Chapter Twenty-Five
Boyd wasn't doing much that night, which had become a recurring thing lately. His phone rang and he practically jumped across the room to answer it. It was Opal! "Please tell me you want to do something together," he said.
"Hi, what's wrong?"
"I'm just going absolutely stir-crazy living the straight life. You have no idea what it's like."
"Oh, don't I? Pretty sure that's what I've been doing my whole life. And you're in luck. I really need to take my mind off some stuff. I'll tell you all about it if I can come over," she said. Boyd almost said yes right away, and then he thought about what Felicia had told him. He wasn't sure why, but he decided that maybe he shouldn't be letting anyone into his apartment, not too often. Once he was a bit more stable, and he could keep an eye out for snooping, sure. Until then?
"How about I come and check out your place? I haven't seen it yet, and you say you live in a pretty nice building."
"What? Sure, yeah, okay. That makes sense, right? We are technically dating."
"I love technicalities. Have you had dinner yet?"
"I had something before I started my shift, which wasn't all that long ago. If you would like to bring some ice cream, I would be forever in your debt."
Boyd knew that ice cream was a universal coping mechanism, but Opal wouldn't tell him what had happened, not over the phone. Jimmie wasn't on duty, although he was on call, but it didn't seem necessary to bother him. Boyd did something that he hadn't done since he could remember; he called for a regular, common taxi. The driver knew a little convenience store that had a great selection of ice cream.
"My wife loves the Toppers Cookies and Cream, trust me. Your girlfriend is going to be satisfied with that choice," said the driver. He was in his twenties, with very short hair and a warming smiler.
"Okay, I'll take your word for it," said Boyd as he got out of the car and headed inside. He grabbed that one, and an assortment of other flavors too. "You can't be too careful," he told the driver, who laughed when he saw the two shopping bags full of various tubs of ice cream.
"I guess you must be right," the man replied.
When Opal opened the door, she looked like there had recently been tears in her eyes. They were a little red and her eye liner had smudged and been partially wiped away. "Hi," she said quietly. "Oh, what?!" When she noticed the two plump bags of ice cream, her mood improved almost instantly, at least on the outside.
"I figured this way I couldn't get the wrong flavor." Boyd stepped inside and Opal grabbed both bags, then emptied them onto the table. "Hello to you too."
"Yes, I'm happy to see you. I just, wow, look at this! Oh, I love cookies and cream, and this is my favorite brand. Yes! Wow, and you got the mint swirl with raspberry. Is that caramel? Holy shit, this is best night of my life." She grabbed two spoons and sat down at the table, eyes wide and full of the deliciousness to come. "Here, grab a spoon. I don't want to look like a pig."
"You could never look like a pig, Opal. You're too beautiful." He sat down and picked up a spoon, not really feeling like anything sweet, at least not food. "So, what's going on? I can tell you're upset." He wanted to hold her, kiss her, do something that a boyfriend might do. But their relationship hadn't been upgraded to partners yet. It was all very new and strange. Boyd felt himself wanting something to drink. Instead, he decided to dig into the brightly colored ice cream Opal had started to eat.
After swallowing a large mouthful, Opal stopped to take a breath. "This is amazing. Thank you. I got fired tonight, not that long ago." She continued to eat.
"What? That's bad, right? I know you hated that job, but you needed it." The whole comforting thing was beyond his expertise. Boyd wasn't sure if he should put his arms around her or something, maybe just give her space instead. Everything seemed to be so complicated suddenly and he wanted to get out of there. "Do you want some money?" That was the wrong thing to say, as evidenced by the way she put her spoon down in the tub and looked at him like he'd just farted at a funeral.
"You can't just pay to fix this up. Aren't you even going to ask what happened?" So, Boyd asked and she told him everything in detail. He felt rightfully pissed off by the time she got through with the story.
"That guy is even worse than a—well, he's worse than me."
"You're not such a bad guy, especially when there are people like Gus walking around wasting everyone else's oxygen. It's really not a problem for me though. I'm glad I did that and stood up for myself. That place was changing me in a way that I didn't like."
"Are you referring to what we did at the carnival? To be honest, I wasn't expecting anything like that from you."
"I've been under a lot of pressure lately, let's just say. But I did enjoy that, too much even." She licked her lips and started to eat the ice cream again, slowly this time, using her tongue to savor it instead of digging in like she had been moments earlier. "You don't have to try so hard to be the nice guy, Boyd. I get it, you haven't done this whole thing before. Do you want me to be honest with you?" she asked.
That was when Boyd thought Opal was going to come clean, tell him that she was only after him for his millions, or maybe to try and work some other scheme at his expense. But she didn't. Instead, saying, "I don't want to be with you for a nice guy. You treat me just fine, better than most of my previous boyfriends actually. On top of that, you've got balls, and you make me feel like a real fucking woman for a change. Please, don't try to change yourself just to suit what you think I want, okay?"
"Shit, that's the biggest relief of my life. I'll admit that I was getting pretty uncomfortable trying to play the part of the caring guy. I mean, I do care, but what am I meant to do to cheer you up?"
"Are you kidding me? Look at all this ice cream? You do think about me. Who else would take their date to a cheesy carnival just because it would be fun? I don't think you give yourself enough credit, despite being a total womanizer and probably a petty criminal in the past."
"There's really no evidence for any of that," he said. It wasn't smart to lower his guard, even if Opal did seem to sincerely like him. "So, I'm your boyfriend am I? That's what you just said."
"You don't have any evidence for that, do you?" Opal said with ice cream still in her mouth. The color was showing through her teeth as she smiled. "Do you think I should get my teeth fixed? They seem a bit off color to me lately."
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?" Boyd picked up another mouthful of ice cream and joined in the fun, making a stupid face as he chomped down, pretending to bite the metal of the spoon.
"Boy, you're going to break your teeth if you don't start eating sensible. Sit up as well, no one likes a sloucher!"
Once they'd finished playing around, and had more than enough ice cream to last anyone a week or two, Boyd brought up something he'd been thinking about. "Hey, Opal, I could help you find a job if you want; hire an agency, or even find out who set you up."
"I just might take you up on that offer. Let's just head to the bedroom for now, huh?"