“Heya, boss.”
Boss. Everywhere I go I’m the boss.
“I’ll be taking the Aston this evening, Chris,” I say. He nods. “But you can do something for me.”
“What’s that?”
“You remember that girl I had you pick up for me? Rain? I need her address.”
I receive a few looks when I pull up in front of Rain’s building. The Aston Martin is a bit out of place in this neighborhood. A drunk with a unicorn beanie drinking something out of a brown paper bag hollers at me as I step out.
“Yo, daddy! What do you say giving me a ride in that thing?! I’m a real good passenger too!”
He cracks up at his own joke as I stride up the sidewalk to Rain’s door, which is locked at the street level and has a panel where occupants can buzz you in. Of course Chris didn’t know which unit Rain actually lived in, or her code, so I find myself standing there staring at the numbers, wondering if I can just guess the right one that will let me inside.
I press a few, but the thing just beeps at me. I try again, but the same thing happens. Growing frustrated, I pull out my phone to call her and let her know I’m downstairs–after all, she might not even be home–but that’s when I smell the sweet, unmistakable smell of pho beside me.
I turn and see a deliveryman step up to the door and glance at me.
“Delivery for…Thomas?” he asks hopefully.
“Sorry, no.”
But then the door opens, and a blond guy wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and sandals opens the door.
“Yo, are you the pho guy?!” he asks with excitement.
“Pho for Thomas?” the deliveryman responds.
“Yeah, man, that’s me!”
I quickly brush past Thomas and enter the building. “Hey, pal. Do you know which unit is Rain’s? She called me over and forgot to tell me which unit is hers–”
“She’s in four, man,” Thomas replies as he takes his bag of soup and rushes back to his apartment with it.
The building is loud, and someone’s left the door to the trash room open, causing the entire stairwell to reek. I take the stairs two at a time to the second floor and stride down the hall to unit four.
I can feel my heart racing and realize I even have my jaw clenched tight as I raise my hand to knock on Rain’s door.
I’m nervous. I’ve never been nervous seeing her before, but this is different.
I slip a hand in my pants pocket and clutch her necklace.
Still there. Good.
Taking a deep breath, I reach up and knock.
There’s no response, and I sigh deeply. I knew I should have called first.
I turn away, but before I can take even two steps down the hall, the opens, and I look back to see Rain standing there looking completely disheveled, in sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt, her hair a total mess, looking like she’s been crying for the last two hours.
Look at her…
…so beautiful…
“Marlon?” she asks, almost like she doesn’t believe she’s looking at me. “What–what are you doing here?”
Quickly, she begins running her fingers through her hair, doing her best to sort it out in some kind of way.