All Downhill From Here

I quickly pulled out of the parking spot and began driving, also pulling my cell phone out of my pocket and dialing Mr. White’s number. I waited as the phone rang and rang until he finally picked up with an annoyed, “Hello.” “What the hell do you mean that we’re ahead, Mr. White?” I questioned him, curiously. How could he honestly gotten ahead without me? He sighed aggravated and replied with, “If you really must know, Jesse, I hired another cook.” I scoffed and laughed sarcastically, “Wow, Mr. White, that’s just great.”
“Relax, Jesse, the cook is only temporary. I couldn’t continuously wait around for you, and you know that,” he mentioned simply. I rolled my eyes and stopped at a stop sign, sitting there for a little while. “I don’t care if the cook is a temp cook or not, you can’t replace me,” I stated, enraged by the situation, “That’s my job.” “It’s not a replacement!” he shouted, “Like I said, I couldn’t wait on you and I needed someone as soon as possible. We were behind of the schedule and we don’t need Fring getting onto our case. I understand that it’s your job, Jesse, and this cook is not going to fully take over. It was temporary.”
I understood that we needed to get back on schedule, but I didn’t like the fact that he had hired some other cook to come in and do my job. “Am I even going to meet this new cook?” I questioned him. “No, they’ll be gone after this week,” he told me. “Then wouldn’t I meet them if I’m going to be coming in?” I furrowed my brows. He sighed, “No, you’re out for the week.”
“The week?”I questioned in an over exaggerating tone. “Yeah,” he replied.” “What the hell, Mr. White?” I barked outraged by the fact I wouldn’t be cooking for the rest of this week. “Look, Jesse, I can’t have this cook only working for a couple of days and then just leave. It’s not fair,” he mentioned. “When the hell have you have cared about fair!?” I shouted. “Calm down!” he snapped. “Alright, look. Whatever, Mr. White. Do what you want, I just better get my cut of pay for this week,” I mentioned before hanging up and putting my phone in the cup holder. I sighed and drove forward, continuing my drive home.
I didn’t know what I would be doing for this week, considering that I no long had to go to cook with Mr. White and also because Carson was doubtfully going to talk to me. Andre had to work, but maybe she would stop by a couple of time this week and visit me considering that I didn’t have anything going on, unfortunately. I hated having so much time on my hands. It gave me too much time to think and dwell on the past, and that was never a good thing.
I pulled up to the house and noticed a car parked out front that hadn’t been there before I left. I pulled up behind it and shut the car off before climbing out and heading up to the front door. I opened it, finding it was already unlocked, and walked in, seeing Badger, Skinny Pete, and Carson all in the living room. They were laughing and having a good time, not noticing that I had walked in.
Badger had been telling his Star Trek story that he had told me days before to Skinny Pete, again, and as well as Carson, whom I had assumed had not heard it before. “Chekov screams, sprays blood out of his mouth. Scotty beams his guts into space!” Badger shouted, throwing his arms up for a dramatic effect. Carson started laughing while Skinny Pete grabbed a pillow and gripped onto it tightly as if he had never heard the story before. I closed the door, causing everyone to go quiet and look over at me, and pursed my lips.
Carson looked at me and then chewed on her lip for a moment before looking down to the ground, looking more sad than anything. “What’s going on, man?” Badger questioned me. Carson hummed for a second and elbowed Badger’s arm, “I’ll see you later.” Badger quickly scooped her up in a hug before she got a chance to walk away and laughed, “See you later, Carson.” He set her down and patted her shoulder. She jogged up the stairs out of sight and I heard her door close.
I looked down at the coffee table and noticed the several beer cans and bottles - which I assumed as been fairly shared between Carson, Skinny Pete, and Badger - along with the two bongs that were sitting there in which I knew was Pete’s and Badger’s. Although, I knew Carson had been clean of all drugs, including weed, I had wondered if Carson had joined in on their smoking or not.
“How’re you doin’, Jesse?” Skinny Pete asked me, turning to face me a little bit more. I shrugged my shoulders and still looked at the stairs, kind of hoping Carson would come back down and finally talk to me, “I’m alright.” “What going on?” Badger questioned. I looked over at Badger before dropping my keys on the table and walked a few steps into the living room.
I sat down on the couch and rubbed my hand over my face, sighing, “Uhm, nothing much.” “I thought Carson said you’d be working today,” Skinny Pete mentioned. I looked over at him and shrugged, “I would’ve been, but supposedly I got replaced or some shit.” Not fully replaced, just temporarily replaced, I guess. Whatever, same difference. “What’s going on between you and Carson?” Badger asked.
I looked at him and shrugged, “Nothing.” “Doesn’t seem like nothing, man,” Skinny Pete said to me. “What do you mean?” I questioned. “I mean, you two aren’t looking so cool, anymore. I mean, she seemed pretty upset when you walked in. I don’t know, correct me if I’m wrong,” he mumbled. “No, no, we’re fine,” I mentioned, shaking my head. Badger seemed to have bought my lie, but Skinny Pete saw right through it and in return gave me a disbelieving look. I didn’t need to convince anyone, although I was really trying to convince myself that everything was okay between us, even though I knew that it really wasn’t.