Chapter Twenty-Two
Information Overload
Eric
“I think what you’ve got to do is to give her a little bit of time, but make sure she knows that you’re thinking about her, only don’t be pushy, but don’t just lie down and let things break apart, you know, unless you have to,” Irene says.
We’ve been at this for hours, and surprisingly, the more sober she’s gotten, the less sense her advice has made.
“I’m pretty sure you just gave me a list of contradictions,” I tell her. “Is there anything I’m supposed to do with that, or are you just running through possibilities out loud?”
“Well, it’s not so easy to know what it is until you know what it is,” she says. “Do you know what it is?”
The doorbell rings.
“I should probably get that,” I tell her.
“All right,” she says, “I should probably catch a cab anyway. Alec’s going to be back soon, and I’ve got a couple of surprises for him.”
“I will pay for your cab fare if you don’t tell me what those surprises are,” I smile.
I appreciate the effort Irene’s put into trying to help me today, but I don’t think I’ve gleaned a single clear, useful idea out of the whole discussion.
She makes the motion of zipping her lips shut, and I pull 40 bucks out of my wallet and hand it to her.
We get to the door, and I open it.
“Listen!” Jessica starts, but immediately stops when she sees Irene.
“Jessica!” Irene exclaims. “It is so great to see you again. Did you have fun at the party? Oh, well, I should get going anyway. You two have a good night, goodbye!”
Jessica and I watch Irene as she leaves, waiting for all of her words to process. It takes a minute.
“Can I come in?” Jessica asks me finally.
“Of course,” I tell her, shutting the door behind her. “I just wanted to say—”
“No,” she interrupts. “I have a few things I want to say first.”
“Okay,” I respond, and before I can ask her if I can get her anything to drink, she just lets loose and starts screaming at me.
“Listen, you stupid son of a bitch…”
That’s how it starts, and it doesn’t get any nicer.
At first, I’m waiting for her to stop so I can respond, then I’m waiting for her to take a breath so I can jump in without technically interrupting her. Finally, I’ve given up completely, and we’re having a shouting match.
The few words I can get in, though, are quickly and easily overpowered by the sheer force and volume of her anger.
She’s screaming at me for a very long time.
The Big Goodbye
Jessica
There are a lot of emotions as I stand outside the store I spent so much time building, the idea I’d spent so much time nurturing, growing. Now, I’m locking the doors for the very last time.
The moment isn’t without its ceremony, as my family and everyone who’s worked for me over these last few years is waiting for me on the sidewalk.
My mom’s standing with my dad, both of whom are trying to keep their distance from Jed while simultaneously keeping as close as they can to Kristin and—I still have a hard time saying it—Percival.
He’s almost two now, and Kristin’s already starting to bend with the weight of holding him.
I kind of want to give a speech to commemorate the closing of Lady Bits’ doors, but there are too many people and I’m simply not that good on my feet, so I just turn back toward the store and take one final look back at the place where I’ve spent so much of my adult life, trying to do something I believed in, making plenty of friends, and yes, even some enemies along the way.
A hand falls on my shoulder and I straighten my posture.
The key slides easily into the door and too quickly, the moment is over. The doors are locked.
The store is closed.
I turn around and start making my rounds, thanking everyone on my way for their part in helping my dream to come true.
When I get to Linda, I stop and raise an eyebrow to her.
“We’ve had some ups and downs, haven’t we?” I ask.
She snickers and adjusts her baby girl in her arms.
The girl’s name is Jessica. As weird as it sounds—okay, as weird as it absolutely is—she actually named her child after me.
“It hasn’t been all bad,” she says. “You remember Paolo, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I say, extending my hand and shaking his. “It’s good to see you again, Paolo.”
After Eric and Linda hooked up that day years ago, Paolo came back into her life, and Linda, now Mrs. Navas, never looked back.
“I’m surprised Eric didn’t show up,” Linda says. “He had a pretty big part in turning things around here, too.”
