Telling the Two Apart

Gerard had completely forgotten to drop in and give Kelly Juliana the money he owed her. The four hundred dollars, mostly in twenties, sat like a rock in his pants pocket as he opened the door to her office.

He and Kelly had been friends long before he’d come to Chicago with hopes of staying for a while. He wasn’t sure of the exact connections, but their families somehow knew one another, and they’d met one year at a small holiday gathering while Kelly was in town. They became fast friends, much like many people Gerard met. When he had expressed to her his desire to escape for a short time, Chicago was Kelly’s first proposition. She needn’t have any more—Gerard seized the opportunity immediately.

Kelly was forty-five and was still getting used to having a twenty-seven year old around—she’d never had children of her own, and while Gerard was not quite like a son to her, he was quickly becoming so. He’d been in her townhouse, paying a ridiculously small sum of rent, for a little over three months. It was a nice existence and he could see himself staying there permanently, if he wasn’t too imposing.

Of course, he did have friends back home. He hailed from New Jersey, and he hadn’t left with the intention of never coming back—which was exactly what he’d told his buddies. He also had family there, and while he knew that families could handle being spread across the globe, he didn’t know if he wanted to test those waters. His brother, Mikey, was very close to him, his best friend. Mikey would say he didn’t mind if Gerard mentioned staying, but Gerard knew better. It would bother Mikey quite a lot. The guy might even take it personally.

Kelly Juliana had a secretary-slash-receptionist named Lori, and she knew Gerard by now. She looked up now as the door opened and Gerard stepped in. “Just have some cash to drop off for Kelly,” he said to her when she saw him. Lori stood, saying that Kelly was with someone. “It’s okay. How long will she be?” he asked.

“Only another five minutes or so.”

“I guess I can wait.” He may have sounded bothered, but he wasn’t. He enjoyed seeing Kelly, even at work. So he took a seat in one of the cushioned armchairs and crossed his ankles.

Kelly Juliana’s office wasn’t large. It consisted of a lobby, which Gerard had estimated to be eight feet by sixteen, where Lori and her desk sat. There were a few plants and one mirror, designed to make the room look bigger.

Off the lobby to the right was Kelly’s office—or rather, her room, where Gerard knew there were two large, comfortable chairs, two end tables, various aesthetically pleasing lamps, and a desk that Kelly tried to keep organized. On the walls hung framed photos, poems, and a few drawings made by those she counseled. The carpet was not soft or yielding, so Kelly had covered most of it with a large, fluffy area rug. The room was probably twelve feet by twelve.

To the left of the lobby sat a bathroom, a closet, and a small room where Kelly kept a microwave, a personal refrigerator, and various other luxuries put to hers and Lori’s use during the course of a workday.

Gerard slouched in the chair and started at the ceiling. Finding that unproductive, he glanced to his side and reached for a magazine. He flipped through the National Geographic until the door to Kelly’s office opened and she walked out with a teenage girl. The girl was dressed well—not conservatively, but uniquely, and her hair hung choppily out from under a green hat she pulled onto her head as she came out. She said an affectionate farewell to Kelly and they shook hands, then the girl walked past Gerard and let herself out the door.

Kelly saw Gerard and beamed. “Hey,” she said, and Gerard stood, smiling. “Just dropping in,” he said. “It’s always nice to see you after working for a few hours. It’s like a break without taking a break.”

“That’s quite a compliment coming from you.”

Kelly merely smiled. She and Gerard stood still for a moment, after which point Gerard cleared his throat and lurched into action. “I have that money I owed you. I mean, I brought it to pay you back.” He dug into his pants pocket, grasping the wad of bills and presenting them to Kelly.

“I really don’t need it, Gee,” she said, which was probably a lie, regardless of her income.

“Well, take it. Um, buy yourself lunch.”

“That’s an expensive lunch. What restaurants have you been eating at?”

They bantered back and forth until Gerard convinced his friend to accept his payment. She looked almost embarrassed as she walked him into her office and slipped the cash into her purse. She was probably more ashamed about having cash instead of cards than she was about having taken money from her friend. She had taken him under her wing, but four hundred dollars was welcome in anyone’s life, and she wasn’t exactly wealthy—just well off.

She turned to Gerard and said, “Well, you did suggest lunch, and I’d be happy to buy.”

Gerard put on a show in saying that it wasn’t necessary, that it would be ridiculous for him to expect to get a meal out of the money he had just given to her. After a minute of debating, he finally threw up his hands and sighed, “I don’t even know why we go through all of the polite pleasantries. You and I both know we’re going to have lunch. And you’re the one with money.”

She laughed.

“I’ll have you know, though, I went out to breakfast already and I’m pretty well-fed as of right now.”

Kelly’s head cocked to one side. Gerard rarely ate out alone, and as of now, he didn’t have friends close enough to take them out to eat. “Who with?” she asked curiously. When Gerard shrugged, it made her even more intrigued.

Gathering her purse and jacket, she walked with Gerard out through the lobby and to her car. The silence must have bothered Gerard, who liked to share anything new with anyone who would listen. Once they were pulling away from the building, he said—trying for casual—“I met someone today and we sort of, well, you know, I think we could be friends.”

“Oh,” replied Kelly, also pushing to sound nonchalant.

“I don’t know if you should know this or not, but she was actually on her way to see you.”

“What?” Giving up the uninterested attitude, Kelly glanced at Gerard in surprise and disdain. He put his hands up as if Kelly would backhand him right there in the passenger’s seat.

“She isn’t already a…client,” he said. He never knew what to call the people who visited Kelly—“patient” seemed to imply insanity, and “client” made them seem impersonal, as did “charge.” Were they friends? Customers? “She was going to drop by and see about your services, but she was just too charming. And anyway, I told her that you’d probably be too busy to talk to her.”

“I may not have been,” Kelly grumbled defensively.

“Who are you kidding?”

“Just make sure you don’t start grabbing everyone that’s on their way in. I know you’re friendly.”

Gerard offered no reply to this aside from a smile. He wasn’t overly outgoing, but he was good at making friends, and everyone who knew him knew that. “So where’s lunch?”

“Something Mexican,” Kelly decided, and she pushed on the gas like she was sealing the deal.