Chapter 23
"You have got to be joking," Simone said to Nicholas as she sat in her apartment listening to his relaying over the phone of his most recent conversation with his father and grandfather. "I can't believe that he threatened you like that!"
"I know, it was pretty bad, even for grandfather," Nicholas replied. "But at least we've come to a compromise. I should be back in town this weekend; we should meet to discuss this in more detail, especially my father's weird personality change."
"Oh, that'd be great!" Simone shouted, then lowered her voice as Kay, who was sitting nearby sipping coffee, looked up interested. "I'd love to get together this weekend, call my cell later tonight and we'll discuss." Simone quickly disconnected. She didn't want Kay getting all worked up about her continued communication with Nicholas.
"Who was that?" Kay asked. She was determined to discover the identity of Simone's mystery man... and she was absolutely sure that there was a mystery man.
"No one special," Simone replied vaguely. "Just some guy who wanted to know how to find Haven. I told him and then he said he'd be there this weekend, so I told him that's be great."
"Riiiiiiight," Kay said, pretending to let it go. When Simone got up to get her own mug of coffee, she quickly wrote down the number on the caller ID and stuck it in her purse. She noted the Harmony area code with interest. This definitely bore some further research.
"So what are you up to this weekend?" Kay asked her.
"Ummm... nothing special... but I've got to work at Haven since my hostess left town for the summer and we haven't hired a replacement yet." she added quickly when Kay looked ready to ask her to do something. She had to meet with Nicholas, but she didn't want Kay to know that.
"Oh, that's cool. AWARE is having a summer retreat, so I thought you might want to tag along and see what it's all about," Kay responded.
"Kay, you weirdo, I know what it's about, you gave Charity and reports of your latest cause after every meeting. It's good stuff, and I would go, except I've been so busy with Haven lately," Simone answered, feeling guilty for slightly deceiving her friend.
"Simone, are you sure it's just Haven that's been keeping you busy? There's no one new and special in your life?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Oh man, I'll be glad when Charity gets back from her Protestant retreat," Simone equivocated. "Then all your nosiness will be directed at her and Miguel and you'll stop imagining that something is going on with me."
Kay saw that she was getting nowhere fast with her direct line of questioning and so she let Simone off the hook and decided that more subtle snooping was required. "Whatever you say, Simone," she said aloud. "At any rate, if you were seeing someone, hypothetically speaking, of course, I'll be out of your hair all weekend. We're leaving on Friday and won't be back from the boondocks until Sunday evening."
"Kay, I'm telling you, I'm going to be busy downstairs at Haven all weekend, so time for the hanky-panky you seem to think I'll be getting into."
"Riiiiiiiight," Kay answered, letting her response drag out to show that she wasn't buying it. "Well," she said thoughtfully, "maybe it is a bit of wishful thinking on my part... you really need to get some chica..." She ducked as a burgundy pillow came flying at her. She ran into her room as Simone chased her with a gold sham as a weapon.
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"Dammit, dammit, dammit," Kay muttered to herself as she walked from the corner where the big yellow bus had dropped her off back to her and Simone's place. I can't believe they double booked us, those hick something-or-others, she thought angrily to herself. It was 11pm on a Saturday night and she was fighting mad and grungy from the six hour bus ride to and from the retreat site that had forgotten AWARE's booking. "At least I can go to my Haven," she said, snickering out loud a bit about her unintended pun. "Oh hush," she said, as the homeless person she was walking by gave her a strange look. Instantly, guilt overwhelmed her and she ran into the all-night deli on the next corner, and then back to the man to give him the sandwich she had bought with her last few dollars. "I've gotta start this TA'ing soon," she said to herself as she looked morosely at her empty wallet.
As she approached Haven and her apartment, she decided to go through the lounge first, to see how Simone was holding up. Summer nights were always insane. As she entered Haven, she was surprised to see a waiter filling in at the front. "Hey Shawn," she said to the brown-haired fill in host. "Where's Simone?"
"She's in the back room, but she said she didn't want to be disturbed."
"I'll just pop in and let her know I'm home a day early," Kay said as she wandered through the mishmash of sofas and chairs to the back room area. She saw the door was ajar and decided to peek in to make sure she wasn't interrupting anything important.
"Nicholas, you're joking!!!" she saw her apartment mate and friend jump into Nicholas's lap and give him a giant hug. "I am so happy you're with me on this..." Simone continued.
Kay felt sick. She stumbled backwards from the doorway and made her way up the backstairs to her apartment. After fumbling for a few minutes with the lock, she rushed straight to her room and shut the door, as if she were shutting out the sight of her friend on Nicholas's lap. She attempted to banish the memory through sheer force of will and could not. She attempted to scream out her frustration and could not. She even thought of calling Charity and trying to make their blue connection work over the phone lines, but realized that it probably wouldn't heal emotional hurt as readily as it knit bones. Finally, mercifully, sleep over came her and she dozed fitfully, fully dressed on top of her covers.