“That’s just the way it goes,” I tell her, and I give her a hug.
“Do you know if he’s still planning on picking up Jessica tonight? Paolo’s going to have the car, so I wouldn’t be able to drop her off until later,” she says.
“I don’t know,” I answer. “Have you tried calling him?”
I’m running late, but there’s someone else with whom I really want to have a quick word before I have to go and leave this store behind me.
“Alec,” I say, giving quite possibly the laziest man I’ve ever met a big hug. “Thank you for everything,” I tell him. “I never thought you’d get Burbank to agree to sit down, much less actually talk him into renegotiating such a good deal for us. Thank you for that.”
“What can I say?” he asks. “I could charm a nun out of her habit.”
“Yeah, you still kind of creep me out,” I tell him.
I go to hug Irene, but by the way she’s putting her hand over her mouth, I reconsider applying any pressure to her upper body. I really like these shoes.
My mom and dad are already walking back to their car, and as everyone disperses, I can’t help but feel gratitude for the fact that my crotchety mother is still around to irritate the shit out of me.
I say my goodbyes to everyone that’s still around, and inside of 10 minutes, I’m in my car, driving.
This isn’t how I expected my life to turn out, but all things considered, I think I’ve been pretty fortunate.
When I get to the new location—or as I like to call it, Lady Bits 2.0—I’m filled with a sense of pride.
Things really turned around after I promoted Cheryl, and once the word spread, things just kept getting bigger and bigger until that little store wasn’t big enough to hold it all.
The new store opens in a few days, but before that happens, there are a few things that I need to take care of.
After all this time, the person I have to thank most wasn’t there to see me close down my first store.
Eric, despite the sharp turn our relationship took while still in its infancy, did more to turn things around for me than anyone. He gave me the courage to sit back and accept help, and despite the fact that I still think the Plus section would have looked better indented a little further into the ground, the work he did inside the store and outside of it really took things to a place I didn’t think they could go.
It’s a shame he couldn’t make it to the closing today.
That being said, he’s got a lot of work to do.
I walk into the nearly complete building, and even though I’ve been through these doors dozens of times now, I’m still taken aback by the size and the brilliance of the new store.
José almost runs over me as he’s helping one of his guys move a large display stand.
“Have you seen Eric?” I ask.
José still never says more than a few words at a time to me. I think he’s still holding onto some lingering fear that I’m going to have him fired for breaking into my first store.
“He’s in the back,” José says and keeps going, telling his worker to speed it up, that they haven’t got all day.
So, I make my way to the back of the new store, dodging Ian as he tosses what I can only hope is a shelled pistachio nut over 20 feet into an electrician’s mouth.
“Is Eric back here?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Ian answers, and then dodges to the left with his mouth wide open, but misses the poorly thrown return volley. “Last I saw, he was back near Swimwear.”
“Thanks,” I tell him, and quickly move out of the way so the two can continue cluttering up the floor of my otherwise pristine new building.
Eric is crouched down, making sure that a small platform is level.
“Hey, could I talk to you a minute?” I ask.
He turns around and stands, brushing his mid-length hair away from his eyes.
“Yeah,” he says. “Just give me a minute to finish checking this. I don’t know if it’s my level or what, but this section right here is off-center.”
“It can wait,” I tell him. “Come with me, please.”
He leaves the level behind and follows me back to what will be my office when the new store finally opens.
“How are we doing on cost?” I ask.
“Well, your last-minute changes have driven things up a bit, but I don’t think we’re going to end up too far above what we’d originally talked about,” he answers.
“Will you close the door?” I ask.
“Sure,” he says, and kicks the door closed.
Before the door is latched, our arms are around each other and I’m pressing into his firm chest, kissing him deeply on the lips.
When I pull away, he’s smiling.
“How did it go closing up over there?” he asks.
“Not too bad,” I tell him. “It was a bit rough saying goodbye to the old place, but with all the volume we’re moving, it just wasn’t going to work keeping it open.”
