Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 18 of 37
~ Chapter 18 ~
"Can we please get something to drink? I'm dying!" I rasped.
"Please," Becky looked behind her, towards me, dismissively, "It's barely eighty today. Why do you think I'm dragging you around?"
" 'Cause you want somebody to pay for lunch!" The heat of the sidewalk burned through my sandals and tickled its way through the legs of my shorts. I was carrying a handful of cloth bags stuffed with whatever crap Becky decided she couldn't live without from ragstocks, second-hand shops, and consignment stores. My shoulders ached, my wrists ached, and my lower back was beginning to ache because of my sandals.
"Baby!" Becky called back to me as she slowed down. Her auburn hair shone red in the sunlight. "I just want to see if my book is in today and then we can get something to drink. I promise, this time."
"You promised at the last store!" I bitched back.
"Yeah. And I'm promising this time." We were walking side-by-side now and I could smell her perfume. She fixed the straps of her bra and bright-pink tank-top. Whereas she exuded confidence with her perfect posture and steeled gaze, I felt like a drowned dog whose arms were about to fall off. My gray shirt was already well dampened and on its way to soaking.
"Speaking about 'this time'," I piped up, "I need to borrow your car again."
"No! Why? Get your own car!" I visibly heard her mind waffle.
"I'll get my own car when I'm not working for tips anymore. 'Sides, I pay for gas, don't I?"
"Doesn't count. You're supposed to fill it when you use it, anyways."
"You'd know how to 'fill it'," I bantered.
"And you're too busy working the tips to actually save up for something," Becky quipped back to me.
A throng of people that had stopped for a traffic light walked between us. I hugged the exteriors of the stores we walked past, trying to stay in the shade, and Becky walked by the parked cars. I saw a few heads from the guys of the throng turn to scope my sister out. I didn't catch the eye of anyone.
We joined up again as soon as the crowd passed. Becky smiled a smug grin of satisfaction.
"So when are you going to give Mom and Dad a grandkid?" I asked. The crowd that had passed had soured my already bad mood and I wanted to knock her down a couple of pegs.
"When are you?" She snipped back, "I'm not ready for kids."
"Is that why you haven't slept with a Canan since Jason?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Becky mumbled offhandedly, "Hey isn't this where you go clubbing?" She had stopped and I looked around.
We were in front of Inifinta. I was too lost in thought and exhaustion to take notice as to where we were but we were indeed standing at the front window of Infinitá. A sign was taped to the window:
Closed until further notice
"When did that happen?" I wondered aloud.
"The owner was assaulted," Becky turned to me, "Didn't you hear?"
"No, I guess not. How did you hear about that?"
"The paper." Her tone was commonsensical and I felt like an idiot.
The bartender, Marc, was assaulted? My mind wandered to Aaron and the incident that had claimed his ex. I hoped that Marc hadn't met anything near the same fate. Maybe Aaron would know about Marc's case? With that, I thought of my upcoming meeting with Mr. Hughes at Zephrys Shipping's headquarters downtown, away from the collegiate center we were at, presently.
"Cade? You there?"
"Yeah," I snapped back to reality.
"You were spacing out for a sec. Wanna grab something to drink?"
"Please."
"Okay," She turned and looked around, "Do you remember where you parked my car?"