The Hustler [Alex Gaskarth]

Chapter Two: The Consultation

   It was the next morning that I got my first text from Jack Barakat. It was almost exactly eleven AM, and I was in my home office, working on a design for, iScream, a local ice cream shop. I'd worked there while I was going through college, and when my former boss, the owner, had found out I needed a project, she comissioned me to do a new logo for them.

   1 New Message!

    410-601-0618: Hi, Lia :) It's Jack. Can you meet...

  I pressed the Home button and slid my finger across the screen in the pattern that would unlock the phone so I could read the rest of the message.

   Hi, Lia :) It's Jack. Can you meet me somewhere for lunch so we can talk about Alex?

  I quickly added his name into my contacts list before I typed out a quick response.

   Hey! I'm busy working, but I can probably meet you at 1, if that's still good for you.

   His response came back almost immediately.

   It's good for me! Do you know where Aaron's Burger Bistro is?

   I didn't, but I assumed it wouldn't be too hard to find, so I told him I did. We agreed to meet at one, and I got back to work. Graphic design was my passion, and when I got into the right frame of mind, I got lost in the shapes and colors, in a completely different world, even. I often found myself humming the tune to 'Pure Imagination' from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

   The time before my lunch meeting with Jack went by extremely fast. Before I knew it, my phone was beeping to tell me it was time to go. I hastily saved my work and locked down the computer, hoping that Aaron's wasn't too far away. 

   It wasn't; in fact, it was only a ten minute drive around the harbor. Jack was already waiting at a small corner booth inside, playing with the salt and pepper shakers like an overgrown five-year-old.

   "Am I interrupting anything?" I asked, walking up quietly to the booth. He fumbled with the salt shaker and almost ended up dropping it to the floor. I caught it smoothly and set it down next to the pepper.

   Jack smiled nervously and looked up at me. "No! No, sit down!"

   "Sorry if I freaked you out there," I told him. "I didn't know the salt and pepper shakers lived such an intense life."

    "Oh yeah," he said seriously. "Well, Mr. Salt over here just found out his daughter, Pep, was going to run away with the spicy mexican hot sauce. He's kind of mad, because he wanted her to spend her life with a nice, clean-cut french fry."

   "Sounds like a lot of drama. I'm surprised they don't have their own television series."

   "They're working on TLC, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Honey Boo Boo has the market cornered."

   "Damn those rednecks," I grinned.

   We joked all the way through the main course- a burger with peanut butter and bacon (apparently, Aaron's specialty) for Jack, and a normal burger with nothing on it for me. It wasn't until after our plates were taken away and Jack insisted on ordering coffee and dessert that the real conversation started.

   "So... Jack," I said, sipping at my mug of coffee. "I'm just curious. What are your thoughts on how Alex and I will get along? Sydney really didn't give a lot of info."

   He swallowed his bite of brownie sundae and paused to think. "I don't know... I think you guys will be okay. You just have to be ready for him. He can be a lot to handle sometimes, and his mood changes a lot."