Page 14 of The Runaway

“I didn’t make the train in time, either. I had to take the bus to make up time.” This morning was just crap—crap, crap, crap.Hurrying down the sidewalk, I stuffed my hands and phone back in my pockets and ducked my head. I flew high after spending that time with Joci, despite my mom and aunt showing up. I was so damned confident that we’d run into each other again. Her boss hadn’t scared me away, and my mom hadn’t scared her away. “I spent way too long daydreaming today.”

All weekend, I was a mess, and I adjusted my messenger bag strap against my shoulder with a slight scowl. Maybe, I was getting ahead of myself, here. There were still plenty of reasons my budding relationship with Joci could go south real quick. But, for some reason, I just couldn’t think of any specifics. I felt like I was back in high school crushing on the transfer student, andman!What a rush!

It’s also entirely possible that the uncertainty of when I’d see Joci was exciting, too. Clearly, she wasn’t going to call me until she got an American phone, but the anticipation of it was jolting. Every time I blinked, I hoped I’d catch a glimpse of her. Everywhere I went, I craned my neck to scan the crowd for those familiar, mahogany waves.

I wasnotcreeping, though.

My phone buzzed from a call against my palm, and I paused my rushing to fish the device out of my pocket again. Pursing my lips thinly, I frowned as Caleb’s name flashed on the screen before swiping the green button across the screen.

“What, Caleb? I’m gonna be late for work, so make it fast.” I hadn’t seen hide or hair of my cousin since he ran away— he came home after I fell asleep and left before I woke up. Admittedly, he was quieter, but taking stepsnow, after things went to shit, was actively making things worse for him. Starting down the sidewalk, I had about two blocks to go before I got to my building, and I glanced up at the heavy, dark clouds overhead.

“Jacob, hey. I’m just calling to let you know that I’m pulling a double today. I’m leaving right now to talk to the managers about training for be a waiter, but my 12-hour doesn’t start until 11am.”So, he finally figured it out.To say I was relieved was wrong; Caleb worked a busser job that shared tips, and hebarelypulled upper-limit part time. Sure, he worked 4 hours three days a week, and 6 hours on the weekends, but it wasn’t a mystery why couldn’t afford independence.

“Okay. You don’t have to explain your schedule to me, Caleb. You’re not going to be living with me anymore in two weeks, so when you work isn’t going to impact me.” I could practically feel Caleb’s disappointment crawling down my neck, and I reached to scratch my stubble. “I’ve already explained my reasons, and I’m not having this conversation again. Goodbye.”

Hanging up on Caleb, I shook my head slightly before picking up my pace. There wasnoconvincing me that he’d change at this point. He was just panicking, trying to save something that I wasn’t willing to put any effort into any longer. I did feel bad, but not for kicking him out— only that it’d gotten to this point.

Thanksgiving dinner was gonna be fun, though.

“I’m glad I’m not working that day.” My murmur twisted my lips as I passed through the white puff they created. Last year, I’d taken the holiday graveyard shift just because it paid double time and looked good on my employee file. Thanksgiving night was surprisingly busy with people calling wondering why they can’t hook their TV to their computer with AV cables from their 20-year-old Nintendo 64. I spoke to a lot of exasperated 13-year olds, too, trying to explain to Grandpa what an HDMI cable was.

This year, I was going to work the day after, which was inarguably worse. All those people that got drunk as Hell calling in trying to find out why their computers weren’t working because they were unplugged. Offices requesting technicians because someone ripped an ethernet cord out of its socket. Saying the same thing for every switchboard that malfunctioned because someone did something naughty in the server room.So… so fun.

Just thinking of the mess was giving me shivers of foreboding. Rounding a corner, I turned my mind to my last family dinner, but the sensations racing down my spine weren’t much different. Each scenario had its own ups and downs. I loved my family, and my family loved me. I saw everyone just long enough not to want to see them again until the next holiday season.

My brothers and sister were all professionals, working, responsible adults, and we rarely got together for any length of time.Which is fine, because I can only take so much of being told my net worth is less than everyone else’s.Emily was a lawyer— Roerich owned a successful plumbing business— Tyler married a rich girl and does a lot of volunteer work. And Carl… Carl didn’t even count because he was too busy getting high with his girlfriend to care about something as inconsequential as money.

