Page 9 of Games We Play
“No!I mean the woman at the club.”
“Huh. I don’t recall.”
“Were you really that drunk?”
“Possibly. Gina says I made out with some guy with a literal neckbeard while you were gone, and you know Sober Melissa wouldnever.”
This doesn’t make sense. She would’ve hired Sloan hours before touching alcohol.Maybe the drinks had wiped that part of her memory, though. Or maybe they would be coy about it for the rest of their lives. What friend wanted to admit that she hired a sex worker for another friend? Some things had to remain sacred.
“Anyway, thanks for the crazy night, Mel.” Leah reached the school grounds. Some students were already lining up to catch the 15 bus while others hustled down the sidewalk. “I gotta go. Talk to you later.”
Leah found her sister in the nurse’s office, crumpled on a cot and tears streaming down her face. A pang the size of Leah’s heart thundered in her chest when she saw her little sister in such a sad state. Karlie’s eyes likewise lit up when she recognized her big sister come to take care of her.
Karlie was a good girl, for the most part. Certainly more well-behaved than Leah had been at a younger age. She rarely partied. It helped that Karlie was assistant editor of a fiction journal and ran two charity rallies during her tenure as a high school student. Not bad work standing out in a school that had thousands of students.Including me. I went here, once.Back when Leah wasn’t sure she would be able to go to high school at all.
Having a hot rendezvous with Sloan wasn’t the first crazy and irresponsible thing Leah had done but it had been the first one in many years.
“Let’s get you home, sunshine.” That was Leah’s pet name for her sister, used since the day the squealing, helpless infant was brought home from the hospital. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah…” Karlie swung her arm around her sister’s torso and put most of her weight on Leah. “I’m so sorry, LeeLee.” Another pet name that was as old as their relationship. “You had to leave work, right?”
“Shh. It’s fine. My boss understands.” Yeah, right. Leah would be lucky to still have a job when she got back to Rose City Bakery.Safeway is hiring, right? Hmm, maybe New Seasons would be better.“Let’s go home. We’ll put you to bed and you can watchThe OCreruns.”
Karlie managed a wan smile. “Thanks, LeeLee.”
Due to Karlie’s maladies, it took them twice as long to reach the threshold of their old house on the outskirts of downtown Portland. An hour had passed by that point. It wasn’t pointless to go back to work after tucking Karlie into bed with a heating pad and enough chocolate to give her ten cavities, but it meant putting in a late night in the bakery kitchen. Whatever.My responsibility.Leah didn’t hold it against Karlie. The girl never asked for anything that happened to her big sister.
Leah locked the door to the house on her way out. She phoned Gina at the bakery and said she was heading back in. The sun had only begun to set on that chilly winter day, but with any luck, Leah would make it back before night completely descended.
She was near Powell’s City of Books when fate dumped a torrent of bullshit on her unsuspecting head.
Chapter 4
“Asshole!”
A black Mercedes almost ran over a pedestrian illegally crossing at 10thand Couch. Leah leaped out of the way. It didn’t help that the streetcar attempted to make a stop, and the driver was probably spooked enough to slam on the breaks.
“Jesus, you freak!” The man, in a baggy trench coat and carrying a stuffed knapsack over his shoulder, flipped off the Mercedes as he continued across the street. “Shoulda let you hit me so I couldsue your ass!”
He had stopped and bent over to scream that at the front grill. The driver of the Mercedes rolled down his window and revealed a shiny black cap and pristine white gloves.Wow. That’s fancy for these parts.Leah ignored the light changing colors so she could watch another day in Portland unfold.
“Is there a problem, sir?”
The streetcar rolled by. Pedestrians ignored the confrontation in favor of continuing their way. The other cars, however, honked and smacked their hands against steering wheels.
“Yeah, I got a problem!” The man was back in the middle of the street, waving his arms around and almost losing his trousers in the process. “Got a problem with you bougie fucks actin’ like you own these fucking streets! Suck my dick!”
The driver in the professional duds kept a wary eye on the man as he marched down the street, yelling every obscenity in his well-read arsenal.“Fuck you bucks!”was Leah’s favorite.
Only in this town.She continued across the street, in time for the driver to hit the gas on the Mercedes and attempt to hithernext.
Time came to a terrible slow. Was that what it was like to see one’s life flash before their eyes? Well, it wasn’t impressive. Leah could say that much later, when the shock wore off and she could laugh about the terrifying moment. Yet when the bumper of the Mercedes touched her thighs and frightened her into the middle of the intersection? Nope!
“Holy shit!” cried someone waiting at the streetcar stop. “That fucker hittwopeople!”
Leah leaped up. “I’m fine!” The car had barely touched her, but the driver went right into damage control as he hopped out of the car and rounded the front bumper, gloved hands outstretched to hers.
Time was still slow. One moment Leah was in the middle of the street, and the next? Sitting on the sidewalk while the driver pulled the Mercedes over. He stuck his head out the window when the backdoor opened and the passenger stepped out to smooth this over.
