Currently Untitled

Sounds of two feminine voices conversing and the smell of coffee and …alcohol?Surrounded him. His eyelids fluttered and one of the girls gasped, he heard rapid footsteps and, “Oh! Why would you do that!”

Alyssa giggled. “Why shouldn’t I? You were waking up and I wanted to surprise you. Did it work?” She sounded so bubbly. He hated it.

Absolutely, no one has done that to me since I was living with Bunni. “It certainly did. But can you get off me now? I’d kind of like to go take a piss.” He didn’t care if he sounded mean or if he somehow offended her. It was nice to not care about anything or anyone.

“Oh, sure,” she said softly as she slid off him, sitting on the floor.

Upon waking up fully, he realized that he was naked and had previously been sleeping on the floor, on a futon mattress. He forgot that he had to pee and looked around. What had he done last night? His mouth tasted like liquor and what little sexual drive he had in the wake of his grief wasn’t as strong. Who did I fuck? Turning to Alyssa, he now saw Ember in the room as well, drinking coffee with way too much sugar in it, the only way she would take it. “What exactly happened last night?” The question was directed to Alyssa, but Ember, always slightly unaware of the situation, answered for her, “What? You don’t remember? I thought it was great.” She giggled a little.

Oh well. Could have been worse, I suppose. Damn.. He licked his lips, vodka. “Sorry, sugar, I don’t remember things that well when I’m wasted. You mind telling me where I’m at?”

“Kitchen The bathroom’s the first door on the right down the hall.”

It's a good thing she's pretty, he thought. He nodded and walked away.

There was a mirror over the back of the toilet. Why would you do that? Who wants to look at themselves taking a piss? He saw that his hair was looking crazy and he had dark circles under his eyes. He looked absolutely unhappy. Well at least he looked better than he felt, right? Not that it mattered, he didn’t have anyone to look good for, anyway. He did wonder where in the hell his pants were, though. Or at least some boxers would be nice.

He was ‘woo’d’ at when he walked back into the room he had woken up in which, he had realized upon entry, was a living room connected to a kitchen. He smirked. “Like what you see, ladies?” He was answered by another woo from Ember and a giggle from Alyssa, who, being the nice person she was, threw him the pair of boxers he had been wearing the day before. Slipping them on before he sat at the kitchen table next to Ember, he winked at her, “Have fun last night, kid?”

She laughed, “Yeah. I haven’t had sex that good since I was 19, and that was with you! But you did call me Bunny, though… Who’s Bunny?”

He was almost angry with her for her ignorance, but he remained calm and Alyssa stepped in at the right moment, like she was always good for. “Bunni is what he called Sabriel.”
Recognition passed over her normally vacant face, then the vacancy returned. In her annoying upward inflection, she had to ask, “How is Bunni short for Sabriel?”

His clenched fist was shaking, and now he would have loved very much to strike something or someone, but his tone remained even, if strained. “I just called her that because she was so cute, she reminded me of a bunny. Alright?”

“Ooooh! That’s so cute!” She was so amused.

Standing up so swiftly his chair fell over, he looked at the two women, nodded and walked outside. He calmly inhaled deeply, smiling at the day’s chill and threw a yellow coffee cup he wasn’t aware of obtaining in the first place against the brick wall of the building next to Ember’s, watching the sugar laden liquid splatter on the wall like blood, wishing it had been blood.. It was a bakery. How sweet. He wanted nothing more than to enter the establishment and light the fucking place on fire, watching the occupants slowly burn to death while he ate a donut.

Which reminded him, he was hungry. Walking back inside, he saw Ember and Alyssa sitting at the table, Ember with a new cup of coffee, Alyssa talking to her quietly about something it was clear she didn’t understand very well.

“What have you got to eat around here? A guy gets hungry, you know.”

Ember smiled at his apparently improved mood and stood, pulling on a green jacket that had previously been draped across the back of her chair. “I don’t have much of anything, but we could go out.”

Brandon, as if on cue, walked through the front door, without knocking, looking as if he had something important to say. “You wanna go to breakfast?”

Jon, wondering if he had followed him in or if it was just a coincidence looked the man over; he always had to wear the same white suits over the pink shirts. He looked like a pimp. Especially with the pink ‘96 Cadillac he drove.

Ember smiled excitedly, “Hey! That’s what we were just talking about” She walked to him, placing an arm around his neck, angling herself against him, her thigh pressing against his hip. “You’re just smart like that, huh?”

He smirked, pushing her away. “Not now, honey, wait ‘til I’ve eaten.” He winked at her.

Jesus, that girl has an overactive libido. Jon and Alyssa exchanged glances as they walked out the door.

As they sat down to eat, Brandon began to provide fuel for Jonathan’s headache. “I suppose you’ll be wondering why I’ve come this morning.” He paused, waiting for Jon’s response.

“Not really,” he replied, paying more attention to his waffles than the pretentious man in front of him.

Ignoring him, Brandon continued, “We’ve accepted your return and I have come to give you your first assignment.” He said around a mouthful of steak.

“Oh?”

“Yes, you’re going to go see a woman for us. It seems her husband has promised us a favor and did not follow through.” Passing a torn slip of paper folded in half across the table, he continued, “Here’s her information, you meet her tomorrow night for dinner. She thinks you’re going on a date, so be nice to her… It doesn’t seem you know how to do that with women.”

