Devil's Effect

A Public Problem

Mike sat in his old blue Honda in the parking lot of Red Pelican Music for a few minutes, looking at the steering wheel and thinking about how much gas he had left. The conversation he'd had with Chelsea, the owner, hadn't gone exactly the way he'd hoped it would, but he didn't blame her for being cautious when he'd showed up out of the blue a year after quitting with only four days notice. I was really hoping that I could come back full time. I had five full days of lessons when I left. Tuesday and Thursday isn't going to be enough to make any serious money.

He blew out a long breath, thoughts of work and paychecks, conversations he'd had in the past few days with Jason weighing on his mind. They were all out of work and used to bringing in far more than what he'd be making teaching two days of piano lessons. I'll just have to be ultra reliable and get back on her good side. She knows me. I never missed work, and I love teaching. When she trusts me again, it will be better. Until then, I'll figure something else out. God, I hope Ches has good news.

They were meeting at a little sandwich shop close to the loft for lunch, and Mike didn't want to be late. He knew they were all out looking for jobs today except for Jason, who was on his laptop at the loft updating his resume. He'd wanted to be able to say he'd solved one part of their problem, but it just hadn't gone that way. With his mind set on a meatball sub, he started to navigate his way through L.A. traffic, on his way to fill his stomach with food and his worn down heart with his boyfriend. The last two weeks had just been hard on them all.

Mike was surprised he was on time when he looked at his watch after parking next to Chester's sleek red sports car. His footsteps already felt lighter as he hurried inside and met Chester at the counter. "Hey, babe," he murmured in Chester's ear, kissing the side of his face and pulling him into a side hug.

"Hey," Chester crooned back as he nuzzled his face quickly to Mike's neck. "It's about time you got here, I'm starving. I need lots of ham and cheese right now." He watched as Mike's dark eyes lit up in amusement before they stepped up to the counter, and they both placed their orders. Two minutes later they were sitting down, and Chester could tell that Mike's quest to get his old teaching job back probably didn't go well. "So?" he asked, holding back his desire to stuff his face. "How did it go? You don't look ecstatic."

"Not the way I planned," Mike answered, picking at the wrapper on his straw as he spoke. "She offered me two days to start. Tuesday and Thursdays." He sighed and stuck his unwrapped straw into his lemonade. "I mean, it's something. But I think she's hurt over how I left, and not telling her where I was going and all. She probably thinks I left for another music school and it didn't work out. So she's being cautious." His lips dropped into a pout before he looked up at Chester. "I should have stayed in touch, or something. We used to be friends. She was pretty cool toward me today."

"I'm sorry, Sexy Boy," Chester sympathized from across the table. "I would say you could make up some reason to tell her why it all went the way it did, but lying if you're going to work there again is probably a bad idea." He looked down at his sandwich. "So only two days a week...are you going to do it?"

"Yeah." Mike looked out the window at the people passing by, and the cars on the curb with their Uber and Lyft stickers in the windows. "It will be good money on those days. And I don't know. I was thinking I could drive Uber or something until she fills in my schedule. It would be better than sitting at home doing nothing. Jason is really worried about money right now, with everything tied up in probate. It's killing him he can't even get everyone their last paychecks. I know it would help us out a lot." He looked back at Chester and started to pick up his sandwich.

Chester nibbled off a piece of ham before he took a sip from his soda. "I know he's worried. We all are." He glanced out the window at the same cars Mike had just been looking at. "Your car's...well, it's a little old for Uber, don't you think?" He looked back at his boyfriend, hoping he'd take that the right way. Mike's car was paid for, which meant there was no monthly payment to worry over, and right now that was a good thing.