I stared up at the ceiling for a long time, not really taking it in, and the next thing I knew, I was down in the hotel lobby, the only ones here as I let Kingmaker in through the doors with a shopping cart and two big trash bags in it, like he was the homeless one around here and not me. Minus the suit protector draped over them. That one wasn’t giving hobo.
“Just crashing in a hotel for now, huh?” he said, and I folded my arms.
“Dude, how the hell did you get this?”
“I got contacts. Some guy came around the night you got kicked out and hauled all this stuff to a dumpster a couple blocks away.”
“You got contacts. Trash contacts?”
“Pays to have people in all kinds of places.”
Carefully, I lifted the suit protector out of the cart, turning it slowly, looking at it from every angle. The suit protector was disgusting, stained and rank-smelling, but fittingly enough, it had protected the suit. It was still crisp inside, and I gripped the hanger tighter.
“Well… tell your eyes and ears in the trash world that I said thanks,” I said quietly. He shrugged, hands in his pockets. He was still wearing the stupid fucking tracksuit and durag. Did he sleep in them?
“Yeah, will do. Hope your shit goes all right.”
“Of course it’s not. Made it back to square one in the end. Shouldn’t have even fucking tried. And now I won’t. I’m out of this stupid fucking city.”
He hunched his shoulders. “So you’re turning and running after all?”
“Dude, seriously, shut the fuck up. Just because you brought me my suit back doesn’t mean I’m not pissed off at you for all of this shit to begin with.”
“Nah, yeah, no, it’s.” He dropped his arms by his sides, and gone was Kingmaker in an instant, the whole act disappeared, and suddenly he was just a guy. Some divine entity finally heard my prayers, and hallelujah, he reached up and took off the stupid fucking durag, rustling the hair on the top of his head. “I wanted to say sorry,” he said, his hammy accent gone now. “Truth is, I don’t know what I’m doing. And I guess I got upset seeing you getting all these things going right for you, and just… I dunno.”
“What kind of life coach gets jealous of his student’s success?” I shook my head. “Also,all these things going rightis a hell of a stretch. I barely managed to hustle enough to cover my rent and debt payments. I was mostly just doing a shitload of unpaid labor. You’re just jealous Helena Warrick and I got to have sex, and honestly…” I cleared my throat. “You know, yeah, fair, I’d be jealous too. Actually, might be the first time in my life I really feel you on something.”
“You know, truth is, I’m actually just starting out on the life coaching thing,” he said. “I didn’t want to have to admit this, but, uh… actually, you’re… you’re my only client.”
“Dude, I fucking know.”
“What?” He looked horrified.
“I knew you were flying by the seat of your ugly gold sweatpants the whole time. I didn’t know what I was doing either. Guess I figured we were figuring it out together.”
“But I was—I had the whole act going.”
“Yeah, maybe work harder on it.”
“Shit, man.” He sighed. “Always wanted to be the Kingmaker. Guess if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.”
“Look, for one thing, you gotta lose the durag, it’s weird when a white guy wears one. Second, just… I don’t know, dude.You’ve got a genuinely crazy network of people. I think you’d be good at this kind of thing, just quit trying to be something you’re not.”
He slumped against the wall. “Now I got you coaching me.”
“I dunno, man.” I shrugged, hands in my pockets. “Guess… guess I’ve learned a lot from this. Stupid fucking mess that this was, I guess I gotta admit I’ve grown from it. But you probably have, too. Maybe one day you’ll be a kingmaker yet.”
“Sucks to see you go. I really do want to see you be a king.”
“I’m gonna level with you, I think you gotta drop this weird obsession withbeing a king,too.”
He just shrugged. I sighed, looking at the stupid fucking shopping cart parked in a hotel lobby with a luxury tailored suit in it. What the hell was my life?
“You know,” I said quietly, “in a weird way, it almost kinda worked. I sure had a hell of an experience. And I got to spend some time with Helena, so… thanks. Seriously.”
“You two break up?”
“Yeah. I mean, we weren’t dating, but we definitely stopped whatever we were doing. She was pissed off I’d lied to her, because obviously, but she was still… still pitched in to help out with my situation. Still cared about me even then.” I shook my head. “I’m really gonna fucking miss her.”
