argument was already in swing. Ashton was telling Rodrigo what he thought about guests making other guests uncomfortable under his roof. Rodrigo didn’t seem to understand any problem.

Anna desperately felt the need for another beer. Going for the bottled ones on the kitchen counter, she nearly bumped into Jasper.

“I’m sorry.”

“No problem, go ahead,” he let her chose a bottle before picking one himself.

Well, at least one person was respecting personal space around here.

“So, what brings you here?” he asked, joining her on the couch. “You’re the only person in this friend group I haven’t met before.”

“True, I just moved to this city a week ago,” Anna admitted.

“And how do you like it here, so far?”

“It’s pretty nice. I have a job, school, met some really great people,” she smiled. “It’s super embarrassing, but the main reason I’m here is that I can’t go home. Locked myself right out!”

“Oh no! That happened to me before. Very annoying,” he chuckled. “And Candace invited you to stay here while that was getting fixed, right?”

“She did. Is she always so nice to everyone?” she asked.

“I’d say it’s the biggest Byrd trait. Runs in the family. You couldn’t have picked better people to befriend,” he looked fondly at Ashton, who was coming over to them.

“Hey, man, you’re gonna make Anna think we’re saints or something,” he laughed.

“Just telling it like it is, bro.”

“Excuse me,” Anna stood up because, from the corner of her eye, she spotted Candace possibly needing some help with Rodrigo. The guy seriously couldn’t take the hint that a girl wasn’t interested! “Is there a problem, Rodrigo?”

“No problem, Anna. Sheesh, Candy and I are just chatting.”

“You sure she wants to be chatting?” she cocked an eyebrow at him and Candace gave her a thankful smile.

So much for being nice when invited to someone’s party. These guys, Rodrigo and Donovan, clearly became friends for a reason – their lack of boundaries.

“How about we all just chill out, eat good food, drink the beer, and otherwise enjoy the party without accosting people?” Anna offered.

Rodrigo sighed dramatically. “I was just trying to be friendly.”

“I know. It can be hard to read the room sometimes. We’ve all been there.”

He rolled his eyes but got her point. Luckily, by this time, Hunter occupied Candace’s attention and Anna felt it was safe to leave them all be.

She returned to the couch, where some of the others were watching the weather channel.

“This guy’s the funkiest weather man they’ve had in years,” Ashton nodded at the screen. “Too bad he takes ages to get to the point.”

“But he’s an amazing hula dancer,” Jasper nudged him. The two men erupted into giggles.

“He really is,” Edith mentioned. “He came in to do a presentation on global warming at my uni once and ended up leading the class in some sort of a tiki dance off. Still can’t remember how it started, but it was fun.”

“What are you studying?” Anna asked. She knew Edith wasn’t at their college.

“Chemistry. Almost done with the degree, too. Speaking of reactions, my car’s acting up. Do you have any slots open this week, Jasper?”

“Sure, Wednesday is mostly open. You can bring it in any time and I’ll make sure everything’s taken care of,” he replied.

“You’re a mechanic?” Anna asked. Somehow, he didn’t fit her image of one. In her experience, they tended to be kind of slippery and always after your money and this guy didn’t give off that vibe.

“Sure am. And not too bad at it, if I say so myself.”

“He’s being modest,” Ashton spoke up. “This guy’s a genius when it comes to cars. Or anything mechanical, for that matter. Can confirm through personal experience.”

“The best praise comes from others,” Jasper reminded him. “Coming from oneself, it’s boasting. And in my experience, those who boast are usually not as great as they say.”

Meanwhile, a new guest showed up and Candace went to let her in.

“Hey! You came!”

“Of course, I’m not one to miss a friendly gathering.”

As soon as the newcomer came in, she made a beeline for one of the other guests.

“Hi, Marvin.”

The man in question cheered up upon seeing her, and the interaction that followed were warmer than friendly ones.

Jasper gave them what was, in Anna’s opinion, a strange look.

“Want to get some fresh air?” he asked her.

She followed him outside. The company here was nice, but fewer people was always better.

“So, what about you? What do you do?” he asked once they came outside.

“I’m Candace’s classmate. Art school. And aside from that, I bartend.”

“Sounds like you don’t get a lot of time for yourself, then,” he noted.

“It’s not that bad, actually. Believe it or not, my lifestyle was much more hectic when I lived in Bridgeport,” she admitted, not quite knowing why. Somehow, Jasper seemed like the easiest person at this party to talk to, even though she barely met him.

“Ooof, sounds familiar.”

“You’ve been to Bridgeport?”

“A few times. Mostly because of work. Sometimes it’s easier to get parts directly from the vendors than to wait for them to ship the goods. Less of a headache that way, you know.”

“Oh, I know. They’re not very good at being consistent over there,” she spoke from experience.

“You can say that again.”

His eyes were looking behind her with an expression that mixed amusement and sadness. Glancing there, Anna discovered that the redhead and the guy she was flirting with were now out here as well. It seemed she and Jasper knew one another.

“Well, I hope your stay in Brooklyn Heights is a good one. I actually have to leave a little early,” he said, heading towards the door. “Prior appointment.”

On the way out, Candace seemed to ask him why he was leaving so early, but he just gave her a hug and promised he’ll come by soon.