Page 37 of Break You

She must have seen the disappointment in my eyes, as she hastily carried on. “Why do you ask?”

“Well there’s something I’ve been working on, and I wanted a second opinion.”

“I mean, there’s no harm in trying if you want me to. I’m just saying I can’t promise anything, ‘cos it’s not my jam, you know?”

“Yeah, I’m actually ridiculously bad at them too, so I figured that two brains are better than one.”

“True that. Okay, hit me.”

“Hey, I hear a rhyme retelling. By mystic force and magic quelling. Celestial sprites explicate. And my own striving won't escape” I waited, looking at her expectantly.

“Really? Was that even English? I literally have no idea what it could mean.”

I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed. But I also wasn’t surprised. I’d been puzzling over it for over twenty-four hours, and still had no idea. “I know, right? I think the solution is supposed to be two letters—” the masked man had said there were two solutions, and I was pretty sure all of the answers were letters, “—but honestly, other than that, I have no idea. It’s hard as balls. Thanks for trying, though. I appreciate it.”

“Wait.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What is this?”

“Umm… a riddle, like I said.”

“Yeah, but where did you say you got it from?”

Now it was my turn to eye her suspiciously. “I didn’t.”

The pause was loaded with meaning, and we were both brazening it out.

“It’s kind of a thing for an assignment, that’s all,” I finally relented.

“Oooohkay.” She didn’t even try to pretend she believed me.

“Can you write it down please. I have an idea.”

“Okay, but let me at least pretend to do some work for a few minutes before Max fires me. You know I cannot afford to lose this job.” I skated away to serve my tables, and when I had a quiet moment, pulled off a piece of my order pad and jotted down the riddle for Kik to look at.

She took the piece of paper, then snapped her fingers impatiently, waiting for the pen. I gave it to her, and watched as she hunched over the end of the bar scribbling and talking under her breath, wondering what she was up to.

“Pie!”

“Are we bartering payment? Didn’t you have a staff meal already? You need to ask Max if you want pie. I’m not in his good books right now, obviously.”

“What are you talking about? Pie. Not pie.”

“Umm… is this another riddle?” I was actually wondering if she’d lost her mind.

“Pi. P. I. You know, the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet and the number: 3.14159 blah, blah, blah…”

“Oh, Pi. Okay, but why are we talking about math right now?”

“I’m not. Well, I am but not in the way you think.”

Jesus. I really had had enough of riddles to last a lifetime.

“Kik, I love you, you know that, but you’re hurting my brain right now. Remember when I said I sucked big time at riddles?” She nodded. “Well, you’re talking in riddles now, and I seriously can’t deal, so can you please just put me out of my misery.”

“Pi is the solution.”

“I know comfort eating is tempting, but it’s a dangerous habit to get into, it’s a slippery slope.”

She looked at me as though I was a simpleton. “What? No, the solution to the riddle, I mean.”

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