Write In The Middle Of It

With glee, Brett seemed as if he was floating to Mekayla’s loft. He figured the Mancuso intrusion couldn’t have had better timing. Now Brett needed a place to run and after the way Mekayla kissed him on her fire escape, he knew he could be welcome there.

How romantic would it be to lightly throw stones at her back door until she woke up and let him in, literally.

Brett felt his anticipation grow as he reached the block that Mekayla’s building was on.

He squinted as he saw a familiar figure pacing back and forth in front of her building.

The figure seemed to be talking to himself and angrily waving his arms in the air. Brett inched closer but out of the shine of the streetlamp so as not to be noticed but getting a clearer view of the familiar figure.

It was that bitch Erik.

Instantly, the grip he had around the straps of the two heavily stuffed gym bags became tighter as if he was the straps were Erik’s neck. The anger that welled up inside Brett instantly became a sinking feeling when he realized he was carrying all of his belongings with him.

Shit, I can’t show up to Mekayla’s door with these.

But he also knew that he couldn’t go back to his room either because Mancuso would be back sooner or later to question him about Sadiah. He closed his eyes tight and shook the vision of Sadiah from his mind. Although he was sincerely sorry about what happened to the girl, he couldn’t stop to think about her right now, he had to focus on Mekayla and where he could drop these bags without being noticed by a stranger passing by or worse yet, by Erik.

He still cowered in the shadows as he watched Erik slow his pace down to a complete stop. He sat on the steps leading up to her building and hunched over as if he was deep in thought. Brett squinted and inched up slowly and realized Erik looked as though he was twiddling his thumbs. Erik then shoved what resembled a fat cigarette into his mouth and reached into his coat pocket. Flames illuminated his face as he stood up and darted off in the opposite direction of where Brett was standing.

Although Brett was curious as to why Erik put on such a display, he was relieved to see him go. He could get rid of the bags easier with him not around. His mind frantically started racing, his eyes darting scanning the area for safe place to dump his them. Brett couldn’t put them behind the dumpster because they would be mistaken for trash or worse stolen by a bum. The bags were too big to put on the steps of Mekayla’s fire escape because someone would notice them. The bags were starting to get heavy as he walked down the alley looking up at Mekayla’s back door. The light from her bedroom welcomingly beckoned him, as he readjusted his grip on the straps of the bag, one of them snapped and Brett cussed. He now resented the bags and was determined to get rid of them. He walked under the fire escape and dropped the bags by his feet to light a cigarette. He inhaled hard and thought even harder. All that was stopping him from being in the warm safe embrace of Mekayla were these bags. He could go to the train station and purchase a locker but he didn’t have money for a cab and there was no way he was gonna lug those bags all the way cross town, especially now that the strap was broken. Brett kicked the bag with the broken strap and heard what sounded like plastic breaking.

Dammit!!

He swore in his mind, hoping that it was only his Walkman or a CD case and not his deodorant or lotion bottle. But he didn’t want to look as looking would just impede his progress just as smoking a cigarette was impeding his progress, so he threw it back down the alley and resolved that he had to go buy a locker. Brett picked up the bags and arranged them on his shoulders so he would be more comfortable walking.

The weight of the bags made him hunch slightly as he trudged his way back up the alley. He made a right to pass the front of Mekayla’s building and heard the front door swing open. He heard feet shuffle onto the concrete steps and what sounded like a trash bag dragging behind them. Because of the weight of the bag Brett couldn’t pass the steps as quickly as he wanted to. He grunted under his breath until he heard a surprised voice.

“Brett?” Mekayla said from the steps.

The wave of nausea started to boil in his stomach. Sweat started to form little beads on his forehead. He didn’t want to turn around. He didn’t want Mekayla to see him like this. But she knew it was him, he couldn’t get away and he straightened up his posture to look at her and say,

“Hey you.”

Mekayla looked at him nonchalantly as if she saw people carrying all of their personal belongings on their backs everyday. She drug her trash bag down the steps and said.

“You doin laundry this late?”

Brett smiled an almost sinister smile. “Yeah.”

“Well that’s dumb to go all the way to the corner. I have a laundry room on my hall and it’s free,” she said as she stopped at the bottom of the steps looking up at him.

“Really?” Brett said with grateful surprise.

“Yup. And I’ll watch your bags if you take out my trash.”

“Deal,” Brett said as she backed up and dropped the bags at her feet.

She smiled and handed him the trash that was apparently too heavy for her but was as light as air to him. Brett went down the alley to the dumpster and tossed the trash and resumed his glide back to Mekayla whose expression looked like one of those smiley face t-shirts that said Have a Nice Day.

She was either very sleepy or very high but Brett decided that it didn’t matter.

“You okay?” He asked her.

“That’s all relative.” Mekayla shrugged as she answered.

He picked up his bags and followed her up the concrete steps, “You wanna talk about it?”

She turned around and blocked the doorway playfully, “I dunno,” she said as she poked him with her key, “can you be objective?”

Brett smiled, “I can be whatever you want me to be.”

“Good answer.” She said as she unlocked the front door to the building and held it open so Brett could catch it with his shoulder. He watched her ass as she went up the steps.

Damn I needed to get rid of my bags and my lady got rid of them for me, how hot is that?

Now all he had to was listen to everything she had to say.