Mae elbowed me in the ribs.
"You gotta have your eyes open for this one." she said.
Loren had joined Kris at the front of the room. Kris had hung light bulbs on strings across the ceiling which gave the hole place a "hole in the wall" "basement in a big city" feel. Kris started playing breathy notes on his harmonica, and Loren begun to beat box. The audience, which was around 10 strong by this point, started clapping in time. The rhythm kept going, building, until the entire room was buzzing with sound. Then Kris and Loren stopped, and everyone else followed. Loren stood perfectly still as she started speaking words. One at a time, slowly, quietly, but clearly. Then Kris started filling in her silent gaps with other words. Until they finally started making full thoughts. The rhythm in their voices was mesmerizing. It felt like everyone was leaning forward in their chair trying to anticipate the next thought. They begun to move through a story of a drunk man, wandering the streets of some city, searching for himself. They talked about the street lights, they talked about the smell of the sewage and broken beer bottles that littered the ground. They talked about all the little details in this mans journey, and I could see all of them clearly. As if I was the drunken man soul searching in a lonely city. Maybe it is because I had felt like that man before, or maybe it was because I felt like that man right now. Kris and Loren finished their poem, and the room erupted with applause.
The next day I went into work early to finish some homework. I walked into the coffee shop, Mandy and Mae were sitting in the corner table. They motioned for me to come over.
"What's up Lady?" Mandy said, she seemed to be friendlier than usual.
"Just gotta finish up some homework before my shift." I said pulling out my laptop.
"Which class?" Mae asked eyeing my books.
"Humanities. I need to write a paper explaining the importance of the Scarlet letter. You know from the book?" I pointed to the book.
"Oh that's right your in that advanced school right?" Mae said flipping through the pages.
"Yea she is." Mandy teased.
I rolled my eyes and sat down. "Yea whatever, it's worth it. Free art supplies!"
"Hey Charley! You want a drink?" Haley, my coworker yelled from the coffee bar.
"Yea, make me a mocha!" I yelled back.
"I gotcha!" She said turning to the espresso machine.
"I got a dirty chai with 2 extra shots." Mandy said shaking her almost empty cup.
"That is three shots total!" I said, noticing that Mandy's hand was also shaking. No wonder she seemed happy. She was running on caffeine!
"What she is not telling you is: that is her third one!" Mae said.
"WHAT?!" I stood up. "Mandy that can kill you! That is nine shots of espresso!"
"Calm down Charley," Mandy said sitting me back down. "The first two did not have extra shots so that is only 5 total." She was shaking a lot.
This wasn't new for Mandy, or really for any of us. Between me working in a coffee shop, and a shop down the road that sold our favorite energy drink dirt cheap, there wasn't a day where we were not consuming way more caffeine than our bodies could handle.
"I'm cutting you off though." I said accusingly and only half joking.
"Yea whatever bitch." Mandy said.
My phone rang.
"Who is it?" asked Mandy.
"Jason..." I said sort of disappointed. I had not responded to his texts or calls. I didn't have it in me. I wasn't mad anymore but I just didn't know what to say.
"Don't answer it." Mandy said with a scoff.
I rolled my eyes at her. "I haven't spoken to him since he dropped me off. I should probably answer this one."
I hit the accept call button, and put the phone up to my year. "Hey Jason."
"Hey babycakes. How you doin'" a raspy voice said.
"Oh.. hey Trent." I said sort of confused. "What's up? Why are you calling me from Jason's phone?"
Mandy raised an eyebrow.
"Weeellllll..... that is because this little bitch has something to tell you." His tone a little less silly this time.
"What?" I said getting nervous. "Is he ok?"
"He won't be unless he grows a pair and decides to tell you what happened at the Dawning last night." I could hear Trent trying to hand the phone to Jason.
"Trent? Jason?" I tried to hear what was going on, but I only could make out a few random words, some name calling, and rustling.
"Ok. Since this little bitch won't tell you, I will." Trent said.
"No!" I heard Jason in the background. "Give me my fucking phone Trent!"
"Nope, you had your chance." Trent said losing his breath. "Ok listen Charley. Since Jason will never tell you, and even if he did he'd just make some stupid ass pussy excuses here it is." He paused to take a breath. "Jason slept with some skank in the parking lot last night, I just thought you should know! Alright, love ya bye!" I heard the phone either drop, or be thrown, or something.
I sat there stunned. Confused. Hurt. But more confused. Was this a joke? Should I be mad? Did we ever say we were going to be monogamous? I guess we did. I mean after the stuff happened with Mandy. But, maybe not? Is he sorry? Is this a joke? Tears started to pool in my eyes.
Someone picked up the phone.
"Charley?" it was Jason.
"I'm here." I said quietly. It was quiet for a moment, then I asked "Is it true?"
More silence.
"Yea." Jason said.
"So... now what?" I asked Jason.
"What do you mean?" Jason asked.
"I mean. I don't know. I'll call you back." And I hung up.
I told Mae and Mandy the whole thing. Mandy just sat shaking her head.
"I mean, should I be mad? I am mad? But you know. When we first started dating we were not exclusive. I don't know if that ever changed? Maybe it only changed in my head and not his? I don't know! I'm kind of sick to my stomach. What if I can't forgive him, even if he didn't really do anything wrong?"
Mandy grabbed my shoulders. "Nothing wrong? Even if you did not clearly state that you were exclusive, you still talk about these things with your partners. Come on Charley. You know he fucked up. He's a fucking loser. Why can't you fucking see that?" Then she stood up and left. Mae sat in the seat next to me and put her arm around me.
"I'm sorry Charley." She said, and I put my head down on the table.
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