Marie Sexton - Coda 02 - A to Z (6 page)

When he was done, I stood up and kissed him. “Baby, that was so good,” he said as I pulled back. He grabbed my ass again and pulled me against him as one of his hands groped my crotch. I moaned and leaned into him. “I’m sorry I don’t have time to take care of you right now.” He kissed me again. “Can I make it up to you later?”

I was so horny at that point that it really wouldn’t have taken him more than a minute or two to bring me off, but I nodded. “Sure.”

“I’ll pick you up at six.”

He left. My erection didn’t. I knew I’d be tense and cranky all afternoon. I ended up jacking off in the bathroom. It felt terribly adolescent, but at least it relieved some of the pressure.

Angelo came back ten minutes later, and Nero Sensei was right behind him holding a giant box full of broken boards. “Hey, Zach. I brought you some firewood.”

Never mind that it was July, and that I had told him a hundred times that my apartment didn’t have a fireplace. Nero’s students were constantly breaking boards, and he was desperate to find something to do with the left over pieces.

“Thanks, Sensei. You can just leave them by the door.” Angelo turned to me once Nero had left. “What you gonna do with all that wood?”

 

“Drop it in the dumpster tomorrow morning, before Sensei gets here.” What the hell else could I do?

 

“Look on the bright side,” Angelo said with a smile. “If we’re ever attacked by an army of boards, Sensei’s students will save the day.”

I laughed as Nero passed by again, on his way to Jeremy’s door with another box. Jeremy would probably try to lecture him on how government interference in the free market was to blame for the plummeting value of broken boards.

At about two Jimmy Buffett stopped in.
Angelo surprised me by calling out, “Hey Mr. D.” “What do you have for me today, Angelo?”

Angelo pulled a DVD out from under the counter. “
An Affair to Remember
.” He held it out. “You seen it?”

 

Jimmy Buffett, a.k.a. Mr. D, shook his head, smiling. “No. You think I’ll like it?”

 

Angelo smiled back at him. “Guaranteed.” Jimmy rented the movie, thanked Angelo, and left.

 

Angelo turned to me, and the look on my face made him ask jokingly, “What’s your problem?”

“‘Mr. D’?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “Yeah, why not?”
“That’s his name?”

Ang shook his head at me. “Seriously, Zach. You gotta know your regulars. His name’s Drew Davis. He digs chick flicks.”

Which explained why he always seemed embarrassed. Of course I hadn’t ever paid attention to what he rented. “What about Goth Girl?” I asked Angelo.

“Carrie. She only rents musicals.” He gave me his lopsided smirk. “Honestly, Zach, don’t know how you survived without me.”

I wasn’t sure either. I felt like it was some kind of divine providence that had prompted me to hire him. But I was saved from answering by Ruby, who came through the door and promptly proclaimed, “Zach, I’ve had another vision.”

“Really?” I asked. A glance at Angelo showed him looking amused and curious.

“Yes. A lady in a big green dress brought you a bowl of ice cream. She said, ‘Before it melts, Zach. Because I’m crazy about you’.”

“A lady in a big green dress is crazy about me?” I asked. Angelo was grinning from ear to ear.

 

Ruby shrugged. “I don’t interpret the visions, dear. I only receive them.”

Jeremy came in at four to see if we needed more pamphlets. He was obviously disappointed in how many were still sitting on my counter.

“I just can’t understand why more people aren’t interested in promoting real change in Washington,” he said to me.

 

“I’m not sure, either, Jeremy,” I said, trying to sound sympathetic.

“Do you realize the federal income tax isn’t even legal, Zach? The sixteenth amendment was never properly ratified by the state legislature. The whole thing is a scam—a scam to cheat us out of our hard-earned money.”

“Is that right?”

“It is. The Federal Reserve has taken over this country, Zach. There would be riots in the streets if people understood what that meant.”

“Riots?” I couldn’t hide my skepticism.

“I’m not kidding, Zach.” And he did indeed look quite serious. “There’s a movie,” he said, and Angelo suddenly looked interested, “called
Freedom to Fascism
. Do you have that movie here? Have you seen it?”

I had to look at Angelo. “Do we have that movie?” “No,” he said. He was scribbling on a piece of paper and didn’t even look up. “I can order it, though.”

 

I turned back to Jeremy. “I have a feeling I’ll see it before the end of the month.”

