MONDAY
Walked home from Jenny's at 5:00 AM and it started raining. Got ready for work. Worked. Nick put in his two weeks, last I heard, and Tim fired him instead. I get worried that his poor planning left no one scheduled to work the register shift, which would be hell during the lunch rush, but thankfully Jessica comes in to save the day. First time we've had a full shift together. Her new haircut gets a lot of attention. She introduces me to a bunch of good hip-hop artists. Tips are decent. Shaun arrives and I clock out. Go home. Kirsten's there. Feeling restless. I decide it's time to rearrange my bedroom. She helps. I go to Grocery Outlet to buy a vacuum but they're too expensive. When it's all put together, the layout is so much better that I'm amazed I never thought of it before. Now my bed is by the window. Loving it. Kirsten and I go to Safeway to get firewood and beer, then stop at Panda Express for dinner. Things between us are fine, I think. She's hurt and bitter, expectedly so, and I want to do anything to protect what I've got with Jenny, so I listen to Kirsten and give her my opinions, but I make it known that things have changed. The next step is figuring out how to remove her from "occasional roommate" status. As for the weather, it's been raining off-and-on all day, so I'm not so sure if the bonfire will even take place. At least I'll be prepared. Back at my place, Kirsten's spending most of her time texting people and reading Twitter, so I play Portal for a while before heading over to Old Soul to get a pick-me-up mocha from Shaun. At around 7:00 PM, Tim comes in and informs Shaun, drunkenly, that Old Soul will now be closing at 7:00 PM ("Didn't you read the memo?" he asks) and of course Shaun had no idea this was happening, so he has to kick out a full house. I go back home and wait for Jenny, who strolls up about a half hour later, and this is the first time she meets Kirsten. As soon as I can, I get them out of the confines of my bedroom and outside by the fire-pit where all the tension can evaporate in the smoke, or so I hope. It's just Jenny, Kirsten, me and my new hip-hop playlist for a while as the flames pick up and clouds clear overhead. Awkward, yes. I don't even remember what we talked about. Stuff. John and Amy show up and the vibe changes for the better. Always knew it'd be fun to hang out with them outside of Old Soul. They brought great beer and good conversation. Shaun came by after he finished his shift and told us his car battery had died. We talked about Old Soul's coming downfall, music genres, optimism, appreciating the little things, venues in Davis, local bands and piracy. Shaun leaves. Jack comes up to the fence on break from Old Soul and shares a few hits from the pipe. Jenny admits that she feels weird about Kirsten. Understandable. We talk it out. Daniel arrives. It becomes a Davis reunion. We have s'mores and John comes to the conclusion that he doesn't like marshmallows. Daniel and Jenny try to figure out which friends from which parties they might both know. Kirsten takes a call from Collin and disappears toward the house. I'm getting tired and frustrated by the Kirsten situation. I'm glad Daniel came, however, so I at least want him to get a good experience out of the night. John and Amy come back because there was a cop eyeballing his unregistered car. They stay for a little while until they think the heat is gone, and go off to try again. Minutes later I get a text: We've escaped!
After midnight, when it becomes Tuesday, I call the bonfire closed. Daniel leaves and forgets his sweatshirt. I put away the computer and Jenny grabs her bike and we leave, saying goodbye to Kirsten sitting on the stairs with the phone against her ear. It feels good to be alone with Jenny again. At some point I tell her a high-school memory that combined dodge-ball and hide-and-seek, focusing on the feeling of being hunted, and that's when Jenny looks down an alleyway and sees two shadowy figures glancing in our direction. Creepy. Even worse, we're twenty steps further when we hear six loud gunshots. We walk the rest of the way to her apartment at a brisk, white-knuckled pace. In the apartment, shaking off the nerves, we find Nick in Jenny's bedroom staring out the window, calling the police. "I heard gunshots," he says calmly, passing the phone to Jenny when the officer wants better details. Afterward, we put on some music and eventually fall asleep and I have a dream about killing someone. Jenny and I sleep in. She reads me Pablo Neruda. She becomes Kiwi and I become Plum. We pull ourselves out of bed and drive over to Fox and Goose for breakfast, where Jenny gets her pancake fix and I become fascinated by olallieberries. Afterward she drops me off at home for work, but not before we notice a string of firetrucks outside of a government building near my house. I ask one of the cops what's going on and he says, "A bunch of people got sick and they're just checking it out." Beware the ides of March. Work goes alright. It storms today. Weird to think we close at 7 now. Slow day. Listening to hip-hop. Then everyone starts showing up. Place gets busy. I cancel plans to see a movie in Davis with Jenny. End up staying open until 8, get bitter, close poorly, but Jenny comes in and brightens my mood. We go to my house and smoke and listen to Sage Francis and sit by the window and read old writing I'd done in a college class and eat leftover teriyaki rice and talk about our skills ("It's just writing for us," she says) and we admit that we like each other and I realize that there's really nowhere else I'd rather be.
THE IDES
After midnight, when it becomes Tuesday, I call the bonfire closed. Daniel leaves and forgets his sweatshirt. I put away the computer and Jenny grabs her bike and we leave, saying goodbye to Kirsten sitting on the stairs with the phone against her ear. It feels good to be alone with Jenny again. At some point I tell her a high-school memory that combined dodge-ball and hide-and-seek, focusing on the feeling of being hunted, and that's when Jenny looks down an alleyway and sees two shadowy figures glancing in our direction. Creepy. Even worse, we're twenty steps further when we hear six loud gunshots. We walk the rest of the way to her apartment at a brisk, white-knuckled pace. In the apartment, shaking off the nerves, we find Nick in Jenny's bedroom staring out the window, calling the police. "I heard gunshots," he says calmly, passing the phone to Jenny when the officer wants better details. Afterward, we put on some music and eventually fall asleep and I have a dream about killing someone. Jenny and I sleep in. She reads me Pablo Neruda. She becomes Kiwi and I become Plum. We pull ourselves out of bed and drive over to Fox and Goose for breakfast, where Jenny gets her pancake fix and I become fascinated by olallieberries. Afterward she drops me off at home for work, but not before we notice a string of firetrucks outside of a government building near my house. I ask one of the cops what's going on and he says, "A bunch of people got sick and they're just checking it out." Beware the ides of March. Work goes alright. It storms today. Weird to think we close at 7 now. Slow day. Listening to hip-hop. Then everyone starts showing up. Place gets busy. I cancel plans to see a movie in Davis with Jenny. End up staying open until 8, get bitter, close poorly, but Jenny comes in and brightens my mood. We go to my house and smoke and listen to Sage Francis and sit by the window and read old writing I'd done in a college class and eat leftover teriyaki rice and talk about our skills ("It's just writing for us," she says) and we admit that we like each other and I realize that there's really nowhere else I'd rather be.
Here are some nonsensical poems dug up from my past:
Simple Simon says simple slimy sentences
Sitting silently secreting secrets
Something silly
Sometimes scary
Simply Simon sits
Simple Simon scarcely sleeps soundly
Simon sees special subjects
Special subjects specify solitude
Simon sings softly secrets sometimes sordid
Simon sits secretly
Bryan buys broken bombs
Bombs burst big blasts
Bryan builds beginnings
Brands built by Bryan
Bryan bombs blast baggage
Bad backwater buries Bryan
Bomb blasts benefit
Break Bryan baggage
Bring Bryan back
Broken bombs built bring better
- Left to Fry
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