“You know,” he says, “if you weren’t such a major control freak, you could have left the other store open and just let someone else run it.”
“Oh, shut up,” I scoff, and hit him playfully on the chest.
“What did you want to talk to me about, boss?”
“You know,” I tell him, “we’re getting married tomorrow. I really think you can start calling me by my name from now on.”
“Eh,” he shrugs, “while we’re at work, you’re the boss, and don’t pretend like that doesn’t turn you on a little.”
He’s right about that.
“What’s on your mind?” he asks.
“Well,” I start, “first off, Linda wanted to know if you’re going to be able to pick up Jessica tonight.”
“Yeah,” he says. “She just called. I told her I’d swing by just as soon as I’m off work. I was thinking we could take her to the park tonight.”
“Cool,” I say. “Now, I know we’re running out of time and everything, but I’ve been looking at pictures of some of the more modern clothing stores, and there are a few things I’d like to implement before the paint is dry. I know the schedule is tight, but I really think we can get this done and it’s going to look so much better.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he groans.
GRIND
BOX SET
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 Claire Adams
PART ONE
Chapter One
Distraction
Mia
Abs and I elbow our way to the front of the crowd. The competition is about to start, and I’m not about to let my neophyte friend go without a decent view of what’s about to happen.
The announcer comes over the loudspeaker and introduces the first brave soul. I squeeze Abby’s arm and she turns to face me.
“That’s him,” I tell her.
“I really don’t think this is my cup of…” she trails off as Mike Onomato skates into view.
“Yeah, I thought you’d change your mind when you actually saw him,” I tell her.
Mike Onomato. In the world of skateboarding, the distinction between pro and amateur can be arbitrary or fixed entirely. There are no weekly broadcasts of competitions, at least not on any channel that’s going to show up in a normal digital cable or satellite package.
Sometimes, a skater can go straight from photo shoots and video games back to their neighborhood skate park, never to return to the limelight again. Mike Onomato, though, he’s right on the verge of being the next Burnquist or the next P-Rod.
It goes without saying that he’d never be the next Rodney Mullen. Nobody will ever be Rodney Mullen. That guy’s an alien. Seriously, he invented most of the tricks these guys are going to do in the competition today. In fact, if it weren’t for Rodney Mullen, there probably wouldn’t even be street events.
It’s kind of funny that it actually took him so long to switch over from flatland.
Ah, Rodney. If only I was a little older and you weren’t married…
“That is Mike Onomato?” Abs says, and I congratulate myself for converting yet another soul to the glory that is skating. It may take a while for her to actually care about the sport, but at least the seed is planted.
That’s all I’m doing: planting seeds.
“Yeah,” I answer.
“You weren’t kidding,” she says.
“If you’d actually watched those videos I sent you, you’d already know what he looks like,” I tell her.
“I wanted to be surprised,” she answers, her mouth never staying more than half-closed as her eyes move back and forth with her new crush.
I get bored with Abby’s enthrallment—huh—and I’m watching Mike Onomato grinding the top of a quarter-pipe, coming out of it with a 540 shove that landed flawlessly.
I like Mike.
On the flat now, Mike’s only got a couple of seconds, so he throws in a quick varial heelflip underflip like it’s not even a big deal, but just as he’s about to come down, there’s a touch on my shoulder and I instinctively turn, missing the landing.
I only know that Mike Onomato stuck it by the response of the crowd, and I’m looking at a guy I’ve never seen before.
“How are you doing?” he asks, looking Abs in the eye and me noticeably lower than that.
I cross my arms over my chest and turn half away from him.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“Hey there,” Abs says.
“Okay, so you’re the nice one then,” the guy says, pointing to Abs.
While Abs is saying, “We’re both nice,” I’m saying, “Neither one of us is the nice one.”
“Yeah, well,” the guy says and claps his hands together. “I’m Ian. You two fans of skating?”
I turn back toward the street course, though I can hear Abby and Ian’s conversation well enough. “You two fans of skating?” Moron.