Jon held back the anger he was feeling, but Alyssa could sense it. “What are you implying?” He nonchalantly took a bite of fried egg.

“You didn’t exactly take care of Sabriel very well, did you? She’s dead.”

“Well now that wasn’t really my fault, was it? I was gone.”

Alyssa was looking scared and Ember was looking back and forth between the two as if their conversation was a tennis match. Reaching under the table, Alyssa placed her small hand on his thigh to try to calm him a bit. She knew even though he looked fine, he wanted to beat the fuck out of the man in front of him.

“That’s exactly my point, you shouldn’t have left her alone.”

“I had been planning on going into the Marine Corps long before I met her.”

“Isn’t that ambitious for a child of 12?”

“What can I say? I was very sure of myself.” Jon was growing tired of this dialog, but he refused to let it show to his adversary.

Brandon looked to be considering something before he spoke, “Yes, Jonathan, you have always been very sure of yourself, haven’t you? Why is that? You’ve led a poor life for luck as long as I’ve known you.”

“You seem to forget the ten wonderful years I was blessed with the company of the most wonderful girl in the whole world.”

“Would you really consider that loss an equal trade for a decade of happiness?”

Brandon was trying to get at him, and he refused to allow it. His pain would show to no one. “Very much so. I wouldn’t trade that happiness for anything in the world. I’ll eventually move on and I may even become involved with someone else.” Jon said this knowing he would never want anyone else like he wanted her.

“Are you sure she would want that? I hear she was a very jealous, insecure girl.” Insulting her had to bother him.

Jon smiled inwardly, thinking about how she had reacted when she thought he was cheating on her with her friend. She was so cute when she tried to be angry with him. Smirking, he replied, “She was only so to those who didn’t know her like I did. The cause of her insecurities came from her care for me. Or maybe she just doesn't like some people. I'm sure you know all about that.”

“No, I cant say I would know; people who don’t like me usually meet an unhappy fate.”

“Is that so? Then I should blame you for the death of my fiancé?”

Unsure if the question was meant jokingly or seriously, he took a moment to form a response. “Now we may not be best friends, but you would really think of me as a killer?”

“I’ve come to know you as such, yes.”

“Surely you would not have thought of me as your bitch's killer?”

Showing anger for the first time, his fist clenching around Alyssa’s in his lap tightly enough to break her little hand, he decided to end the conversation before violence ensued. “You’ll have to excuse me, I have to get back home before my roommate drags himself out of bed.” He basically pushed the tiny girl out of the booth and sat her right before turning to Brandon, a malicious look in his eyes while the rest of his face remained placid, “Don’t ever talk about her like that again.” And then he was gone, leaving Brandon looking pleased with himself for winning their little battle, Alyssa looking worried, and Ember just watching stupidly.

He was absolutely pissed off. Maybe the bastard really had been her killer. That would explain the lack of police involvement. The NYPD had been receiving bribes from the organization for quite a while now. But he couldn’t have.
Could he?
I don’t know, sport, you tell me.
He’s certainly capable, but what would be his motive?
Watching you squirm.
Is he really that big of an ass?
Are you really that naïve?
No… Maybe. I still cant believe she’s gone.
Well get used to it, she isn’t coming back.
Hey, jackass, if you’re me, what’s your problem with me?
You’re the person who thinks you deserve to suffer the most. It’s not me.
That’s plausible.
So what do you think?
You are my thoughts, shouldn’t you know?
Just fucking humor me.
I think he could have done it, and if he had no one would dare oppose him.
I don’t think it was him.
Why not?
Because I have to take up a contrary position on anything you say.
Why?
It’s the rules.
Goddamn it!
What?
I fucking hate you.
That’s my job.
…

He couldn’t even agree with himself.. No wonder she was gone, he didn’t deserve her.. This thought made him more angry as he entered the apartment. Then he could smell bacon. Fatty was awake. As he was attempting to form an explanation for his absence, Cal spoke.

“So where were you all morning? I’ve been up since five, when your cell phone rang that damn annoying ring tone.”

Jon was grateful that he didn’t have to come up with anything to tell him, but was curious about he call. “Who was it?”

“I don’t know, it wasn’t my business.”

Glad his friend was respecting his privacy to his face, at least, he could tell that he had looked.

“That was nice of you. But who was it?”

“I don’t fucking know! I didn’t look, dude.” That was just like Cal. He would never own up to anything.

“Alright, whatever.”

He was slowly developing a headache, so he decided to go get some sleep. He hadn’t made it half way down the hall when Cal had to ask him where he was going. Would no one leave him alone? “I’m tired. I’m going to go to bed.”

“Dude, how can you be sleepy? You can’t need more sleep, because I went to bed late last night and woke up a few hours ago and I’m not tired. What are you; a pussy?”

“I’ve been out this morning and my sleep last night want that restful.”

“Where did you go so early?” he asked in his annoying overly-inquisitive way.

“I went for a job interview and some Baxter’s.”

Forgetting why he had even wanted to know at the opportunity to criticize someone, his tone of voice was pure condescension, “Why do you like Baxter’s so much? Starbucks is so much better.”

“Okay. Going to bed now,” he tossed impassively over his shoulder just before closing the door to his bedroom leaving Cal to his arrogant silence.

His sleep was fitful as he dreamt of her. He wished he could just stop thinking about her already. He had loved the girl so much, but not even in his sleep was he safe from the pain her death had caused. He hated being alone.