The Love Of Money - S01 E02

2 weeks ago

The Love Of Money - S01 E02

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 2

"Yeah," I said. "Me too."

"Are you okay? Do you need to talk?"

I shook my head, "I do, but I'm going to grab some coffee with a friend. I tried giving her a smile, but it felt half-hearted. "Want me to bring you back anything when I get back in later?"

She smiled back at me, hers much more genuine-looking than mine felt. She really had a lovely smile and a sweet disposition. There were a few premature lines on her face, likely due to her moron of a husband. "No thank you. Jim will probably be home then. He..." She didn't finish the sentence, but she didn't need to.

"I get it," I said. "Do you need anything?"

She shook her head, "No thank you. I'm good."

I stared directly into her dark brown eyes for a long moment, assessing the situation. It was crazy how quickly you could forget about your troubles when you were concerned about someone else, even if it was your girlfriend cheating on you.

"Okay, I finally said, "But you know I'm here if you need anything."

"Of course," she said. "The same goes for you. I mean... when Jim isn't here. You know."

"I know. Thanks, Mrs. Lucas."

"I keep telling you," she said. "Phoebe is fine."

I nodded and gave her a weak smile, "I'll try."

I turned and made my way toward the elevator, then hesitated and turned around, "Oh, would you do me a favor and make sure my door is locked after the lying bitch is gone?"

An hour later.

"Order for Marcus!"

I retrieved my coffee from the counter and made my way to my usual spot in the back of the common room of Strange Mudd - a local coffee shop in New York. Normally, I visited here early in the morning before work when the customers were a bit more sparse. I rarely visited this late in the morning, and I was fortunate enough to find a seat-a small miracle. The din of a busy coffee shop slipped into white noise as I sat drinking my coffee, staring into space, and letting my breakup sink in..

My story was like the stories of so many others in New York City. I grew up as part of middle class America in upstate New York. I was one of four children to an architect mother and a musician father. Well... step-father. My actual dad skipped out on my mother the moment the stick tumed blue. Or pink. Whichever one meant that my mom was pregnant with me.

It was a good childhood. My mom loved me and after I was born, she went back to finish school, leaning on her parents to help raise me while she was busy. Within a year of completing her degree and getting a job, she married Henry, and our family went from two to six due to Henry having a daughter a year younger than me. A childhood, two more half-siblings, and a degree later, I found myself in New York working as a financial analyst for a firm thanks to an education in finance.

I developed a pretty good life here. One cat named Jack, a single- room studio apartment, a handful of relationships, and a small group of friends, including-

"Sup nerd?"

Dillon dropped in the chair at my small table opposite from me, grinning ear-to-ear as he wiped his hands on his apron. Dillon was an aspiring actor who had tried his luck out in LA and through a string of events, had ended up in New York doing mostly stage. He liked it well enough, but New York wasn't cheap, and he needed the coffee shop to supplement his income until he finally made it big.

"What're you doing here? I thought you would have been chest deep in Jessica right about now." He glanced at his phone then looked around, "Isn't she supposed to go to the airport in a couple hours? She here?"

I took a sip of my coffee and just stared at it as I placed it on the table.

"Yo. Everything alright?" He asked, his tone taking a bit more of an edge. Dillon was the least serious of my friends, but he was also the most empathic of the group.

I just shook my head and glanced up at him, trying hard to hide the fact that I was really confused.

"What happened?" He asked, looking genuinely concerned.

I shrugged one shoulder and finally piped up, "We broke up. She's not moving here. There's someone else, so she's staying there."

Silence reigned between us for a few moments and I resigned myself to studying my coffee cup again.

"Man... that sucks. When did she tell you?"

"About thirty or forty minutes ago," I said, not looking up at him.

"Bitch.."

"Yeah..."

"Where is she now?"

"My apartment, getting her crap together. I told her to leave and lock the door on the way out. She'll probably be gone in another hour or two."

"You want me to call my uncle? could have her arrested for being in your apartment. We could say she broke in or something."

I chuckled at that. Dillon's uncle was NYPD. It was tempting to do something like that to her after she gut-punched me like that, but it wasn't worth it. Anyway, I figured Dillon was primarily kidding. There was no way someone on the force would risk his job over a favor for a guy with relationship problems. He'd probably tell me to get over it and remind me that I'm a fish in one of the biggest ponds in the States.

I shook my head, "Nah dude. You're a real one for offering, but I think I'll just let it be."

"You did say she could be a little much at times," Dillon pointed out.

"Yeah. I did. But think was getting used to it." I hesitated, looking around at all the random people who had their own stuff going on. "I told her I was going to ask her to marry me."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah"

"Were you?"

"Maybe," I shrugged. "I'd thought about it quite a bit. I didn't have a ring yet, but I imagined proposing to her when she finished moving here."

"Damn dude."

"Yeah. I know."

"But you probably dodged a bullet."

"Yeah. Maybe," I replied and took another sip of coffee. "It was comfortable though. She was comfortable. What we had was just nice... I don't know. It just sucks."

"Yeah"

Silence fell between us again, and I just let the ambient noise of the busy coffee shop fill my head with its insistent buzzing... It was a good way to dissociate.

"Look at the bright side. You're single now. In one of the cities with the largest populations of hot single women in the US. It's a good place to fly solo."

Well, if it hadn't been Dillon's uncle telling me that, it was bound to be Dillon.

I snorted, "That's true. I just hate the whole dating thing."

"I don't blame you. It sucks ninety-eight percent of the time, but that two percent of the time?" Dillon gave a chef's kiss.

"You'll have to show me the ropes. It's been a while for me."

"Yeah. We'll have to go out soon. I have an audition tonight, or I'd say let's do it."

"Soon," I said and took another sip of coffee.

"I know a few too. And there's my sister. She likes you, and she's not seeing anyone."

"I dunno," Dillon's sister was 19 and wild - two things I definitely wasn't. "She might be a bit young for me."

Dillon shrugged, "I'd trust you with her... and there's Natalie."

I hesitated mid-sip at the mention of that name. Natalie.

"You're both available now, right?" Dillon continued. He glanced down at his phone. "Break's almost up, my guy. I gotta get back to work. You got this though, dude. Stars are aligning... this is gonna be your time. And if you need to talk, you have my number." He clapped me on the shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Talk soon."

"Thanks man!" called out, raising my cup to him in cheers as he retreated from my table. I finished off my coffee as I mulled over what he'd just sald.

Jessica ending things the way she did hurt, but Dillon had a good point. There were literally thousands of women In New York.

And chief among them was Natalie