Page 15 of Cage

Cage had taken a big drink of water before he left his apartment. The glass had been full of ice cubes too. But it made little difference by this stage.

Cage was hot.

A glass of iced water wasn’t much competition to a city-wide heatwave that was going to go down in the record books as one for the ages.

Cage’s crisp white t-shirt was beginning to cling to his body. He needed to get to the bar and its all-out aircon as a matter of urgency.

But he was still three blocks away.

This was not great.

As he continued to walk, Cage heard his phone buzzing in his pocket. Stopping briefly, he took the handset out of his tight blue denim jeans and looked.

A message from his friend, Kane.

KANE: Yo, Cage! You nearly here? It’s my round. I’ll grab you a bottle. Leo’s already here. Move that cop ass of yours. Double quick time!

Cage rolled his eyes. Kane was a real stickler for time keeping. It was one of his things.

Cage wasn’t even late.

He had planned his departure from his apartment perfectly.

Oh well, there was no pleasing some people.

The knowledge that there was a beer ready and waiting for him was good motivation to walk faster, however.

Cage couldn’t deny that.

Above everything else, Cage truly valued the fact that he had such good friends as Kane and Leo. They had known each other for quite some time by this point.

Their friendships had been tested.

Ups and downs.

Stresses and strains.

But the one thing that had never come into question had been the true strength of the bond between each one of them.

Together, they were quite a formidable unit.

With this in mind, and despite the sweltering heat, Cage broke out of his walk and into a jog.

It was time to hit the bar and sink some brewskis.

‘Hey! Look who decided to show!’ Kane said, his larger-than-life voice crashing across the bar. ‘I would have bet my last buck on you getting here late. But this is crazy!’

‘Enough. Relax, I’m here!’ Cage said, a broad smile on his face as he embraced Kane and Leo one after the other.

The three amigos were reunited.

It felt great.

Kane immediately continued with a story. Something about a cute girl he had helped earlier that day.

Kane was a firefighter.

Meeting cute young ladies seemed to happen to him on a daily basis.

---