“Jacob!” Torn from my thoughts, I turned as Mark came jogging up to me, and a polite smile automatically stretched my lips. “Did you hear what happened at work yesterday?”

“No, I didn’t take yesterday. What happened?” Mark struggled a little with his scarf as I posed my question. We started walking, his smoker’s wheeze ringing a little in my ears. “Did someone get fired?”

“Surprisingly— yeah. Kelly got fired.” My brows rose high at that, and Mark nodded eagerly as our building came into sight down the street. “She filed a complaint with HR last week about me, remember? Well, they found in their investigation thatshewas the one who sabotaged her own chair and tried to pin it on me. They canned her for creating a false report. They asked us both to come in yesterday, and she had a complete mental breakdown. It was glorious.”

“What? What’d she say?” I, like most office drones, was very guilty of gossiping— about customers, about coworkers, about my boss because she was a straight bitch… Unfortunately, Melissa wasn’t the one that got fired, but Kelly was problematic herself.

“She started getting aggressive about how the workplace was hostile towards her for being a woman, and she was going to file a discrimination suit against us for wrongful termination. I’m pretty sure no one told Kelly that they’ve got her on camera destabilizing her own workstation. The HR guy only said that she filed a false report, which is enough for termination in itself.” Nodding in acknowledgment, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. “Kelly demanded I be fired, too, since I pull pranks on people during work hours. I had to make some bullshit excuse about maintaining office morale, and that our work would suffer if we had a dreary atmosphere.”

“They bought that?” I was impressed that Mark managed to pull that off; he wasn’t exactly wrong, either. He never went too far, and his pranks were harmless. Sticky notes on monitors— salt instead of sugar in the break room— everyone always got a laugh from it. “What did the HR guy say?”

“That they’ve never gotten a complaint about my pranks, and when asked about it, that my coworkers all agreed it was nice to be the butt of a harmless joke every once and a while. What did you tell them, Jaocb?”

“No one ever asked me about you, honestly. Even if they did, it’s not like I’m gonna hold that time you put a whoopee cushion on my chair against you. Besides, you do your job, and that’s the important thing. If you didn’t, you’d just be an immature pain in the ass.” Stroking my cleanly trimmed beard as I spoke, I glanced over at Mark as he practically beamed, showing off his deep dimples. He wasn’t much younger than me, but he had a charm about him that let him get away with a lot. As far as his job went, he was average— if he didn’t rope people in the way he did, he’d have gotten let go a long time ago.

“So, what’d you do last weekend, Jacob? You seem… I don’t know— more chipper.” Rubbing the back of my neck at that, this entire weekend, starting Thursday night, flashed behind my lids when I blinked. It seemed like so much happened, when, really, not much had at all. I met a girl, kicked out my roommate, and then… nothing.

“I’ll tell you about it at lunch. It’s a bit of a story.”

15

Joci

Tapping my feet against the carpet, I stared at the ceiling as boredom threatened to shutter my lids. Ophelia’s meeting with Carlyle and Aleksander wasnotsomething I wanted to be a fly on the wall for. After that shit that American pulled on Friday, I was no fan of his. They’d been in a room in this hotel for hours, and I wanted to die from the stagnation.

Die.

“When Aleksander gets his foot in America, he’s sending Kiri to head the operations.” Blinking hard, it took me a moment to realize the voice wasn’t my own thoughts, and I lifted my head. Sascha frowned, glancing up from his phone as my brain flung back to that day so long ago. “That was something we never had an answer to. Why did she approach me in Moscow? It was because she already knew she was going to be working with Ophelia— who is pretty confident about this deal, by the way. What do you think?”

“You think not asking direct questions but expecting proper answers runs in the family? Because it does. Kiri Makovich is a prissy brat, no matter how meek and quiet she seems. I’d argue she’s worse than Lyov.” The reply was obviously one he was expecting, and Sascha nodded lightly. “You don’t think so, though? Her complaining to you wasn’t so out of character.”