Page 8 of Searching for Nova

“What?” I yell back, shoving everything back in the envelope and hiding it in the drawer.

“What time you going to work?”

“Now.” I race to the door and open it. “Why? What do you want?”

He slowly grins, showing off his crooked teeth, stained dark yellow from all his years of smoking. “Marla just called. She’s coming over tonight.”

Marla is his lady friend. He doesn’t like the girlfriend label.

“Yeah? So?”

“So I need you to get lost tonight,” he says, making a shooing motion.

“And where am I supposed to go?”

“Stay with your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Then stay somewhere else. I need the place to myself tonight. It ain’t that often Marla’s in the mood. She even went out and got herself one of them little nighties.”

I cringe. “Okay, I didn’t need to know that. What if I just come home late, like around midnight? Will you be done by then?”

“Depends on how frisky she gets. I don’t want you walking in when things are happening. Just go somewhere else for the night. You got friends, don’t ya?”

“Yeah,” I say with a sigh.

“Good.” He winks at me. “Have fun at work. Tell Lenny I said hi.”

When he’s gone, I shut my door and try to think of a place to stay tonight. I could stay with Mateo, but then he’ll want sex and I’m not in the mood. I don’t even know why I do it with him. It’s not like I enjoy it. It’s over before I have a chance to feel anything. I guess I just like the closeness, being in his arms, feeling a warm body against mine.

That’s kind of pathetic, I know, but sometimes I crave the feeling of being close with someone like that. The most affection I get from Ted is a grab of the arm as I’m walking by his recliner, along with a ’hey, kid, get me a beer’. I don’t get hugs from him—never did—not even when I was little. My dad didn’t give hugs either. We’re not that type of family, which is why I’m surprised I hugged Sean that day we met. It’s like I just knew that he needed one, and so I did it, or maybe it’s because I wished someone had done that for me.

After I’m changed into my uniform—jeans and a red Lenny’s Diner t-shirt—I head down to the bus stop. Ted won’t let me use his car unless I’m running an errand for him. He doesn’t drive much anymore, but he’d rather have the car sit outside on the street than let me drive it. The diner isn’t that far away, but it takes almost an hour to get there on the bus.

“You’re early,” Lenny mutters as I walk into the break room. He’s standing by the coffeemaker smoking a cigarette. We’re not supposed to smoke in here, but since he owns the place, he doesn’t have to follow the rules.

“I can’t control when the bus gets me here.” I open my locker and shove my backpack in it.

“Yeah, well, don’t be punching in early,” he says, putting out his cigarette. “I ain’t paying you extra.” He walks off.

I sit on the stained, beat-up couch that’s next to the time clock and look through my phone as I wait to punch in.

Lenny appears again. “When your shift starts, I need you to go outside and clean up the mess.”

“What mess?”

“A bunch of them kids threw up outside the door last night. I can’t have people seeing that when they come in.”

Disgusting. What a shitty way to start the day.

“How am I supposed to clean it up?”

“Get some bleach and a mop and scrub until you can’t see it no more.” He leaves, then comes right back. “Some guy was here looking for you.”

“What guy?” I ask, my pulse speeding up.

Lenny shrugs. “Some kid, probably around your age. Tall. Dark blond hair. You know him?”

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