"I
think there are films people can enjoy while still acknowledging that they are
sheer and utter crap. In fact, crapfests are rather popular with the bloggers,
vloggers, and social media addicts.”
When
Terrence wrinkled his nose, Mason knew he was about to launch into a tirade.
Fortunately, the waitress chose that moment to bring their food, saving him from
what he was sure was going to be an enlightening conversation. Not.
“Thank
you,” Mason remarked, giving her a smile.
She
returned his smile and refilled his water glass while she was at it. “If you
need anything else please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“We
won’t,” Mason replied, wishing he could invite her to sit down and join them. A
buffer was desperately needed if he was going to make it through an evening
that had sounded like a good idea before Derrick had shown up back in town.
“Um,
miss?” Terrence remarked as soon as she turned to go.
“Yes,
sir?”
“There
are pickles on this burger,” Terrence remarked holding the burger open so she
could see the three small, sliced pickle rounds perched on melted cheese.
“Yes
sir, they come standard on all of our burgers, it’s right there on the menu:
lettuce, tomato, pickle, and special sauce.”
“I
don’t eat pickles.”
“Would
you like me to remove them for you, sir?”
“No,
I’d like you to get me another burger,” Terrence snapped, and Mason could feel
himself bristling with annoyance. If he’d paid attention to the damn menu while
he’d been ordering instead of rambling on about obscure films, then maybe it
would be to his liking. “Removing the pickles doesn’t change the fact that the
juice has seeped into the bun and meat, which is an absolutely revolting
thought. Please take it away.”
“I’m
sorry, sir,” she replied, plucking the offending plate from in front of
Terrence and retreating back toward the kitchen.
“Seriously?”
Mason remarked as soon as she’d left. “Was that really necessary? It wasn’t her
fault you couldn’t be bothered to read a menu.”
“She
gets paid to make sure the customer gets what they want; that’s her job so let
her do it.”
Mason
pinched the bright of his nose. “You could have at least shown some tact and
not spoken to her like she was beneath you.”
“All
I asked her to do was make sure my burger was the way I like it,” Terrence
remarked. “I shouldn’t have to eat disgusting food because you don’t think I
should tell a waitress that I need my burger made without pickles on it.”
“It’s not the fact that you told her, it’s the way you told her,” Mason remarked, fries tasting like ash in his mouth when he took the first bite. It had nothing to do with the cooking and everything to do with his dining companion. This entire evening had been an epic mistake. He was just about to suggest to Terrence that they cut things short when someone leaned against their booth. Mason looked up to see Derrick watching him, an unreadable look in his eyes.
“Hey
Mace.”
“Hey
Derrick, I got your message. I was going to call you back when I got home.”
“No
big deal, I just wanted to know if you wanted to grab something for dinner, but
it looks like you already have.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m
Terrence Mickleby, and you are?”
Mason
could have snickered when Derrick barely spared Terrence a glance and
completely ignored his outstretched hand.
“Derrick
Talbot,” Derrick remarked, eyes still boring a hole through Mason. “Did you say
Mickleby?”
Mason
rolled his eyes at the way Terrence sat up a little straighter and even
adjusted his tie, despite the fact that Derrick wasn’t even looking at him.
Seriously, who the hell wore a tie to burgers and a movie?
“Why
yes,” Terrence replied. All the sarcasm of the earlier conversation had melted
from his voice, replaced with a tone of arrogant boastfulness. “Of Grant,
Mickleby, and Associates. I take it you’ve heard of us.”
Chuckling,
Derrick shook his head, his gaze still lingering on Mason. “Nope. Was just
wondering if you were any relation to the Walter Mickleby who played defensive
tackle for Ravenwood about thirteen years ago.”
“He’s
my brother, why?”
“He
had that same pompous attitude I just heard you give that waitress, right up
until the moment I blew past him on the field and ended his team’s chance at
State Championship.”
While
Terrence sputtered, seemingly at a loss for words for the first time that
night, Derrick cocked his head, studying Mason intently.
“I
guess good manners isn’t high up on the qualifications to be in your friend
circle anymore.”
“I’ll
have you know I’m not here as his friend. I’m here as his date, thank you very
much. And right now, you’re interrupting our evening.”
Derrick’s
eyes narrowed and the glint in them told Mason he was a cunt hair away from
doing something both of them might regret.
