Page 19 of Make Me Scream

He checks his phone.

“No, Gwen! Our shift starts in five minutes. We don’t have time!”

“We do if we eat and run. We’ll be out of there in thirty seconds, I promise.”

“This is a bad idea, Gwen!” he shouts, but I’m already racing inside.

Four minutes later, we haul ass down the street, trying to chew and swallow without tripping or choking.

“You had to… get yours… toasted?” Joel growls.

“Lightly… toasted!”

There’s warm cream cheese stuck to my upper lip. We are going to be late. I do not fucking care. I’m too hungry and it’s too delicious. My only regret is that if we’re going to be late anyway, I should have gotten my bagel with eggs and bacon.

Kyle, our manager, glares at us when we arrive, but doesn’t say anything. We’d told him finals were due today, and as an aspiring screenwriter fresh out of film school, he’s been there. For the first few hours, the breakfast rush keeps us too busy to feel tired. Once it’s done, Joel leans back against the counter and droops his head.

“Hey, wake up,” I whisper. “We’ll be done soon.”

Joel whips his head back and forth, shaking off his drowsiness.

“Yeah,” he mumbles.

“Just think about how nice it’ll be to see Martin later. I bet you two will have an amazing night.”

He smiles. They’ve barely seen each other this week; Martin has spent every waking second finishing his engineering finals at NYU.

“It’ll be nice. If we can stay awake.”

I get into the cabinets below the register and grab packages of napkins, straws and stirrers to restock the dispensers.

“Nap this afternoon,” I say. “That’s what I’m going to do.”

“Gwen, are you sure you don’t mind me spending the night with Martin? I feel like I’m ditching you.”

He’s so sweet I could cry.

“Joel, we’ve spent the last thirty-six hours together! Go be with your boyfriend! Don’t worry about me. I’ve got stuff to do.”

“Good, good. Anything exciting?”

I don’t answer right away. I have to tell him eventually, especially if I’ll need his help. Still, it’s a lot to ask. I’m saved by a frazzled-looking man in a badly-fitted suit, who comes in with a lunch order for his entire office. By the time Joel and I finish making the sandwiches, smoothies and coffees, I’ve built up my nerve.

“So, remember how I met Professor Porter at the gallery last week?” I begin.

“Yeah. You got into it about Alistair Rat,” Joel says.

“Right. So, I had a similar talk with Mundell earlier this week.”

“Uh oh.

“I want to do something. Like Rat. I want to show them his kind of art is meaningful.”

Joel sighs.

“You mean, like, a dissertation?”

I laugh. Yeah, that would be the smart thing to do, I guess.

---