“I had no idea the women around here were so attractive.”
“Oh, stop it. You’re just saying that.”
“I’m serious.”
“Are you from around here?”
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Kyle Law and Ray Vasquez finish their runs, and I’m getting sick of all the chatter behind me. We’re not here to talk to guys; we’re here to watch the street competition.
I turn around, grab Abs by the arm, and say something about needing a bathroom.
Abs tries to turn, to free herself, but my grip is firm.
“I’m sure we’ll see you later!” Abs calls out.
“What are you doing?” I ask, not breaking pace, my fingers still clamped around Abby’s forearm.
“What?” Abs says. “He was kind of cute.”
“He was annoying,” I tell her, and when we’re finally well out of sight of the street course, I let go of her arm.
“Jeez,” Abs says. “You didn’t have to grab me so tight.”
“Sorry,” I tell her. “I just wanted to get out of there.”
“What’s wrong?” Abs asks. “I know you’re not this out of your head just because some guy came over and talked to us.”
She’s right of course, but I really don’t want to get into it with her right now.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “That’s not going to leave a bruise or anything, is it?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “I don’t think so. Can we go back now, or are you actually going to squat down behind one of those trash cans?”
“We can go back,” I tell her, “but I’m really not in the mood for social hour with every guy who starts flirting with us. Can you live with that?”
“Fine,” Abs says. “We’ll go to the other side of the course or whatever and we’ll watch it there.”
“And if someone else walks up?” I ask.
“We blow them off,” Abs says. “Can we go now?”
“Yeah,” I tell her. “I’m sorry. I just really want you to be into this stuff. It’s kind of a big thing for me.”
“I’ve never seen you skate,” Abs says. “I thought it was just a fashion thing.”
“I never said I was some big skater,” I tell her. “There’s just something about it, though. I don’t know. On the one hand, it’s very physical. It requires a lot of strength and stamina, but it’s also subtle, artistic. You can just get lost watching someone skate.”
“You’re kind of talking about it like a spiritual experience,” Abs says.
Well, for me, it is, but I hardly expect her to understand that. She hasn’t even seen a full round.
“Let’s go,” I tell her.
These are the days when I feel like I can almost see myself and grasp who I am, besides the 20-year-old skate freak with the straight black hair and the camo pants who still lives with her father. My life’s not a bad one, I guess, and there’s much for me to be grateful for, but days like this are almost holy to me.
That’s why I don’t want to let anything in that might ruin it.
“You can probably let go of my arm this time,” Abs says, but I’m not listening to her. I’m listening to the announcer, trying to make out what he’s saying through the distance and over the noise of the crowd.
We just missed Mike Onomato’s second run. We also missed about five other skaters, but mostly, we missed Mike.
By the time we’re to the other side of the street course, the cycle’s almost run through again, and the crowd is so thick. We’re already to the final heat of this round.
“I can’t believe this,” I mutter.
“This is only the first round, right?” Abs asks.
“Yeah,” I answer.
“So what’s the big deal?” she asks. “Unless Mike Last-Name-I-Don’t-Remember sucked it up, he’ll be in the next round.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her, and look back toward the street course.
I’ve seen most of these guys before, though there are a couple of newcomers. Of all these guys, though, Mike Onomato is the only one who’s ever been called a pro.
Still, as I look up at the big screen showing the current standings, I’m seeing something I hadn’t expected. Someone named Zavala is beating Mike Onomato.
He’s not beating him—he is humiliating him.
There are a total of three rounds whittling down the field, then a semi-final and a final round. In this round, the top two skaters will advance, and Abs is right: Mike’s going through, but unless this Zavala person is some kind of fluke, I don’t know if I like the way this whole thing is about to go.
“What’s wrong?” Abs asks.
“What?” I return.
“Well, you finally let go of my arm for a minute, but now it feels like you’re trying to punish me for something,” she says.
I look down at my hand as its fingers curl tightly into Abby’s arm.
