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“Dad, you know me,” I assured him. “I don’t like people enough to get myself into too much trouble.”
He walked into my bedroom to hoist up my suitcase and motioned for me to go ahead downstairs so that he could follow.
“Christ on a cracker, Logan.” He grunted as he picked up my luggage. “I had no idea clothes could weigh so much.”
“Well, that’s my clothes, my books, my camera gear, and my laptop, so don’t drop it,” I said as I galloped down the stairs, skipping every other step. I watched my old man from the bottom of the steps as he lifted my suitcase by the handle with two hands and made his way down the stairs much more carefully than I had. Years as a firefighter hadn’t exactly been kind to his back.
It was a bittersweet feeling as I watched him load the suitcase into the trunk of my Volkswagen hatchback. In the grand scheme of things, a month was not that much time. During the semester, I was usually gone for three to four months at a time, but summers were usually reserved for my dad and my hometown. It was a tough notion, becoming aware that I was nearly grown out of that phase of my life.
“Thanks for the help, Dad,” I said as I tossed my canvas purse into the passenger seat.
He walked with me over to the driver’s side and held the door open for me as he always did. I slid into my seat, removed my cell phone from my back pocket, and dropped it into the cupholder.
“I think I’m just about set,” I said as I flipped down my visor and caught my sunglasses.
“You sure Blair doesn’t want to come along with you?” he asked with raised eyebrows as he rested his arms against the frame of my open driver's side door. “Might be kinda nice to have a friend out there…”
I could tell he was pushing for a reason, and that reason was pure worry. He just didn’t want to come out and say it.
“Blaircan’tcome, Dad. I already told you that.” I flopped my head toward him and gave the old man my most reassuring smile and sigh. “The guy who hired me just wants someone clean, quiet, and responsible to hole up there for a month. He mentioned not wanting to pay two people for the time, and something about how ‘more people means more mess.’”
“Well shit, I can understand that,” he argued, twiddling his toothpick nervously between his calloused fingers. “But Blair’s parents keep her funded plenty, and both of you girls are pretty tidy, I just think—”
“Dad,” I interrupted after glancing at the clock on my phone, “I’m gonna be fine.” I patted my purse on the seat next to me. “Really.”
I watched as his expression softened. It had been his idea in the first place that I should learn how to shoot a gun, and it had also been his idea that I should pursue my permit to carry a weapon. At first I hadn’t been into the idea, but it was nice to have something of a hobby to share with my dad, and feeling confident in my ability to defend myself was part of the reason I felt okay taking this job.
He then stopped leaning over my open car door and slapped the Volkswagen’s roof affectionately.
“Alright, alright, you don’t have to tell me when I’m being annoying,” my dad said with his trademark dry chuckle. “Make sure you drive safely heading out there, and shoot me a text when you get in, so I know you got there in one piece.”
He then shut the car door for me, shoved his hands into the pockets of his Levis, and backed up a few steps so I could pull out of the driveway.
“Love you!” I hollered at him after I rolled down the window.
He pulled a hand out of one of his pockets and waved. “Love you too, kid!”
As a final measure, I turned up my radio and pulled out of the driveway with extra care, knowing my dad would stand exactly where he was until he couldn’t see me anymore.
Blair’s apartment was only a few minutes away, but I wasn’t convinced she would even be awake yet. I admired her ability to sleep for twelve or more hours a day, but I wanted her to be on her way to awake and functioning when I got there, so I made a pit-stop on the way for iced coffees.
The times when my dad was right about something, he was absolutely right in every way, and when he’d said that Blair’s parents kept her funded, he’d been right on the money. Blair had been my best friend since middle school, when she moved to Pittsburgh with her freshly single mother and her younger brother. Never once did I see her want for anything: clothes, gadgets, boys, anything at all, except maybe a mother who wasn’t too busy making sales to see her in the school play. We had always balanced each other out, and always joked that if we combined our two families, we would have one very well-off family, both emotionally and financially. The apartment where she was spending her summer had been procured as a sublet for her on behalf of her mother, and it had sort of acted as a home-base of sorts for us until we made it back to school together in the fall.
I pulled into her building’s parking lot, then snagged our coffees in their drink carrier and my purse off the passenger seat. When I got to the door, I let myself in with the extra key she’d given me and stomped up the stairs, hoping she would hear me coming and, at the very least, be sure to get some clothes on before I opened the door.
When I approached her apartment door, I knocked heavily despite having a key. I wanted to give her every chance to get herself decent before I let myself in.
“Blair, get your ass up. I need to grab my stuff before I leave!”
Not a sound could be heard from the other side.
“I brought you an iced coffee…”I said in a teasing sing-song voice.
Within a moment, the door swung open to my friend standing there like the walking dead in an oversized shirt and smeared makeup.
“I gave you a key for a reason,” she groaned as she swiped her drink from my hand.
“Well, sorry for not wanting to stumble on my best friend sleeping topless on the couch again.” I laughed as Blair shuffled about her apartment, trying to wake up. Her apartment was just a small studio, so her bedroom and bathroom were practically right on top of each other, with only a curtain separating them.