When her aching joints forced her out of her light dream state a few hours later, Kay began to reason out what she had seen. After all, Nicholas and Simone have been friends for a few years, she hadn't seen them kissing or anything. And how many times had she jumped on Miguel when she was excited about something? I just have to ask Simone to explain what I saw, Kay reasoned. I over-reacted, it was innocent. She quickly glanced over at the clock and saw that it was just past two in the morning. The crowd at Haven would be thinning out and Simone should be leaving things to the early shift hostess now, that is if she was done with her "business" in the backroom. Kay threw on a t-shirt and shorts and ran down the backstairs in her slippers. She walked into Haven and saw Shawn cleaning up, while Amber, the early shift hostess, greeted bleary eyed customers seeking coffee after a long night of drinking.
"Hey, Shawn, what's up?" she asked, not wanting to be rude by asking about Simone immediately a second time.
"Oh, hey, Kay," he said, looking up from sweeping. "Just got the last drunk guy out and in a cab. God bless last calls. I can't wait to head home."
"Oh man, I feel you," Kay said, attempting to push her worries out of her mind so she could empathize with Shawn.
Shawn looked her up and down and replied, "Right, Kay. Clearly you have no idea what I'm feeling. Are those bedroom slippers you have on?" To let her know he was joking, he flicked her lightly with a bit of dishwater from the sink behind the bar.
"Oh, that's gross, Shawn," Kay yelped. "But you're right, I did just roll out of bed. Have you seen my roommie anywhere?"
"Oh, I see how it is," he responded. "You just come to me to make small talk and then to track down folks." His face turned serious. "Actually, Kay, I'm kinda worried about Simone. She seems to be lowering her work time here, we rarely see her, but when she is here, she's still dog tired and she always looks wired about something."
Kay too was growing concerned. "Well, that's kinda why I want to see her now," she told Shawn. "She's been acting really mysterious. I thought she just had a new man she was trying to hide, but if what you're saying is true, there may be more to it than that."
"Well, she left a little while ago with Nicholas, but when you do have a talk with her, let me know if there's anything I can help with," Shawn said as he moved away to finish cleaning up the place.
Kay was extremely conflicted. On one hand, she felt guilty that Shawn, who was not Simone's best friend, seemed a ton more worried about her friend than she did, and on the other, she was supremely pissed to learn that Simone had left Haven with Nicholas, leaving Shawn to clean up after the peak crowd on his own. As she stomped back up to the apartment and back into bed and then as she drifted to sleep, she let thousands of scenarios run through her head about what could be up with her friend.
"You have got to be joking," Simone said to Nicholas as she sat in her apartment listening to his relaying over the phone of his most recent conversation with his father and grandfather. "I can't believe that he threatened you like that!"
"I know, it was pretty bad, even for grandfather," Nicholas replied. "But at least we've come to a compromise. I should be back in town this weekend; we should meet to discuss this in more detail, especially my father's weird personality change."
"Oh, that'd be great!" Simone shouted, then lowered her voice as Kay, who was sitting nearby sipping coffee, looked up interested. "I'd love to get together this weekend, call my cell later tonight and we'll discuss." Simone quickly disconnected. She didn't want Kay getting all worked up about her continued communication with Nicholas.
"Who was that?" Kay asked. She was determined to discover the identity of Simone's mystery man... and she was absolutely sure that there was a mystery man.
"No one special," Simone replied vaguely. "Just some guy who wanted to know how to find Haven. I told him and then he said he'd be there this weekend, so I told him that's be great."
"Riiiiiiight," Kay said, pretending to let it go. When Simone got up to get her own mug of coffee, she quickly wrote down the number on the caller ID and stuck it in her purse. She noted the Harmony area code with interest. This definitely bore some further research.
"So what are you up to this weekend?" Kay asked her.
"Ummm... nothing special... but I've got to work at Haven since my hostess left town for the summer and we haven't hired a replacement yet." she added quickly when Kay looked ready to ask her to do something. She had to meet with Nicholas, but she didn't want Kay to know that.
"Oh, that's cool. AWARE is having a summer retreat, so I thought you might want to tag along and see what it's all about," Kay responded.
"Kay, you weirdo, I know what it's about, you gave Charity and reports of your latest cause after every meeting. It's good stuff, and I would go, except I've been so busy with Haven lately," Simone answered, feeling guilty for slightly deceiving her friend.
"Simone, are you sure it's just Haven that's been keeping you busy? There's no one new and special in your life?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Oh man, I'll be glad when Charity gets back from her Protestant retreat," Simone equivocated. "Then all your nosiness will be directed at her and Miguel and you'll stop imagining that something is going on with me."
Kay saw that she was getting nowhere fast with her direct line of questioning and so she let Simone off the hook and decided that more subtle snooping was required. "Whatever you say, Simone," she said aloud. "At any rate, if you were seeing someone, hypothetically speaking, of course, I'll be out of your hair all weekend. We're leaving on Friday and won't be back from the boondocks until Sunday evening."
