Thanks for tuning in again for this pet project of mine! Since it's more of a little side-thing I've got going on with my last year of university, I thought I'd warn you guys that updates will not be scheduled (though they will be frequent). I'm really excited about what I've got going on and I'm glad you're here to share it with me!
I realized you guys don't know much about me, but in case you cared, here's a little about my life right now.
I hit a deer with my car on Friday the 13th in October (of course), subsequently destroying my car. On the bright side, and a few weeks later, I'm getting a new one along with another loan to pay off, but things are looking up! I'm dealing with the chilly old house my college roommates and I are currently renting
In other news, I saw that I have a viewer from New Zealand, so I'd like to say hey! I spent 6 weeks in Auckland in 2016, and I just wanted to say you've got a beautiful country and I miss it deeply.
One final note, thank you thoughts-of-joy-dreams-of-love for reviewing! It means a lot to get feedback!
Will sloshed through the puddles that flooded the sidewalks. It was pouring this morning; cold, too. The sun was barely streaming through dark clouds, but it was only seven. Summer or not, Jump City was chilly this Tuesday morning.
Turning the corner and down an alleyway, Will hastened his pace. If he was going to get to work on time he'd better hurry. The night had been long, visiting his little sister in the hospital, and waking up this morning had been too exhausting to imagine. Now he was going to be twenty minutes late and probably lose his job.
At the worst possible moment, Will tripped over his own black work shoes and found himself elbow deep into a pothole completely filled with water. He spit out the metallic, city taste of the concrete that seemed to be lodged in his teeth and hissed in pain. He'd smacked his nose on the edge of the pothole and it was bleeding. Maybe it wasn't the city he was tasting but his own, bloody life.
He swore and hissed again, pinching his nose. Will stumbled up out of the water and mud and kept going. Now he'd really be late.
He could see the hole-in-the-wall diner just ahead of him on the other side of this alleyway and across a busy street. Cars were racing back and forth in front of it. He was a line cook, especially well-versed in fried foods and eggs in baskets. He was weighed down by the world, by the rain that seemed to be beating heavily upon him from all sides. He burst out of the alleyway, barely seeing anything. Blood and rain filled his mouth and nose.
"Hey, man - you okay?" Came a voice from next to him.
Will's eyes pinched against the elements and he stumbled into the busy street.
Mike was still reeling from the night before. The girl he'd seen a few rows away in his graduate class had talked to him. He was floored when she'd turned around in her yellow sundress that night. It looked so pretty with her red hair. She'd let her walk him home. He'd been an idiot, he knew, the whole time, but she'd laughed at his jokes anyway. How perfect.
The entire walk back to her small apartment up the hill had been chilly without his coat. He'd given it to her. She was positively turning blue in that yellow sundress. Finally, when they'd made it to her place he'd dipped his head in goodnight and left. It was only after he'd gone a few blocks that he realized that he'd forgotten to get his coat back.
And he forgot to get her number.
Mike thought all about this as he waltzed up 56th. Rain pounded against his umbrella. His thoughts were interrupted by something he didn't expect. He did not expect that, as he was passing an old video game store, someone would burst out of the alley, covered in blood.
"Hey, man - you okay?"
The stranger didn't seem to hear him and kept going. Mike was shocked and reacted only a second too late when the bloody figure stumbled forward, directly into the path of a huge bus.
"Hey, hey-HEY!" He shouted after him and leapt forward to grab the stranger's hand. Mike's foot tripped on the curb and now he too was stumbling forward, pushing the stranger further into traffic.
In seconds they had both been safe and were now about to be killed by a bus that was roaring on its horn. Someone near them screamed.
Suddenly, the pair of them were grasped by the arms and pulled off the street in one lightning-fast movement. Mike heard the bloody stranger cry out in surprise and then the two of them were thrown to the sidewalk, safe.
"Seriously." Hissed an irritated voice. The two of them glanced up in shock to see a hooded young woman with an angry expression staring down at them. She looked wet, disappointed and bored like a mother trying to take care of unruly children.
"Watch where you're going next time." She muttered in finality and flew away, her cloak billowing in the rain.
The two men stared at one another, one surprised and one bloody, and then burst out laughing. They'd almost died. They were going to die. It was only because Raven, one of the famous Teen Titans, had saved them that they were not.
The rain was still pouring down and the two were still sitting there, laughing in shock and relief. Concerned passersby were staring down at them, yet, as it was in big cities, no one offered to help. Finally, Mike pulled himself to his feet, sopping wet. He found his umbrella handle caught on a sewer grate and pulled it free. He opened it up, turned and offered a hand to the bleeding stranger on the sidewalk.
"Need a lift?" Mike joked and helped the other man to his feet.
The stranger cradled his face but shook hands with Mike anyway.
"My name's Will." He spit out rainwater and blood and then joined Mike under his umbrella.
"Mike. Nice to meet you. What were you doing, bloody and stumbling out of the alleyway?"
"I was…" Will glanced soberly at his place of work and then decided that maybe he should take the day off. "Eh, it doesn't matter now. I think I'll just do nothing today."
"Come with me, then." Mike offered, still smiling. "We have to tell Nate about this."
"Uh, who?"
Will's heart beat wildly as he followed Mike to an old bookstore by the park. He couldn't stop thinking how, had it been another second, he'd be dead. Raven, though a dark demoness who'd once almost destroyed the city, was an angel to him now. He couldn't remember feeling this lucky in his whole life. He was practically skipping in the rain beneath Mike's umbrella.
