The Reluctant Assistant - Book One

Interruptions Part 2

The rest of the week had flown by for Raymond and before he knew it, he was holed up in bed, Sunday morning, having woken up late. He had no plans for the day, as it was very rare that he got time to himself. Jackson had made sure that he got his money's worth out of Raymond. Then his phone started ringing. Almost afraid to look at the caller id, he sighed in relief when he saw that it was Tilly, who he'd been friends with since school. They had started more or less the same time at Dealer's and still remained close.

"Hi Ray!" she called over the phone.

"Hey Tilly, what's up?" he smiled, holding the phone slightly away from his ear. Tilly always spoke on the phone as if the other person was half deaf. 

"Drinks later? I've called Hector and we're coming to pick you up." he was just about to make an excuse when Tilly went on, "No cancellations! We haven't seen you in almost a month and it's catch-up time.. We'll see you at five!" and the line went dead.

With a sigh, he pulled the covers over his head. 'Well there goes my Sunday,' he thought to himself. It's not that he minded hanging out with his friends, he enjoyed every bit of time they spent together, but it was almost always interrupted by Jackson calling. It's as if there was bat signal in the sky, alerting Jackson the moment Raymond was about to have fun, so that he could spoil it. Deciding to get up, he realised that his fridge was empty and the only thing left in his cupboard was a can of beans and an almost empty bottel of instant coffee.

Scraping the last bit of coffee from the pot, he boiled the water while heating up the beans. This is what he gets for taking care of an arrogant baby, a can of beans and piss weak coffee. Two hours later, his craving for real coffee won out and he was just about to head out, when the doorbell rang. Wondering who it could be, because nobody besides Tilly and Hector nobody ever turned up and they weren't due for a few hours.

"Surprise!" Tilly shouted, holding two bags of groceries, with Hector behind her, hands also full. Pushing her way into the small flat she started unpacking the bags. 

"What? How did you know?" Raymond asked, standing there, watching her.

"You work for a grown ass baby, of course you wouldn't have food in the house." she briefly turned to him, closing a cupboard door, moving on to brewing coffee.

"You're life savers!" he sighed flopping onto the only couch in the room, as the flat started filling up with the smell of coffee. Then he turned to Victor, who was tall and skinny, noticing his dishevelled state. "What happened to you?" he frowned at Hector who just dropped down next to him looking miserable.

"His girlfriend threw him out, so he's been couch surfing." Tilly snorted, handing them their coffee, pulling up a chair.

"But? Isn't it your flat?" he turned to Hector with an incredulous look.

"Yeah, well, she sort of found... you know? I'd left my pornhub account open and she saw..." Hector looked as if he wanted the world to swallow him.

"Who still has a pornhub account?" Raymond asked confused. Tilly just burst out laughing.  

"What's so funny?" Hector asked a bit miffed.

"Hector, you dumbass, you got yourself kicked out of your own apartment for shit that almost every other man does. Just tell her to like it and go with the flow or get rid of her and start dating your pornhub account!" she openly laughed at him.

"Shut up! It's a tricky situation you know?" he lamented.

They'd decided on their favourite, hot wings with beer, and were stationed at a nearby pub, gulping down litres of beer to cool the burn in their mouths. Raymond couldn't ever really drink much, because he was always on call for Jackson, but tonight he was free and feeling the effects of all the alcohol. His lips felt as if they were tingling, he was relaxed and there was a gentle sway to the room.