 

He shook his head at me sadly. “I hope so, Zach. Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s also no excuse.”

 

At five, Tom called to cancel. He said he had another meeting. It was always a meeting.

 

“So I won’t see you tonight after all?” I couldn’t keep the annoyance out of my voice.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.” “Whatever.”

“Please don’t be mad. Listen, I have to go. I’ll call you soon.” I almost told him not to bother, but the line went dead before I had the chance. I hung up the phone and wondered what I would do now that my plans had fallen through.

“Let me guess.” I looked over to see Angelo watching me from the other side of the counter. “Dickhead ditched you again, right?” “Fuck off, Angelo.”

 

He was quiet for a minute, and then he said, “Sorry, man. I just don’t get why you let him treat you like that.”

I was starting to wonder the same thing. And now I was facing another night alone in my apartment. A whole night to think about the date that should have been. “You want to come over tonight?” I asked Angelo.

“Dickhead ditches you, and I’m your back up plan?” When he said it that way, I really felt like an ass. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Yeah.”
“Yeah, what?”
“Yeah, I want to come over tonight.”
I found myself smiling at him. “Do I get to pick the movie?” “You gonna pick somethin’ with Molly Ringwald?” “Maybe.”

He smiled at me. “No way, Zach. You pick dinner; I’ll pick the movie.”

We got back to my house, and Angelo got a beer out of the fridge while I ordered a pizza. I found him sitting at the dining room table, working on the puzzle. I sat down opposite him, and we worked in companionable silence for a while. It surprised me how much more fun it was working the puzzle, just having him there with me.

“What movie did you bring?” I finally asked him. “
Aliens
.” He looked up at me with his lopsided smile. “Violence and mayhem. Nothin’ better.”

I laughed and was just looking back down at the puzzle when I spotted something above the edge of the table—something soft and gray sticking up from his lap, like a hairy flag. Or a cat tail.

“Is that Geisha?” I asked in surprise.

 

“If Geisha’s a cat, then yeah,” he said, without looking up from the puzzle.

 

“She’s in your lap?”

 

He looked up at me like I had lost my mind and said slowly, “Yeah. Why?”

I couldn’t believe it. Geisha would glare at me any time she saw me and meow at me in outrage when her food bowl was empty or it was too cold outside. And she would occasionally bat at my face to wake me up at four in the morning and had been known to pee in my dirty laundry pile when I didn’t clean her box. But she never,
ever
sat in my lap.

“How did you get her to come to you?” I asked him in awe. He shrugged. “Just sittin’ here and she jumped up.” I could only stare at him in shock.
“What’s the big deal?” he asked.

“All this time I thought she hated people. I guess she really just hates me.” My own cat. Nice.

The pizza finally came. “Do you want to watch the movie while we eat or stay in here?” I asked. “I could turn on some music, but I have a feeling you’d hate it.”

He looked at the puzzle and looked into the living room, then pointed to the table and said, “Let’s take this in there and do both.”

So we moved the table into the living room and sat on adjacent sides, eating pizza, working the puzzle, and watching violence and mayhem. Angelo was right. There was nothing better.

I
DIDN
’
T
hear from Tom at all the next week. I thought about

calling, but I didn’t want to come off sounding desperate. I was starting to realize that our relationship wasn’t really a relationship at all.

I tried not to think about it too much. It was just too depressing.

Somehow Angelo ended up at my place almost every night that week. A couple of times I invited him. A couple of times, I wasn’t sure how it came to pass. Either way I was glad to have the company. We finished the first puzzle and started a second one. We had fun together, and it was definitely better than spending the evening contemplating my non-relationship with Tom.

Monday rolled around again, but that week, I at least had something to look forward to. The next weekend was Folk Fest, a weekend-long music festival in Lyons, Colorado. I went every year, even if I had to close the shop. I was really looking forward to getting away for a few days. I couldn’t help but wish, though, that I wasn’t going alone.

My original plan was to give Angelo his choice between covering the store while I was gone or taking the weekend off, but by the time he came in that morning, I had a different plan.

“What are you doing this weekend, Angelo?” I asked him as soon as he came in.

“Nothin’. Why?”
“Have you ever heard of Folk Fest?”
“Is that like Bluegrass Fest, ’cept with folk music?” “Exactly.”
“Nope, never heard of it.”

