Page 3 of Home With You

"No. It's not going to be that much longer. I have a plan."

"Which is what?"

"None of your business."

"You don't have a plan," he says.

He's right. I don't, but I'm working on it. If I could just get some clean clothes and a haircut, I could maybe start looking for jobs. I've worked in restaurants before. There's got to be a restaurant that would hire me.

"Would you just leave me alone?" I say. "Why'd you show up and bother me today anyway?"

"I was checking out my new spot."

"You're seriously moving here?" I ask, sounding annoyed, although it wouldn't really affect me. I scavenge trash cans for food. I don't beg for money, so I really wouldn't be competing with Levi. I just don't like the guy and don't want him around. He's always picking on me, making fun of me. I avoid him whenever possible but if he's on my street, that'll be harder to do.

"I'm staying where I'm at," he says. "I don't like the energy on this street."

"Energy?" I look at him, confused. "The street doesn't have an energy."

"You don't feel nothing, girl, do you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means someone did you wrong so bad you're too closed up to feel the energy around you. I bet you don't feel anything anymore."

I keep walking, ignoring him. What he's saying might be true but it's true for a lot of people living on the streets. We've all been hurt, and that hurt is usually what got us here.

"It was a guy, wasn't it?"

I stop and turn to Levi. "Seriously, what is your deal today? Why are you suddenly so interested in me?"

"I wasn't, until I saw your ass sticking out of that trash can." He laughs. "Girl, you'd really eat some nasty candy bar that'd been sticking to the bottom of the can? There's dog shit in there. You know that, right?"

I do, but I try not to think about it. Usually the dog poop is in a bag but sometimes it leaks out. Maybe that's what my hand touched earlier.

"Some of us don't have money to buy food," I remind him. "In fact, most of us don't."

"Only the people stupid enough not to beg." He looks around at all the suits passing by. "You know how much money these people make? They see us and feel guilty about all that money." He smiles. "And I'm here to relieve that guilt."

"I'm not asking for handouts," I say, my voice lowered. "I can take care of myself."

"By eating dog-shit-covered food from the trash." He laughs.

I sigh. "Would you please just leave me alone? I was having a halfway decent day until you showed up."

He smiles. "You know I'm your ray of sunshine. You only pretend not to like me because you know you can't have me."

I walk off, and this time he doesn't follow me.

"Raine!" he yells as I'm about to round the corner.

Reluctantly, I stop and turn around. "What?"

He takes something from his pocket and tosses it at me. Afraid of what it might be, I step back and let it land on the ground. I look down and see it's a candy bar. One that hasn't even been opened. And it's a big one, twice the size of a regular candy bar.

"What's this for?" I ask, picking it up. But when I look up, Levi is gone.

I don't understand that guy. He's almost always a jerk, but then he has these rare moments where he does something nice.

---