Anywhere Else but Here

Brian has always had a problem with money. It wasn’t that he didn’t have enough income – in fact, at the end of the week he had a substantial amount left over in his bank account – it was more that he had trouble keeping the remaining of his pay check after the next one came in. He’d once tried to hire an accountant to keep track of his money, but with Brian being Brian, not even the accountant could work out where all his money was going.

It was my idea for Brian to take out another loan with the bank to buy a house he could invest his money in. We both knew that he’d meet payments easily. Like I said before, his only problem was keeping the spare cash at the end of the week and if he bought a 2nd house, that spare cash would nearly all go on repayments. Although, just because it was my idea didn’t mean I was about to accept Brian’s offer to buy Wendy and I a house to live in as his investment.

“No fucking way. You aren’t buying a house for Wendy and I!” I paced the floor in front of him, furious that he would even consider this. Just because we are living with my parents doesn’t mean we need any sympathy. It’s actually not that bad living with them.

“Come on Matt. You’ve got to be kidding me. This was your idea man!” Until now Wendy had just been leaning against the counter drinking a cup of coffee. Her eyes widened when Brian said it was my idea and I knew I was about to get a piece of her mind for even proposing that in the first place. I had to explain myself and fast!

“I told you to buy a house and rent it out, not buy a house and give it to us. Besides, that was months ago before all this shit started so you can’t even say you interpreted it that way!” He didn’t protest, much to my surprise. Instead he had that look on his face that said ‘i-thought-you’d-say-that’ and ‘i-have-a-back-up-plan’ which is why it didn’t surprise me when he started talking again.

“What ever.” He turned to face Wendy, making sure his back was to me so I was out of the conversation. Asshole. “Ever thought of running a business babe?” Wendy look confused. She placed her coffee cup in the sink next to her and sat on the beach top.

“When I was in high school I’d always said I was going to start my own business. I even applied for a few traineeships in retail.” I didn’t know that. “That’s as far as I got though. When I finished school I needed cash, so I started bar tending. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but there is always that ‘what if’ in the back of my mind I guess.”

I leaned against the counter next to Wendy. Why hadn’t she told me any of this before? If I knew she wanted to run a business then… I’m not sure, but I would have done something. Brian started talking again. He had a damn smirk plastered across his face when he turned to face me. “I had a feeling you’d rip my head off, you asshole.” I smirked at that one. “I still don’t know why you’re too modest to accept help, but that doesn’t matter.”

“Brian, what one earth are you talking about?” Wendy joined in the conversation again. “Just get to the point, would you?” Now I was smirking. That’s Wendy for you.

“I was thinking…” Oh great, what ever it is, it’s not going to work. Brian’s best ideas are never his serious ones; they are the random spare of the moment thoughts that always seem to be the most rational. “I need an investment plan, right? And that bar in the city that no one goes to is up for sale, right? I’ll buy the fucking thing, put the place on the map and the three of us can run the joint.”

“That’s not gonna work. We know shit all about running a business.” I knew this wouldn’t work. Brian still looked like he was going to convince me, however, as he stood on the other side of Wendy and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“What do you say babe? You’ve handled all the paper work and shit for your cousin plenty of times, right? Can you honestly say you wouldn’t be able to run my place if I did buy one?”

Wendy seemed to be actually thinking about it. Sure, I have faith in her but is it really something she wants to be doing? Does she want to go back to working two jobs again? Although, if Brian hired both of us like he seems to be thinking, she could quit her first job if she really wanted to.

“I guess I could probably do it.” She said after a few moments. “I know how to run the place, that’s the easy part. It’s just getting employees. Brian, you can’t afford to hire people.”

“See, that’s were you are wrong.” Brian smiled before he continued. “The place isn’t exactly successful now, so we aren’t going to have a lot of customers when we first start. The three of us would be able to handle it. Wendy, you can serve at the bar and Matt will be a bouncer. I can show him all the shit he needs to know – not that there is anything really; just you can’t beat the fuck out of a guy if he starts shit. I can jump from job to job, helping Wendy then helping Matt. It’ll be easy as fuck!”

I guess Brian was right. We probably could handle it and I knew Wendy was thinking the same. Maybe Brian thought this through properly after all. “Once you get more business, you’ll be able to hire employees. I know for a fact that one good, busy night would be enough to pay someone’s wages for a month. You know, this might work.” Wendy added. “Babe,” she said turning towards me. “I think this could actually work.” She sounded as surprised as I did when it all started to come together. “We should do this.”



Although life threw Matt and Wendy through a few obstacles the past few months, things were finally looking up for them. It was Matt’s jealously that put them in these situations in the first place. He didn’t like the way men were treating his girlfriend. It didn’t help that Wendy was indeed an independent women and could take care of herself; however, they still loved each other unconditionally for their faults.

Even though Wendy lost her job those many weeks ago and Matt was already unemployed, nothing could – or would – break them apart. When they lost their house, it was just another challenge life had thrown at them but they bounced back strong and stuck by everything they stand for.

In the end, with the help of their parents and one best friend, their life was back on track. It wasn’t until now that Matt especially, truly understood what was meant when someone said they expected their life to be anywhere else but here.