Forget about his job. He'd get another one. He'd graduated with honors at one of the top four-year universities in Jump City and what had he done with his degree? Put up stock in a shitty old diner that didn't care if he lived or died. His desperate need to become a real, five-star chef (coupled with his sister's medical bills and a crippling fear of failure) had landed him in a dead-end job he neither liked nor respected.
No. that was the end of that.
He'd reapply his talents elsewhere, and yeah, maybe he wouldn't be able to see Rebecca as much as he did now, but she'd understand. He'd work hard, he'd pay off her bills, she would get better.
Things were really looking up right now.
"We're here!" Mike exclaimed finally when they came to the old bookshop. It looked warm and inviting, but most importantly, dry.
"Uh, Mike? It says that it doesn't open until ten. It's only eight right now."
Mike smiled and shook his head. "Don't worry." Then he knocked enthusiastically on the glass and wood door.
An inscription read: "Ol' Corner Books - Open 10am-5pm Every Day"
It took a little bit and another enthusiastic knock later, but an older gentleman holding a rusty cat finally answered the door.
"Michael?" The old man questioned, shifting the cat higher in his arms. "What's wrong, what happened to him?"
Will remembered that he must look like an almost 'dead man' and grinned sheepishly,
"Sorry, I'm Will. I got a little banged up on my way to work."
"You were going to work?" Mike asked. "You're gonna be late."
"I'm quitting." Will answered matter of factly.
Nate watched the two speak and shook his head in exasperation. "Oh, come in, it's pouring. Wait here I'll get something for that nose."
Will and Mike shivered on the hardwood floors, dripping. Will couldn't believe he'd never found this place before. It was so cozy, so simple. From the entrance rug he could see shelves upon shelves of books leading away into the back and an old fashioned cash register that looked like a typewriter. He smelled coffee brewing in another room, and warm lamps lightened up the dark morning. The rain battered against the huge storefront window and the cat mewed.
"Here," Nate returned from the other room and smiled at Will, handing him an icepack and a roll of paper towels. "You'll need it."
"Thanks," Will smiled through the pain.
Mike shifted a little on his feet, not sure what to do.
Nate lead them both to the back room with the heater and made them sit on the floor. "You'll get the couch wet."
They accepted cups of black coffee and thanked him. The rusty cat sniffed Mike and mewed at him.
"So," Nate finally began. "What happened?"
After telling and retelling the story, Nate leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms. "You two need to share on Friday."
Mike brightened up. "That's what I was thinking!"
"Wait, what?" Will screwed up his face in confusion and winced from his bloody nose.
Mike turned to his new acquaintance. "Nate has a story club."
"A story club?"
Nate remembered the same expression on Rose's face that was now appearing on Will's.
"Yeah," Mike offered. "It's pretty cool. You meet a lot of great people there."
"Like pretty girls?" Asked Nate, giving Mike a pointed look. Mike blushed, his blue eyes shining beneath his mop of damp brown hair.
Will looked even more confused. "What?"
"Nothing," Mike shot back at Nate who seemed like he was about to open his mouth to reply. "No, he just means that there are nice people there. We just talk about things that happen here in the city. Sometimes about our lives. You know, talk it all out over a beer."
Will nodded. "Sounds nice."
"Well, you're welcome to join us. You're twenty-one right?" Nate asked.
"Oh, yeah. I turned twenty-three this May." Will responded.
Nate nodded. "Perfect."
After "Ol' Corner Books" opened at ten, Nate had to shoo the two men out the door. He simply couldn't keep chatting with them, even though he wanted to, because a local author was signing their debut novel today. He was barely ready for it, but decided that he wasn't so old that he couldn't whip up some good coffees and call out for catering before noon. He nudged Quill off of his boots and set to work.
Tuesday ticked by slowly for Nate, then Wednesday.
Then Thursday was eventful, when another summer storm blew in and a rock flew into the front window, severely cracking it. He'd been sitting at the counter waiting for the horribly slow day to end and he could finally close. Rose had stopped in on her day off from her summer job as a daycare worker. She had been the only customer the entire day. When four in the afternoon blissfully rolled around, Nate was getting ready to call it an early day when a large rock smacked against the window. Rose had gasped, jumped up from her armchair by the window and backed away.
"Whoa!" Her hand flew to her mouth in surprise.
Nate stepped in, "Don't worry, don't worry. That's the dangers of owning a place like this. Old setting, old windows." As if on cue, lightning and thunder crackled in the afternoon air.
"Yeah, dangerous…" Rose shivered. She reached out and tapped the place where the rock would have hit her in the skull if there hadn't been a window there. "What's with this strange storm anyway?"
Nate shrugged. "Drama?"
"Drama?"
He chuckled. "Nothing, nothing. Let's call it a day, yeah? Will you be at the pub tomorrow night?"
Rose grabbed her things from the back room, pet the cat and then reappeared before answering.
"I think so. But...I thought about working on some more lesson plans for my advisor…"
"No, no. It's summer, take a break." He chided. "Besides, there's a new member that you should meet! Great story, too."
"Really?" She smirked and raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Nope. Must come tomorrow." Nate said with finality and shooed her out the door.
Rain and wind whipped at them both, so they went back in to call Rose a cab instead.
"Alright, thank you." Rose said into the phone, then hung up. "They'll be here soon."
Nate nodded, holding the sleepy cat in his arms. "Please come tomorrow."
"Fine!" Rose laughed. "But it better be good!"
"It will."