Ah, the fallout from an unexpected tryst, especially when the people involved have very different notions of what happened and why. Never been there myself, thankfully, but boy is it good for a little drama. I’m particularly proud of the opening scene here, especially becasue it just happened that way without any planning. It’s an amazing feeling when you’re so into your own story that it starts telling you how it should be told.
I ended up cutting this night’s writing a bit short because I wasn’t feeling well (a major, major headache pretty much floored me for the evening), and I wasn’t sure I liked where things had gone, again.
For Idle Hands (working title) - Part 21
I opened my eyes and glanced quickly at the digital alarm clock next to Lili’s bed. I’d only lost twenty minutes, good.
I lay on my back, the yin yang bedspread pulled self consciously up to my chest. Lili was next to me, already awake and studying my face with shining eyes. She was on her side, uncovered to her knees, the graceful arc of her hip rising out from under the comforter.
“Why?” I asked after a moment.
“Why what?”
I sighed. “Everything. Why did you invite me up here? Why did I accept? Why did we do what we just did? How could I have been so stupid?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Nick. And neither did I. I’m not a child, I knew what I was doing.”
“I’m old enough to be your father.”
“But you’re not,” she leaned over and tried to kiss me, but I turned away. I sat up and swung my legs off the bed.
“I should take that shower now, I need to get going.” I stood up and pulled on the jeans and sweatshirt Lili had procured for me. I wasn’t about to go walking around a college dorm in nothing but a towel. I glanced back at Lili, “where do you keep your towels?”
She was sitting up in the bed, covering herself with the comforter. She looked upset, vulnerable. I was making a real mess of things, and I knew it.
“Lili, I’m sorry, I just… I’ve been having the worst day of my life, and it seems like no matter what I do I keep making things worse. First I’m too late to save Yadira from being killed, and I keep finding more and more evidence that she was a dirty cop. Then I wreck Derrick’s car by being a moron. Then Gunn takes a bullet for me, his replacement is way out of his league, and half the cops in Idle are looking for me. And now this.”
I have a suspicion that if looks could kill I would have dropped dead. She stood, taking the comforter with her, and pulled a white towel from the dresser next to the bed. She threw it at me then stalked back to the bed and sat down, very distinctly not looking at me.
I’d really screwed up this time, I’d hurt someone else. How could I have been so stupid? I never should have come up here.
The shower was hot and the water pressure was delicious. I was careful to keep the bandage on my back from getting too wet, and I had to shield the cuts on my forehead and chest from onslaught, but otherwise it was three minutes of heaven. I toweled off and dressed before leaving the shower stall.
Glancing in the mirror I was reminded that I hadn’t shaved in two days. When I was younger, around the time I’d first had to shave, whenever I would get overwhelmed and start to feel out of control, I would shave whether I needed it or not. It was a simple action, and something I had control over. I could use some of that therapy now, but there was no time, I’d wasted enough already.
When went back across the hall to Lili’s room, I found her dressed as before in her leather skirt and halter, sitting cross legged on the floor of her room, with my notes and the photos I’d gotten from Emmett spread out on the floor in front of her. I didn’t say anything as I shut the door. After what I’d done, I didn’t feel I had the right.
“It looks like you’re not the only person in town who had a past with Yadira.” She pointed to the picture from earlier this year, “or maybe a present.”
“Do you know Wally McCollin?”
“I do, among other things he’s a regular at the club.”
“What about the guy in the helmet?”
“I don’t know, it’s hard to tell, I can’t see his face.” She was lying, she was good at it but I’d been dealing with liars for too long to miss the signs.
“Just tell me who it is, Lili. I know you have a helmet like that, and it’d be a hell of a coincidence to find that on the same day that I get that picture, and the day that I’m almost run down by a couple goons on four wheelers in those getups.”
“I’m sorry about that, Nick. I didn’t know it was you, not that it makes any difference. People usually aren’t walking around out there in the middle of the night.”
“Who is that talking to Wally, Lili?”
“Isn’t the more important question, who took the picture?”
I didn’t answer, I didn’t now how to answer. Then something clicked, some small thought in my sub conscious broke free.
(note to self: add mention of camera to description of Lili’s room, or mention of her minor)
“You did, didn’t you?”
“I’m a photography minor, in fact, though this is hardly representative of what I can do. Surveillance photos aren’t about artistic expression, after all.”
“But, why?”
She shrugged, “it’s a job.”
“You’re Espial Associates??”
“I’m one of he associates, you could say. He’s another,” she tapped the photo of the man in black talking to Wally. “But no, I won’t tell you his name.”
“Who’s your boss?”
“I won’t tell you that either.”
“Who paid you to spy on Yadira?”
“Spy is an awfully negative word. And yet it is synonymous with ‘espial’, so I guess it is apt. I’ll tell you who our client was because I believe that you’re trying to do a good thing, helping a former lover even though that love is long gone. I can respect that. Wally was our client, he paid us to watch Yadira.”
“Wally?! Why?”
“All I know is he said he was worried about her. I don’t handle the fine points, I just take the pictures. This one,” she tapped the photo of Wally and the man in black again, “was insurance. While they’re discussing the details, I snap the picture, ensuring that the client can’t disavow any involvement, in case it comes to that.”
“A college student, a bar tender, and a hired spy. That’s a busy schedule.”
“I’m a multi-talented girl.”
I looked away, trying to hide my look of shame at what I’d done. Lili stuffed the photos and my notebook back into the bag and stood.
“You should go.”
I nodded. I turned my soiled clothes inside out and stuffed them in the bag too. As I walked out the door, I turned back.
“Thank you for the clothes.”
She smiled tersely and slammed the door in my face. I walked the three flights down in a fog, I had too many new things to consider, too many new questions, and a new item to add to my list of sins.
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