Lost And Found

p1- chapter ten

I arrived at the Pleasant Shot, my new job. There was one other bartender working, she was pretty and thicker . I felt comfortable and more excited. She introduced herself, her names Jocelyn and we work the same schedule. She was really nice and really funny. I was excited to work with her. She showed me the ropes, I caught on pretty quick.
The night flew by and I had a blast. I made $113 in tips, in almost a full 5 hour shift. But I still had 10 minutes left. Someone had just stopped in, so I went to see if he wanted anything.

"Can I get you anything?" I asked. The man looked up and my heart sank. It was Mike. He didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Ryan?" Is all he said. I didn't say anything, I couldn't say anything. A million things came to my mind. "Why haven't you answered my calls?" Is what I managed to spit out. I felt like I was going to barf. He looked confused. "You-you told me not too talk to you ever again?". Uhm, did I miss something? When did I ever say that? "What? When? I didn't say that, I would never?" I don't know who was more confused. "The day I was supposed to pick you up to show you that house, you texted me. I didn't understand why, but I didn't want to ask questions." I was at a lost for words, I never said that. Why would I? I was lucky enough to have Mike even want to talk to me. Before I could say anything, a deep voice spoke before me, "Mike, less talking, more drinking." Mike nodded. "I'll have two glasses of jack and coke." Still super confused, I went and made Mike and his friend their drinks. I delivered them to his table then went to the back room to gather my things.

I drove straight home after work and told Molly about Mike, everything. She told me to think if I had left my phone with anyone that day. That was easy, no. I had nobody to leave it with. Anyway, I thought about what happened that day. It was just a normal day, besides being called to the office. Then it hit me like a bus. I left my bag in the class when I went to talk to the principal. I left it in class with Destiny. I filled Molly in and texted Mike, "meet for coffee in the am?" He agreed, thankfully. Molly had fallen asleep during all my ranting, so I decided it was my turn to crash.

The next morning I woke up excited for coffee with Mike, but also very nervous. But either way, I was happy that he wasn't actually turned away. I quickly got dressed and tossed my hair into a bun. I told Molly I was leaving, and jokingly told her not to burn the house down. I left a few minutes earlier than necessary, just to make sure I wasn't late. Which, I wasn't late. Mike was. It's twenty minutes passed the agreed meeting hour and no sign of Mike. I hadn't try to call him because I assumed he was just running late and didn't want to be a bother.

An hour later, I got a text from Mike; "sorry I didn't make it, lunch at the same place in an hour?". I shrugged it off and agreed, his dad probably needed him again. To kill time I went to the closest clothing store and picked out a few things for Molly. Seems how it was pointless to drive home just to turn around and come back, and I figured she probably didn't get new clothes very often. Once I finished, I headed back to the diner.

Mike was a few minutes late, but he showed up this time. He greeted me with a hug and we sat down. I noticed something particularly new about Mike's face, a big ole' black eye. I instantly questioned it, "What happened to your eye?". I assumed that's why he was late. He hesitated, "I-I, I fell down my stairs this morning and bounced my eye right off the door knob." Strange, but it could happen to anyone. He assured me he was alright and I believed him. But now it was time to talk about the whole 'me texting him to leave me alone but it wasn't actually me' bit.

"Mike, I didn't text you that day, I swear. I couldn't even find the message in my phone. I got called to the office in school and I left my phone in the classroom. And nobody really likes me at school, and these few girls in particular would do anything to fuck with me. Like popping my car tires." I realized I had said a lot pretty quick and hoped he understood it all.

Mike must of understood it all, because not shortly after, he responded. "It hurt, I just kept thinking over and over again, 'what did I do wrong?'. I couldn't figure it for the life of me. But I'm glad we bumped into each other yesterday, so we could figure this all out." I was relieved he believed me. Even though I wasn't lying, it sounded like a pretty lame excuse. We talked through the situation and were back to normal in no time. I filled him on my new job at the Pleasant Shot, about Molly and the house to be, hopefully. He was genuinely happy for me, about all of it. He even offered to help me move, which was great because I didn't know anybody else to help. Mike filled me in on-well, nothing. He said nothings really happened or changed for him.

We talked for about 2 hours, before I realized I should probably get back home to Molly. Mike walked me to my car, "drive safe, let me know when you're home.", then softly slapped his lips on mine before shutting my door. I smiled and headed home.