That made me smile. “You’d love the food there,” I told him. “They have these chicken-basil pot stickers that are to die for. They have curry too. I haven’t tried it, though. They said it was pretty hot.”

He smirked at me. “Wimp.”

 

And I couldn’t help but smile back. “I know. You want to come with me?”

“It’s
folk
music?” he asked incredulously.
“Well, yes, but there’s a pretty broad spectrum of music that falls under that category. You’d be surprised. We’ll just hang out in the sun and drink beer and people-watch. What do you think?” He looked over at me, and it looked like he was thinking about it. I realized how much I hoped that he would say yes. “The ticket’s kind of expensive, but I’ll split it with you.” That would seriously cut into my funds, but I suddenly didn’t care. “It’ll be fun. Will you come?”

He gave me that lopsided smirk. “You want me to hang out with you all weekend and listen to shitty music?”

 

“I do.”

 

“Why the hell would I do that?” But I knew that impudent tone and the spark in his eyes, and I knew he was planning to say yes.

“Just for the hell of it?”
“Don’t say I never did nothin’ for you, Zach.”
I was still laughing when Jeremy walked in.

“Zach, I’m here to get your signature on these petitions.” He had three clipboards in his hand. I didn’t even ask what they were for. I just started signing, passing each one to Ang as I finished. “Have you watched that movie yet?”

“No,” Angelo answered for me, “but we ordered a copy. It should be here next week.”

That seemed to make Jeremy happy.
Ruby was next.

“Did you have a vision?” Angelo asked her. He sounded completely serious, but I could see the glint in his eyes that betrayed his amusement.

“As a matter of fact, young man, I did. I saw you standing by two stone doors. Then your brother came and opened one for you, and you pushed a blind man through.” She nodded, then turned to me and said knowingly, “It was that black man who sings.” “Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles?” I asked, trying not to laugh.

“Well,” she said, looking confused, “the black one.” Angelo’s look of amusement was gone. “Don’t have a brother,” he said bluntly.

 

“Oh.” Now she looked even more confused. “Are you quite sure, dear?”

 

Angelo just glared at her, and she turned and left, muttering to herself.

 

“You could have a brother,” I said gently to Angelo. “Have you ever thought about looking for your family?”

He turned away from me without a word, and I knew that subject was closed. Before I could say anything else, the door opened and Tom walked in. I wasn’t really sure what I felt when I saw him. Part of me just wanted to end things with him, but there was still a part of me that wanted him too.

“Hey, baby.” Tom kissed me on the cheek, and Angelo turned his back on us, but not before I saw the look of hatred on his face. “Come in back with me?” Tom asked.

Another blow job in the office? Not today. “I’m pretty busy right now.” That was obviously a lie, but so what?

 

“Okay.” He looked a little bit amused but didn’t argue. “Can I see you this weekend?”

 

“I’m going out of town for the weekend.” It felt ridiculously good to say that to him.

He looked surprised. “Where you going?”
“To Folk Fest, in Lyons.”

His face lit up. “Really? I’ve always thought that sounded like fun. Want some company?”

I was surprised to realize that my gut response was to say no. But part of me was flattered that he wanted to go away with me for the weekend. A whole weekend together—I pictured us shopping the vendors, holding hands, sharing ice cream, making love. I did want that. I wanted us to be a real couple.

“I’ll be camping. Are you willing to sleep on the ground?”

“For you? Of course.” He stepped up to me and put an arm around my waist. “Can I see you tonight? I can come by around nine.”

“I guess.”
“Good. I’ve been missing you.”

He left a few minutes later. As soon as the door closed behind him, Angelo rounded on me. “Are you stupid or somethin’?” he asked angrily.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

He shook his head and turned away. “That guy don’t care ’bout you. He’s just usin’ you and you keep lettin’ him.” “You don’t know that.”

 

“Yes I do, Zach,” he said matter-of-factly. “Don’t go to the festival with him. You’ll end up regrettin’ it.”

 

I was trying not to sound as defensive as I felt. “Maybe a weekend away will be good for us.”

 

He snorted. “Good for him, you mean. He’ll get his knob polished, and you’ll get nothin’.”

 

“Can you give me some credit, Angelo? I’m not that stupid.”

“Looks like you are to me.” I didn’t say anything, but his words hurt me more than I would have expected. I turned my back on him, so he wouldn’t see it on my face, and a minute later he said, grudgingly, “Sorry.”