Page 41 of Something Like Hail

He was about to suggest they go out todinner, and afterwards find somewhere to dance off the calories.Then he remembered who he was dealing with. “How about a nice nightat home? We could smoke up, watch something on Netflix, and havefood delivered.”

Harold grinned. “You’re speaking mylanguage! That’s exactly what I’m in the mood for. Why wait? We canstart now. Be right back.”

He guessed that meant getting stoned rightaway. Noah didn’t really need to get high. He was already buzzing,but he wanted to stay on the same wavelength. With the entireevening clear, who knew where it could lead. Tonight might be thenight!

The phone on the table rumbled. The onebelonging to Harold. He frowned at it, having a bad feeling. He waseven tempted to pick it up, read the message or whatever, and clearit if need be, not wanting anything to interfere with the eveningthey had planned.

“I should have drained thiswater before I left town,” Harold said, returning with his bong.“The water stinks! Just let me get it rinsed out and we canstart.”

Noah nodded, debating if he should mentionthe notification. Maybe it wasn’t even a message. It could be spam,or a retweet, or something else. Like an emergency. What ifHarold’s mom was in the hospital and she needed her son?

“Your phone vibrated,” Noahsaid before he could stop himself.

Harold looked over while standing at thesink. “Oh. Okay.” He didn’t stop his work. Only when the bong hadbeen washed out with dish soap and was rinsed did he set it on thecounter and return to the table. He picked up the phone, looked atit, and grunted. “The hell? I’m supposed to have today off!”

“What’s up?” Noah asked,already feeling disappointment.

“I’ve got a date tonight,”Harold said, rolling his eyes in exasperation. “Damn… I just gotback into town!”

“Do you have toaccept?”

“It would be lame to cancelwith such short notice. Sorry, man.”

In other words, the evening was ruined. Ormaybe not. They couldn’t hang out, but Noah could still earn somebrownie points. “I wouldn’t mind the money. What if I take yourplace?”

Harold looked up from the phone with ahopeful expression. “Really? I don’t want to ruin your night.”

“I’ve had enough time offlately. Seriously. I don’t mind.”

“Wow! Okay. Uh…” Haroldchewed his bottom lip. “I better ask Marcello.”

“You didn’t lasttime.”

“And I got toldoff.”

Noah’s mouth dropped open. “Really? Youdidn’t tell me that!”

“It’s fine. I just have torun stuff like this by him.” Harold’s thumbs moved as he texted.Then he let the phone hang limp as he waited for a reply. When itcame, he didn’t like what he saw because he sent another, glaringat the screen while anticipating the answer. Then he sighed as ifexasperated. “Sorry. Marcello wants me on this assignment. He saysit’s an important client. I don’t really see why, but whatever.Apparently the other guys are all booked up. I told him if we’rethat busy, he needs to give you work too.”

“Thanks,” Noah said. “Ididn’t mean to get you in trouble.”

“No big deal,” Harold said,sitting at the table again. “We can still hang out, but I can’t gethigh. Not before work.”

“That’s fine. Are youhungry, because—”

Now it was Noah’s phone that rumbled. Hedidn’t have to guess who it was. Marcello had texted his nextassignment… with Marcello. “Check this out,” Noah said, sliding thephone across the table.

Harold’s face lit up. “Cool! That’s a goodsign. I bet Marcello just wants to get a feel for you—no punintended—before he sends you out into the field again.”

“I’m going on a date withhim?”

“Yeah! Don’t worry, it’susually a lot of fun. Last time we flew to Vegas. He gave me aliteral bucket full of chips. You know, like the kind used in pokergames? We blew through them all in a casino. I lost every singleone, but Marcello didn’t blink an eye. He thought it was funny. Thenext day he tells me to watch him play instead. He started out witha hundred bucks’ worth and made the money back I lost. It took allnight, but he did it!”

“Cool,” Noah said, but hewasn’t able to fake his enthusiasm. He was too worried that thisdate wouldn’t be quite what it seemed. Somehow, he didn’t think acarefree trip to Las Vegas or anywhere else was in hisfuture.

Chapter Seven

Noah went shopping. His impending date withMarcello had him nervous, and he needed every scrap of confidencehe could muster, even if that meant paying for it. No way was hegoing to feel like a country yokel in farmer clothes while mentallysparring with the man. Instead he bought a cranberry dress shirtand brown pants from H&M. He knew the clothes would have beenmuch more expensive at other stores—and probably higher quality—butthe seventy-five-dollar total already made him blanch. He toldhimself that the outfit could be repurposed for job interviews, ifneed be. Next he bought shoes, choosing a pair that were stylishand yet practical for walking. His footwear always took a pounding,so he felt less guilty about this purchase, but it drained anotherninety bucks from his resources.