Goodbye, I love you

I visit Peter's workplace

I threw myself on the bean bag chair. "It was so nostalgic." Bethel stared at the ceiling fan slowly oscillating. "Well, I'm glad your day was good." She brought her knees up.

"I'm sorry. I got carried away with my story. What happened?"

"Mick and I had an argument." She sat up and grabbed one of my fluffy pillows to cuddle with. "It was a stupid, very unnecessary argument."

"I'm sorry."

"I haven't been seeing much of him lately. He's always working." She tightened her grip on the pillow and I folded my legs. "Okay."

"I went to Ronny's to see him. I told him I missed him, and he said he needs to work so he can save up for college. I said I understood but can't he just set a little bit of time. It's been weeks since we've spent any time together. When did work become important than us?"

"Then he just got mad and accused me of not understanding how important this was for him. I said that I did, but, I miss my boyfriend and I deserve some time with him. And he said that it wasn't that simple. I asked if I was making this hard for him, and he said yes."

"Oh, Beth," I climbed on the bed and hugged her. "I'm sorry, honey."

"He said he needs space to think right now. I've been giving him nothing but space. I tried to be the understanding girlfriend."

"Maybe was just frustrated and confused. I'm sure you're not making anything hard."

"He said he could do this. He wanted to do this for us." She sniffled. "He probably needs to cool off. I'm sure he'll call you. We all know Mick, right? It's not like him."

"I don't want to lose him, Avery."

"Honey, you won't. You're gonna work this out, alright?" I stroked her hair.

She looked up at me. "Let's go get some fresh air." I smiled at her.

It was around eight p.m. when we left the house. I decided we should walk towards Peter's work place. He'd decided to take a job to get away from home during the day. I'd never visited him there before but I know where it is. We entered an almost abandoned part of town, and I gagged when a familiar stench hit my nostrils—nicotine. Stan smokes all the time. Two kids ran past us and Bethel flinched as we heard glass shatter followed by a car alarm just a few blocks away.

"What are we doing here?" She tugged on my sleeve. I was wondering the same thing. "This is where Peter said he worked."

"As a thug?"

I looked at Bethel and questioned if I had gotten the address right. We passed by a narrow, dark alley with loads of trash and a whiff of urine sealed the deal.

"Blechh!" I coughed and wrinkled my nose after seeing my dinner on the black stained pavement from some mystery goo. "Avery, let's get outta here, please?"

I placed my hand on a wall and wiped my mouth with my sleeve before taking out my phone. "Hold on."

"Hey!" Peter picked up.

"Hey, we're having trouble locating your workplace." I coughed.

"Oh, I'll come get you guys." He hung up. I stared at my phone after he hung up. "So?"

"He's coming."

I could still feel my insides churning. The air here was so dense, it felt suffocating. I couldn't help but smile weakly at the thought of telling Bethel that we were going to get fresh air. We saw Peter trotting from a distance so we walked to catch up to him.

"Come on, this way." He trotted ahead.

We arrived at an Auto Parts Shop. The sign wasn't lit, and the 'A' and 'P' were hanging sideways. Peter had to kick the door open, and it looked like it didn't have a lock. The lights were dim and flickering inside. There was an old car parked right at the center so I imagined getting around was a bit snug. I didn't see any parts, just a lot of scrap metal and junk—a lot of junk. Steve came to greet us. My skin crawled for some reason. Maybe it's just this part of town. He smiled at us, and his bright blue eyes sparkled. "Hey, ladies!"

"Hi." We both said. "This one doesn't look too good." Steve pointed at me almost concerned. His scruffy black hair looked greasy and in need of attention. "Sweetheart, this is as clean as it gets." He noticed me staring at his hair.

"Peter held my hand. "Are you okay?" I stared at him for a minute. "Peter, I threw up on the way here, and Bethel is shaken up. Why are you here? What—"

"Babe, come on, let's talk about this outside."

"Outside? I'm not going back out there."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Come on." He led me to a room that almost looked like an office if it wasn't for leaky metal parts, papers, pipes, and wires everywhere. I was relieved to get away from the dank smell of motor oil. "No funny business, Kane." I heard Steve holler. I rolled my eyes. "Where did you find this guy?"

"Avery, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see where you worked."

"Why?"

"Why did you give me the address if you didn't want me here? Follow up question. Why wouldn't you want me here? Unless you have something to hide."

"You wanted me to tell you things. I didn't think you'd actually come here." He leaned on a table.

I exhaled deeply as I analyzed the situation. "Peter, this is a really shady place. What do you even do here?" He looked down before answering. "Steve's teaching me a lot about car. . .parts."

"I'm not sure Steve is a good friend, Peter." He furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"He made you drink."

"He didn't make me do anything." He said sternly.

"Peter—" He cut me off. "You know what, Avery, maybe I'll just see you tomorrow, okay?"

"I love you, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't."

I wasn't satisfied with that answer. I had a bad feeling about Steve, and it's not just because he lives in a shady neighborhood.