“I’ll have to tell you about it later when I have time,” Zoey said. “Right now I have to run to class.”
“Right,” I nodded, glancing at the clock and realizing that I was already late. “Fuck… I have to get going too.”
Zoey was heading towards the door when I stopped her. “Oh wait, hold on,” I said. “You forgot your key.”
I handed it to her and Zoey accepted it with a smile. “Thanks, Devlin,” she said.
“No problem roomie.”
She gave me a small chuckle, waved goodbye and headed out. I took a deep breath, realizing that I was going to be playing a delicate balancing act the next few weeks until I worked up the courage to tell Zoey the truth about me. Then I raced out of the apartment and took the alternate exit out of the building to head towards the station.
By the time I got there, I was twenty minutes late, and a couple of the guys were out front when I arrived.
“Well,” Trent said, shaking his head at me. “Someone took his sweet time getting here today.”
“Where’s Seth?” I asked, panting a little.
“Out,” Benjamin replied. “His team was called in.”
“Is Samuel around?”
“Day off.”
“Oh… then who do I sign in with?” I asked.
“Who knows?” Trent shrugged. “If you don’t sign in then this day doesn’t count… tough.”
I gritted my teeth. “Come on, guys,” I said. “Can you help me out here?”
“Uh, let us think about that,” Benjamin said.
He looked at Trent and then the two of them turned to me and said “No!” together. Then they burst out laughing like idiot fifteen-year-olds and I sighed and headed into the station, trying to ignore them. I was heading towards the chief’s office, hoping that I could sign in with him when I ran into Samuel on the way.
“Samuel,” I said. “Trent and Benjamin said you had the day off today?”
Samuel rolled his eyes. “Idiots,” he said. “Consider yourself signed in. I need you to clean the rigging on engines three and seventeen.”
I spent the next several hours going through one backbreaking task after the other. I was so exhausted at the end of it that I almost forgot that I had something to be excited about: Zoey was my new roommate. Reminding myself of that helped and I decided to throw her a welcome party tonight. It would be a nice gesture for her, and at the same time, I could relieve some of my stress.
I picked up my phone and started making some calls.
12
Zoey
“Mom?” I called as I stepped into her apartment with the spare key she had given me a few weeks ago. “Mom, are you there?”
There was no answer so I walked inside. The kitchen and living room were empty, but I could hear music coming from mom’s room.
“Oh no,” I sighed, recognizing Alanis Morrissette was the music that was playing. It was mom’s go-to break up choice.
I went to her door and knocked hard. I heard the volume decrease and then mom’s muffled, “Come in.”
I walked in and found mom lying in bed clutching a pillow to her chest. She was wearing old sweats and a baggy t-shirt… her go-to breakup clothes. I couldn’t say that I was surprised; none of mom’s relationships ever lasted very long. It was a good thing that I hadn’t told Seth about Cliff… especially because there was nothing to tell now.”
“Hi,” I said, trying to put aside my judgment and just be there for her.
She sniffed back in response. I sat down on the edge of her bed and put my hand on her back. “Are you ok?” I asked.