In Need

"Can I getcha anything while you wait?" The waitress asked as I took a seat in the booth.

"Coffee," I answered with a smile, "And water please." The older woman nodded and headed for the kitchen, leaving me to wait for Flanery. I leaned back in the booth and pulled my phone from my pocket, the e-mail from Robin was still up.

Norman, started, Don't know what was going on the other day with your friend, but I liked her look. I had an ad campaign for H&M on my desk now that she would be perfect for. I'll hold it until friday, give her my number and let her know if she wants it to call me.

"Reeeedus," A familiar voice pulled my attention from my phone as Flanery sat down across from me, "What's goin' on, brother?"

"Not a lot," I said, "How's California?"

"Never better," He grinned, "Got a big seminar coming up," Sean had been doing jiu jitsu for years, "Just gettin' everything together for that."

"Where's the seminar?" I asked as the waitress came up, delivering my drinks, and Sean ordered himself some water.

"Atlanta," Sean said, "Lots of back and forth bullshit there."

"Glad you could take time out of your busy schedule," I smirked.

"Oh, I'm here on business," He smirked, "Just had time between meetings," I rolled my eyes, "So what did you need advice about?"

"This girl," I said, running my hand through my hair, "I'm tripped up, man."

"What girl?" Sean asked.

"The girl from your party-"

"Marilyn?" Sean asked with a laugh, "Still?"

"Her name's Evie," I said, sipping my coffee, "I found this shit online," I opened up my browser on my phone, the kid's blog I'd discovered a week ago was open, "Read this." I slid the device across the laminate surface, letting Flanery read the post.

He mumbled quietly to himself as he read, "Blow job?" He looked up from the phone to me, "Sounds like she's a hooker," He looked back down at the phone, at the pictures, and back up to me, "An expensive one, too. You need to turn, tuck your tail, and run, my friend. You didn't fuck her did you?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding.

"You wrap your shit?" He asked, his face serious.

"No," I responded, the waitress approached the table again for our food orders, Sean opted for a turkey burger while I was satisfied with just the coffee.

"You retarded?" Sean asked angrily once the waitress was gone, "A girl like this, you're lucky your dick hasn't fallen off yet!" He shoved my phone back across the table, "Jesus, Reedus. Your 40 years old, you know better-"

"Like you've never-"

"I'm not saying that," He cut me off, sighing, "You need to go get tested."

"I did," I said, "Before I came here. I'm waiting on my results." Sean rand his hands over his face, "You know Robin?" I asked, Sean nodded, "I took her to his office to try and get him to sign her. She got pissed and kinda stormed out and got shitty with me. He e-mailed me this morning saying he had a job for her and I don't know if I should even tell her."

"Hello no," Sean said, with a scoff, "What's she even matter, man? A girl like that? Delete her number, now."

"I can see it in her face, though," I said, "She doesn't want to do this."

"Not every girl needs you to save them, Reedus," Flanery said, "And sometimes they don't want to be saved. If she didn't want to do that," He pointed to my phone, "She wouldn't."

"I know that," I said. I clicked around on my phone more, getting to the yahoo gossip page and finding the picture of Evelyn and I, "Look at that."

"What about it? It's not a prom picture, Reedus. She's a dirty girl, you don't need to deal with her and whatever shit she's got going on that makes her think what she's doin' is alright," He said, "That's the bottom line."



I padded through my grandmother's kitchen, humming Jingle Bells softly to myself. Christmas was over, but I was still in the holiday spirit. In the kitchen I found my grandma sitting at her kitchen table, a laptop in front of her.

"Good morning," She said, looking at me over her screen.

"Mornin'," I responded, smelling the coffee cake cooling on the counter. I went to the drawer for a knife and cut myself a slice, followed by pouring a glass of milk before heading to the table.

"I can't believe it's your last day already," Grammie said as I bit into the delicious, still warm caramel flavored cake, "I hate droppin' you off."

"I know, Grammie," I said, "I'll be back in the summer. I gotta get back for work."

"Lots of jobs lined up?" She asked.

"Yeah," I nodded, "Lots of New Year's parties."

"Good, honey," She said, clicking around on her laptop some more, followed by a gasp, "Evelyn! Look!" She turned the computer around to show me. A photo of Norman and I was staring back at me, my stomach turned a bit, "Who is that?"

"A friend," I said, reading the caption to the image: Norman Reedus and Guest.

"A boyfriend?" My grandma asked, "He looks a bit old for you."

"No," I replied, shaking my head, "Just a business friend."

Later that day, I sat in my room, packing my bag for the following day when my phone went off. I got up from the floor and grabbed my phone from the dresser, I had a text from Norman. I felt my nerves flutter with anticipation and anxiety. I felt bad for the way I had behaved the day before I left, for making him look bad in front of his friend. I was just so overwhelmed by the situation, I ran. I knew I was wrong, but it's hard to admit when you're wrong.
Text me when you get back, we need to talk.