Starting again (Six)

Starting again

He remembered getting home and laying down in the dark but he could not be sure he slept, well had anything bordering meaningful sleep, his eyes closing and then opening again in what felt like a few seconds.

The increasing levels of light and noise beyond his bedroom window were the only indicator of any time actually passing, his mind racing over and over about the encounter with the young homeless woman and the big Russian and the unknown factor of the last man.

He played the event over and over in his mind before he finally gave up on trying to fall asleep and sat up on the bed and worked out some strange conclusion to go back to where he had met Missy and see if she wanted to come to breakfast with him, a way of making up for earlier?

A quick shower later and a change of clothes, he was out of the door after this time checking he had picked up his wallet and was walking quickly from the building and back to where he had been earlier that night.

The sun was barely ready to rise when he reached the alleyway again, he could not see her at first and he thought that perhaps she had moved on, this was after all the thing transients tended to do.

Just to satisfy his curiosity he stepped into the alleyway and just beside one of the oversized dumpsters that sat there, he saw her laying on the ground on top of some cardboard with a blanket wrapped loosely around her body.

He stopped for a moment and looked over her sleeping form, he had slept in some strange places, but fortunately had never been so far down on his luck he had to sleep rough like this.

He felt a sense of guilt wash over him for a moment before he pushed it back down and took another single step towards where she was laying.

The question of whether he should call to her or perhaps nudge her a little to try and wake her was answered before he could do either as he watched her roll over onto her side and look up at him through sleep-filled eyes.

He was not sure how she was going to take this, was she going to freak out at waking up with some stranger standing over, but if she did feel any fear she did not let it show as she rolled over and sat up and looked up at him.

"Good morning?"

She asked quizzically not seeming entirely sure of what his motivation was and so she seemed to be trying to keep things on a friendly basis for now.

"Good morning"

He offered in response and watched as she lifted her arms and let out a long moaning sound as she stretched her body in an attempt to work out any kinks or issues she might have picked up sleeping on the ground last night.

He continued to watch her as she did not say anything in response and just fumbled with the jacket she wore and pulled out a crumpled packet of cigarettes from the inside pocket and quickly discarded them by throwing them into the alley after she realised that they were empty.

"Social call?"

She asked looking back at him as she slowly stood up and seemed a little unsteady on her feet as she did, he wanted to step closer in case she fell, but did not think it would be a good idea if he did and it spooked her.

"Social call? no, no. I came to see if you wanted to join me for breakfast?"

He said after taking a moment to understand her comment and speaking quickly to try and fill in the blanks.

"Breakfast does sound good, I take it you remembered your wallet this time?"

She asked in a serious tone, but the smirk she tried and failed to hide told him that she was being playful and not adversarial

"I certainly did, so no problem there"

He offered as he pulled his black wallet out from the front pocket of his jeans and showed it to her, this made her laugh before she reached down to pick up the blanket that had been wrapped around her and moved to hide it behind one of the dumpsters.

"I can't say I am an expert on the local cuisine"

She offered and flashed him a smile as she made her way towards the edge of the alleyway and turned her head to look back at him.

"I am sure there is a McDonalds a few blocks from and I will pass the dress code if we sit outside"

She said and began brushing her hands over her clothes to try and shake off any of the dirt that she might have collected from the concrete she had called her bed last night.

"McDonald's sounds great"

He added, but he sort of knew he was not being given a choice in the matter, but this was his way of making good with her and starting again.

The pair of them quietly through the early morning streets and arrived at the Mcdonald's once he had found out what she wanted, he left her sitting at the wooden table and bench and made his way inside before returning a short time later with the food on a plastic tray which he placed on the table between them before he slid onto the bench opposite her.

They sat in silence as they ate and she did not seem to be as ravenous as she had been the night before, either that or power bars were a far greater delicacy than an Egg McMuffin he thought,

He watched her wipe the grease from her lips and chin and then take a big swig from her soda and then finally looked across the table at him.

"So, go ahead, I know you want to address the elephant in the room"

She said and picked up her hash brown and bit it in half and began to chew as he looked back at her and wondered which Elephant she was talking about.

"Elephant in the room?"

He finally asked and she once again wiped the grease from her lips and let the napkin drop down onto the table in front of her.

"Yeah, I am sure you are dying to know what all that fuss last night was about?"

She said as she raised her eyebrows to give him a questioning look and he suddenly realised that he would not mind a few answers after he did almost end up getting into a fight with the one called Vasilly.

"Sure, please tell me"

He simply offered in response as he watched her lean on the table with her elbows and close the gap between them like she was about to share some the secrets of some great conspiracy.

"Well, you see, Mike, that was the shouty one"

She said and went to reach for her soda once more but stopped herself and continued her story as he listened intently to each word

"Well, Mike knows I am a chemist, well I studied chemistry and have sadly seen one too many episodes of breaking bad"

He understood some of what she was saying but had to speak to try and work out the parts he did not understand.

"Breaking bad?"

He asked having no clue what that even meant beyond something he could have heard somewhere before but did not recall now.
"You do not know what Breaking bad is?"

She asked with a genuine shock in her voice and she looked at him as if he has suddenly grown a second head or something equally strange, his response a simple shake of his head to acknowledge he had not.

"Did you just wake up from a coma?"

She asked and still seemed genuinely surprised before she shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts and try to get this conversation back on some sort of forward footing.

"It's a tv show, but anyway, Mike, thinks I can cook drugs for him"

She said and reached for her food once more as if the conversation was as trivial as talking about the weather or last night's baseball game.

"Can you?"

He asked a little shocked by the surreal nature of the conversation as he watched her start to chew on a big piece of the breakfast he had ordered for her, he looked o as she tried to speak through her full mouth and he could make out little of what she was saying?

He waved his hand to gesture for her to finish chewing first and she duly did, the breakfast was now gone before she spoke to him once more.

"I could, it is not difficult, Just basic science"

She offered and seemed to pause after the word science and grinned at some unknown thought that she was now suppressing.

"Are you going to?"

He asked seriously as his mind raced with all the possible ramifications of such an endeavour and how it could possibly end.