Supernova

“Do you need a few minutes before we go in there?” Ethan asked but I shook my head.

“No, I’m okay now,” I promised and got out.

I was a little shaky but I was fine otherwise. We both stopped and looked at it.

“I never thought I’d come back here,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Me neither,” I mumbled. “Any fun memories?”

He smiled somewhat sadly. “Yeah but they all involved you.”

I looked down and he cleared his throat. We walked to the doors and I remembered what my mom said last night. I shook my head with a sigh.

“Jeez,” I said. “The walls look… smaller.”

“No kidding,” he said. He laughed. “Look.”

We stopped by his old locker. It was right next to mine and I leaned forward.

“Yep, it’s still there,” I said and pointed.

We had scratched our names into each other’s lockers. He laughed and stood on his toes. He put his arm up and took something down. We both laughed at the joint. He winked.

“Fun for later?” he asked and I scoffed.

“That thing is at least ten years old,” I said and he tossed it into the trash can.

“That’s all right,” he said. “It was just oregano.”

I laughed, trying to be quiet as we walked by full classrooms.

“Oregano?” I repeated.

He smiled. “Yeah, I wanted to impress Johnny Canton.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Whatever happened to him?”

“He’s in rehab now,” he said and we got to the office.

He opened the door for me and I looked around. Even the office felt smaller. The secretary was on the phone and held a finger up at us without even looking up. I glanced around some more. The filing cabinets were bulging and we both cringed.

“Please say that’s not their books,” he said under his breath.

I snorted. Before I could answer, she hung the phone up.

“How can I help you?” she asked.

“We’re with McKinley Inc.,” I said. “We got a phone call and-”

“Oh,” she said in an unpleasant voice and I arched a brow. “I don’t know why he got you involved.” She pointed at a door. “He’s in there.”

We glanced at each other but Ethan knocked on the door.

The man that answered the door startled both of us.

“Ron Greene?” we said in unison.

“Come on in,” he said cheerfully, stepping to the side. “Looking sexy, Nova.”

“Easy,” Ethan warned, walking in behind me. “I didn’t know you became the principal.”

Ron grinned as he sat down behind the desk. “It’s been great, man.”

I narrowed my eyes. “How long have you been the principal?”

“Two years,” he answered. “I heard you were back in town and figured it was time to make sure I stay out of jail.”

Ethan rubbed his eyes. “Shit man. What have you been doing?”

He shrugged. “Does it matter?”

I crossed my arms. “Yeah, actually, it does. Where has your money really been going?”

He looked at me for a long time. I felt a little uncomfortable. Ron Greene had been the biggest player on campus. I was ashamed to say he almost had me. If it hadn’t been for Ethan, I would’ve been another notch on his bedpost.

“Let me put it this way,” he said finally. “The bars and strip clubs in Bricktown are still open thanks to me.”

My jaw dropped.

“That is what you’ve been blowing your money on?” Ethan said. “Jesus. What do you expect us to do?”

“Help me get my books in order,” he answered. “The IRS said that if I can get my books in order and sign a contract swearing that I’ll be legit from now on, I can evade jail. They’ll slap me with a fine, give me a good spanking, and move to the next idiot.”

I looked at Ethan. “What do you think?”

“Where are your books?” he asked Ron.

He stood up and opened a door to a closet. He took out a box and put it in front of us. We both groaned in unison.

It was a mess of receipts, deposit slips, invoices, and other pieces of paper.

“The last two years,” he said.

“Are you always this organized?” I asked sarcastically.

He glared at me. “I hired you for your services as an accounting firm, not your judgement,” he snapped. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“We’re not working here,” Ethan said. “There’s not enough room for this shit storm. We’ll have to take it back to the firm with us.”

Ron clearly didn’t like that idea. “We can make room.”

I scoffed. “I’m not working on the floor.”

“We have a classroom I think.”

“It’s either us working at the firm or not at all,” Ethan said firmly. “Which is it?”

“Fine,” he said, pushing the box into my stomach and I winced. “So it’s true,” he added with a smirk. “Wanna unbutton that shirt and show me?”

I just walked out, pushing an angry Ethan in front of me. I sighed when we got to his car. Ethan put the box in the trunk.

“Lay out in the back seat,” he said. “I think that’ll make it a little easier.”

“Okay,” I mumbled and got in so that I was lying on my left side.

I shut my eyes as he started the car. I groaned and covered my face, pretending I was in my mother’s van.

-

“So?” Elias asked. “How’d it go?”

“Come see,” I sighed and led him into my office.

His jaw dropped as Ethan told him what Ron wanted us to do. He looked at all the different receipts and shook his head.

“How much are we charging per hour?” I asked, looking at it in dismay.

“For this mess? At least 30,” he said. “God this is ridiculous.”

“Agreed,” Ethan said. He looked at his watch. “You guys hungry? I can run to the café for something.”

“Do they sell pizza down there?” I asked and he smiled.

“You got it,” he said and left.

I rubbed my temple. “We’ll tackle this after lunch,” I said, getting out my folder of business contacts.

“Why are you working here?” he asked.

“There’s not enough room in that school,” I answered. “Also… it’s hard for me to be in small spaces,” I added. “Especially when it’s a car.”

“Oh,” he said. “It’s okay. I was just curious.”

“Okay,” I mumbled, feeling self-conscious.

Ethan returned ten minutes later with a pepperoni and red bell pepper pizza. I clapped my hands excitedly and Elias left us to eat. We both stared at the box.

“At least 50,” he said and I nodded in agreement.

“I like that figure much better,” I said.

-

“Good Lord,” Ethan groaned. “Another damn duplicate.”

“This one is exactly the same with different totals!” I said. “Jesus!”

It was nearing 6 and we were still trying to sort everything out. His hair was standing on end and mine was messy. Finally, I slammed my pen down.

“Nope. I’m done. This is stupid.”

He sighed. “Agreed. We can pick up tomorrow.”

I yawned and got my purse. My phone rang and I groaned.

“International rates,” I said.

“Just wanted to see how you were doing,” Paul said.

“I’m fine. But we’re racking up a bill and I don’t want to have to pay it.”

“I miss you,” he mumbled and I sighed, leaning my head back.

“No, Paul.”

I hung up and shook my head.

“Paul?” Ethan repeated in an off-hand voice.

“Ex-boyfriend,” I answered, feeling a little awkward as we walked into the elevator. “Dating him was a mistake.”

“So you don’t….”

“Still have feelings for him? No, I don’t.”

“Why’d you break up?” he asked and I stared at him. “Hey, we’re not on the clock.”

I scoffed and sat at the bus stop and he joined me.

“Because all he cared about was sex,” I answered. “One year he came for Christmas and my dad caught him being an ass. He gave him a good beating and then we broke up when we got back to Oxford.” I shrugged. “We’re trying to be friends and it worked until now.”

I frowned at the ground.

“My mom wants you to come over for dinner,” he said after his phone buzzed.

I looked at him. “Why?”

He rolled his eyes. “Our parents spent 12 years trying to get us to hook up, Nove. Why do you think?”

I sighed. “Yeah, my mom mentioned something like that last night.”

“Did you ever wonder?” he asked quietly and I avoided his eyes.

“Maybe a couple times,” I mumbled.

He was about to say something when the bus pulled up. I cleared my throat and stood up. He smiled at me.

“See you tomorrow morning,” he said and I nodded, glad he went back to business.