"Kay, I'm telling you, I'm going to be busy downstairs at Haven all weekend, so time for the hanky-panky you seem to think I'll be getting into."
"Riiiiiiiight," Kay answered, letting her response drag out to show that she wasn't buying it. "Well," she said thoughtfully, "maybe it is a bit of wishful thinking on my part... you really need to get some chica..." She ducked as a burgundy pillow came flying at her. She ran into her room as Simone chased her with a gold sham as a weapon.
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"Dammit, dammit, dammit," Kay muttered to herself as she walked from the corner where the big yellow bus had dropped her off back to her and Simone's place. I can't believe they double booked us, those hick something-or-others, she thought angrily to herself. It was 11pm on a Saturday night and she was fighting mad and grungy from the six hour bus ride to and from the retreat site that had forgotten AWARE's booking. "At least I can go to my Haven," she said, snickering out loud a bit about her unintended pun. "Oh hush," she said, as the homeless person she was walking by gave her a strange look. Instantly, guilt overwhelmed her and she ran into the all-night deli on the next corner, and then back to the man to give him the sandwich she had bought with her last few dollars. "I've gotta start this TA'ing soon," she said to herself as she looked morosely at her empty wallet.
As she approached Haven and her apartment, she decided to go through the lounge first, to see how Simone was holding up. Summer nights were always insane. As she entered Haven, she was surprised to see a waiter filling in at the front. "Hey Shawn," she said to the brown-haired fill in host. "Where's Simone?"
"She's in the back room, but she said she didn't want to be disturbed."
"I'll just pop in and let her know I'm home a day early," Kay said as she wandered through the mishmash of sofas and chairs to the back room area. She saw the door was ajar and decided to peek in to make sure she wasn't interrupting anything important.
"Nicholas, you're joking!!!" she saw her apartment mate and friend jump into Nicholas's lap and give him a giant hug. "I am so happy you're with me on this..." Simone continued.
Kay felt sick. She stumbled backwards from the doorway and made her way up the backstairs to her apartment. After fumbling for a few minutes with the lock, she rushed straight to her room and shut the door, as if she were shutting out the sight of her friend on Nicholas's lap. She attempted to banish the memory through sheer force of will and could not. She attempted to scream out her frustration and could not. She even thought of calling Charity and trying to make their blue connection work over the phone lines, but realized that it probably wouldn't heal emotional hurt as readily as it knit bones. Finally, mercifully, sleep over came her and she dozed fitfully, fully dressed on top of her covers.
When her aching joints forced her out of her light dream state a few hours later, Kay began to reason out what she had seen. After all, Nicholas and Simone have been friends for a few years, she hadn't seen them kissing or anything. And how many times had she jumped on Miguel when she was excited about something? I just have to ask Simone to explain what I saw, Kay reasoned. I over-reacted, it was innocent. She quickly glanced over at the clock and saw that it was just past two in the morning. The crowd at Haven would be thinning out and Simone should be leaving things to the early shift hostess now, that is if she was done with her "business" in the backroom. Kay threw on a t-shirt and shorts and ran down the backstairs in her slippers. She walked into Haven and saw Shawn cleaning up, while Amber, the early shift hostess, greeted bleary eyed customers seeking coffee after a long night of drinking.
"Hey, Shawn, what's up?" she asked, not wanting to be rude by asking about Simone immediately a second time.
"Oh, hey, Kay," he said, looking up from sweeping. "Just got the last drunk guy out and in a cab. God bless last calls. I can't wait to head home."
"Oh man, I feel you," Kay said, attempting to push her worries out of her mind so she could empathize with Shawn.
Shawn looked her up and down and replied, "Right, Kay. Clearly you have no idea what I'm feeling. Are those bedroom slippers you have on?" To let her know he was joking, he flicked her lightly with a bit of dishwater from the sink behind the bar.
"Oh, that's gross, Shawn," Kay yelped. "But you're right, I did just roll out of bed. Have you seen my roommie anywhere?"
"Oh, I see how it is," he responded. "You just come to me to make small talk and then to track down folks." His face turned serious. "Actually, Kay, I'm kinda worried about Simone. She seems to be lowering her work time here, we rarely see her, but when she is here, she's still dog tired and she always looks wired about something."
Kay too was growing concerned. "Well, that's kinda why I want to see her now," she told Shawn. "She's been acting really mysterious. I thought she just had a new man she was trying to hide, but if what you're saying is true, there may be more to it than that."
"Well, she left a little while ago with Nicholas, but when you do have a talk with her, let me know if there's anything I can help with," Shawn said as he moved away to finish cleaning up the place.
Kay was extremely conflicted. On one hand, she felt guilty that Shawn, who was not Simone's best friend, seemed a ton more worried about her friend than she did, and on the other, she was supremely pissed to learn that Simone had left Haven with Nicholas, leaving Shawn to clean up after the peak crowd on his own. As she stomped back up to the apartment and back into bed and then as she drifted to sleep, she let thousands of scenarios run through her head about what could be up with her friend.
