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Chapter 4
Danny sat on the sofa, with a sketchpad on his lap. The television played a college football game that he had recorded months ago. He wore a pair of dark grey trousers with a black t-shirt under his sweater that he presently had the sleeves pulled halfway up on. The side of his hand was black with the graphite from the pencil he was drawing with.
"And you wonder what happened in the play-offs," Danny grumbled as he worked on his drawing. "You can't blame an entire career on bad calls."
He stopped drawing and looked up at the game just as a whistle blew.
"See?" Danny spoke to the television. "I'm wrong. That is a bad call."
He reached next to him and grabbed a bottle of beer. It was still cold and he was surprised when it was suddenly empty. He held it up and looked at it. "These used to hold more."
Someone knocked at the door.
He grumbled and stood up, dropping his sketch pad on the sofa next to where he had been sitting. He tucked his pencil behind his ear.
As he walked to the door, he tossed the empty bottle into the trash across the room.
"And that's three points." He celebrated.
With a glance through the peephole to see who it was, he happily opened the door.
"Afternoon Lewis. Come on in." He turned and walked towards the refrigerator. "Want a beer?"
Lewis, wearing his usual suit, stepped inside of the apartment and closed the door. "No, I better not. Perhaps later, though. Are you busy?"
"Never too busy for you." He said as he twisted the lid off of another bottle. "What's up?"
"I have a favor to ask. And it's completely alright to tell me no."
Danny took a deep drink and then grinned. "I'm in such a great mood, Lewis. There's nothing I probably would refuse at the moment."
Lewis chuckled and put his hands in his pockets. "Are you sober enough to talk about it-"
"Phhh." Danny insisted. "This is only my second."
Lewis laughed in disbelief. He reached and took Danny's beer from him. He smelled it and shook his head. "Fourth."
"Good guess." Danny leaned against the cabinet. "What's the favor?"
"I have a meeting in an hour. I have to go over a lot of information that will be ummm…."
"Sensitive."
"That's the word. Thanks."
"So you need me to stay over here?"
"Well, yes. But, that isn't the favor."
Danny looked at him in confusion.
Lewis took a deep breath and sat down the beer he still held, down on the cabinet. "Fancy a bit of company?"
Danny smiled at Lewis's sudden change in accent. He mocked him in the best English accent he could, "So, we're going to discuss our vitamin schedules in the garage?"
"What?"
"Well, you suddenly started using an accent. I thought it was part of the favor-"
"No, sorry." Lewis smiled. "It's a problem I have. I've been on the phone all day with Pete."
Danny laughed and picked back up the beer that Lewis had sat down on the cabinet. "How bad is it after you've been around Arla?"
"Nevermind that, I need you to watch Rose for me. Just for a bit."
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Watch Rose?"
"Yes."
"Are you really even here right now, man?"
Lewis looked at in him surprise. "What?"
"Are any of us, really here?"
Lewis continued to stare at Danny.
Danny started to laugh.
Lewis rolled his eyes, "Anyway, Meeting starts at 6:00. I'll send a pizza. Let her hang out until I can have someone here for her."
"Where's she going?"
"With him." Lewis answered, "Someplace."
"Someplace she needs to go, or just off someplace else to babysit her?"
"It's just 30 minutes, Danny. It would do you good to have a friend. It would do the both of you a lot of good."
Danny grinned, "I'll take your word for it, Lewis. I'd be happy to hang out. Well -wait…"
"What?"
"Is this a fix-up?"
Lewis was clearly confused by that statement. "Fix?"
"Fix-up? Is it a fix-up?"
"Oh, a fix-up. No! Hell no." Lewis chuckled and relaxed at the thought. "No. It's not a fix-up. How does that mean that?"
Danny shrugged his shoulders, "English is strange."
"That's very true." Lewis said, "Alright. 6:00. I'm just next door if something happens, and you have my permission to break the door down."
"Lewis, you're overthinking this, man. Just put a guy in the elevator. It will take them 20 minutes to get up here. Ha! I've got it. Let her do a round trip in the elevator. That will take 41 minutes. I timed it this morning. What are the odds that something would happen? Less than being struck by lighting while fucking a shark."
"I think that's while getting bitten by a shark-"
"Who the fuck wants to get bit by a shark?"
Lewis again appeared confused, "What?"
"Man, Lewis." Danny insisted and sipped his beer. "I'm worried about you."
Lewis grinned. "Speaking of being "worried about you." Did you call that doctor's number I gave you?"
"Yeah. Sammy. He dropped off something."
"Good." Lewis nodded. "You can trust him. You are safe with him."
Danny nodded. "Yeah, we talked for about two hours. I hated I wasted so much of his time."
Lewis waved it off. "Trust me. He is traveling today and has absolutely nothing to do."
"Not someone who needs to have idle hands?"
Lewis bit his lip, "Someone else who is going through some shit right now. It helps him to have something to distract himself with. Trust me. You're helping him as much as he is helping you."
Danny smiled, "Thanks. That makes me feel better then."
"Yeah. Sammy has to travel a lot for me at the moment."
Danny nodded, "Let me know when he needs to waste some time then. I may call him back."
Lewis smiled, "Indeed I will. So, about Rose?"
Danny grinned, "Yeah, send her over."
"Cheers, mate." Lewis grinned and walked over to the door. He opened it and Danny suddenly was stuck by a thought. "Hang on. Is she…."
"What?" Lewis asked.
"Snobby?"
Lewis relaxed and thought for a second. He whispered, "Snobby?" After a second he seemed to realize what it meant. He looked at Danny and laughed, "Oh yeah. Extremely."
Danny laughed.
Lewis nearly closed the door, then stopped. He stepped back into the room and closed the door almost fully. "Danny." He seemed to be choosing his words carefully.
"We're friends, Lewis. What's on your mind?"
Lewis closed the door and said, "Sometimes, we reach a moment in our lives where we realize we have accepted the past as a way of defining the person we are. Part of reaching towards recovering from the depths is to decide on how you wish to define yourself from this point forward. Without looking back."
Danny nodded, "Thanks. That's good advice."
"I'm sure your grandfather could have said it much better." Lewis grinned left the apartment with a quick thanks.
Danny, left alone, rubbed his face. "I better put on some coffee. Or not. A shower though. That's a must, Danny."
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