When the visual processes in my brain, I let her go and apologize, but I don’t think I’m doing a very good job of getting my best friend more interested in what I’m interested in. You’d think that sort of thing would have been a prerequisite for the friendship, but she looked the part.
I know I’m not a teenager anymore, and continuing this friendship that started because Abby, who I often think of as my own portable pop sensibility, used to dress like a skater chick back when it was a more popular look is certainly not the easiest decision to explain, but despite the fact that she doesn’t really care about any of the things that I care about or always act in a way that I feel to be appropriate or listen to me unless I’m waving something flashy in front of her face, she gets me, and that’s enough.
In the future, I think I’ll probably condense that down to the last six words. Most people’s eyes start glazing otherwise.
“That guy’s up,” Abs says.
“What guy?” I ask dumbly, though I’m looking at the same board she is.
The obvious reaction would be excitement, seeing someone with such a clear talent, but I’m not ready to give up on that last teenage hero. I refuse to become jaded, though I’m beginning to lose track of how to go about avoiding that anymore.
Mike’s still an amateur skater. That’s why he’s in this competition. Usually, he’s the one way out front, though.
I think, logically, that even if this guy ends up beating the pants off of Mike, that doesn’t mean the latter’s going to lose his shot at the big time. I just thought I was going to be there to see it happen. That was supposed to be today.
Magazines have been doing articles on Mike and sponsors have been hovering, but for whatever reason, he’s just never had that breakout moment. That was supposed to be today.
I care so much because I’ve been watching Mike Onomato skateboard for a long time now. The competitions have always been a thing for him, but I don’t always have the money to go.
I care so much because Mike’s not one of those guys on the cusp of stardom that’s touring right along with the pros, only divided from his counterparts by an as-yet-unsigned contract with this sponsor or that.
Mike’s from here.
I don’t know who Mike is because he’s always been as good as he is today. Really thinking back, I don’t think I even noticed he’d gotten very good at all until a few months ago. I know who Mike is because he’s been skating at the park near my house as long, if not a little longer, than I’ve been visiting it.
It’s kind of reaffirming to see someone so close, if not personally, then at least in terms of general proximity, having doors like that open; the disappointment of seeing someone else’s name above his right now is only overshadowed by seeing the person himself. It’s Ian, the flirty slacker/moron that decided it was his right to implant himself in my day with my friend.
That’s how it always happens. My dad told me about this particular brand of misery a long time ago. At first, I thought he was just spouting the curmudgeonly conspiracies of his age, but I’m really starting to think he was right. “Every time someone decent and talented is about to get ahead, they’ll be overshadowed or dragged back down by someone with all the inspirational qualities of a cherry pit.”
Dad’s not much of an optimist.
Still, as I’m watching Zavala, I., the I. apparently standing for Ian, I’m having trouble remembering why I’m so upset. For a minute, I even forget that it has something to do with the guy skating on the other side of these barricades.
I didn’t even really bother looking at him before. I just wanted him to go away.
It’s not his general look so much that captivates me, though his sometimes colorful sleeves of tattoos do catch the eye a bit. It’s the way he moves that gets me.
He’s smooth, but precise. There doesn’t seem to be any wasted motion whatsoever, but every movement of his is a flourish. The guy is pulling some insane junk out there. There’s something else, something I can’t quite put my finger on, but whatever it is, I’ve never seen someone skate like this.
I don’t know how I’ve never heard of him, but he must be some near-pro on his way to a business meeting that’s going to render him permanently ineligible to enter competitions like this one in the future.
He’s riding a manual up to the rail of the funbox, and he doesn’t need to do anything else. He could fall flat on his face and he’d still trounce everyone by at least 20 points.
Before the last few seconds of the round click away, Ian makes what starts as the slightest gesture, and the manual turns into a hardflip late kickflip as the clock runs out and he somehow manages to kiss the rail before his board is back on the incline and he rolls out perfectly.
Mike who?