“I’m
going,” Derrick told him, locking eyes with Mason and giving him a smirk that
Mace knew all too well. “I just wanna know one thing first.”
Danger, danger, warning, Mason gave a sharp shake of his
head, though which one of them he was trying to signal, even he didn’t know. He
should have canceled this evening the moment he’d told Derrick he was open to
them fucking around, but it was rude to cancel on someone you’d made a
commitment to.
“What’s
that?” Terrence shot back. Of course, he did, he was playing right into
Derrick’s hand and too full of himself to see it.
“Did
talking to her like that make you feel like a big man?” Derrick asked. “I’m
guessing it did. Makes me wonder what kind of shortcomings you’re trying to
overcome.”
Terrence’s
eyes practically bugged out of his head even as Derrick’s grin got wider.
“You’d
better not expect too much from this one, Mace,” Derrick remarked, giving Mason
a wink. “Something tells me you’ll have more fun with your left hand then you
will with him.”
Before
he or Terrence could respond, Derrick headed for the door, the jangle-clang of
the bells sounding especially loud in Mason’s ears, especially when it was
accompanied by clapping from the three ladies in the booth directly behind them
who’d no doubt heard every word. Terrence turned around, and whatever look he
gave them prompted one of the women to flip him off. The fury in his eyes was
impossible to miss when he turned around again.
“I
suppose you find all of this funny?” Terrence snapped, pride clearly ruffled.
“No,
I find it sad that you can’t see how reprehensible your actions were,” Mason
remarked.
Terrence
came half out of his seat at that comment, hands braced on the table as he
glared across the surface at him. “My
actions? What right do you have to comment on anyone’s behavior with the way
you sat there and let your friend insult me like that?”
“If
Derrick had wanted to insult you, he would have. All he tried to do was draw
your attention to the fact that you were behaving like an entitled jerk but
apparently you’re too self-centered to acknowledge anyone’s feelings but your
own,” Mason remarked. “This evening was a mistake.”
“You
can say that again,” Terrence replied as he slid out from the seat. “You can
tell that waitress to trash the burger, I won’t be needing it.”
“Works
for me, now I don’t have to figure out what to have for lunch,” Mason shot
back. “And by the way thanks for showing your true colors. I’d have felt really
bad going through with the rest of this evening knowing that the person I
really wanted to be out with just walked out that door.”
“Oh,
so now the truth comes out. Tell me something Mason, why did you bother to ask
me out if you were already involved with someone you clearly have much more in
common with?”
“One,
because Derrick hadn’t come back home yet, and two, because I thought I’d met
someone I might enjoy spending time with,” Mason shot back. “Clearly I was
wrong. You might want to do the next guy who asks you out a favor and warn him
not to bother unless he likes spending his evenings listening to someone talk
outta their ass about topics they clearly don’t have a clue about.”
Terrence
huffed and fixed his tie one last time, before stalking out the diner to the
cheers and applause of the three women he’d flipped off.
“Now
that’s telling him,” the redhead, Mrs. O’Grady, remarked. “You are too nice of
a young man to be bothering with someone like that. Imagine, talking to Susie
that way. Those Mickleby’s have always looked down on other folks like their
something special when the truth is, all that Mickleby money started with a
moonshine still, some ginseng root, and a train robbery, if the rumors are to
be believed.”
Susie
picked that moment to return, Terrence’s pickle free burger and fresh fries in
hand.
“Did
your friend leave?” she asked, glancing from Mason to the empty seat.
“He
left,” Mason replied. “But I wouldn’t call him my friend. In fact, nothing
would make me happier than to never lay eyes on him again. I’m sorry about the
way he talked to you, it was uncalled for, especially when he was the one who
made the mistake. It says pickles on the menu as clear as day, which he would
have known, if he hadn’t been trying so hard to impress me with pretentious
bullshit. Would you mind boxing up that burger and fries for me?”
“Not
at all,” she remarked. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”
“Just the check,” Mason replied. “And another box, please. I’m afraid I don’t have much of an appetite left after dealing with him.”
Tripping Over the Edge of Night can be found here on Amazon!
Tripping Over the Edge of Night can be purchased here direct from my Payhip Store!
When Derrick received the phone call informing him of his mother’s death, it felt like the bottom had dropped out of his entire world. Gone was every hope and ideal he’d left home with, replaced with the bitter realization that he’d run out of time, run out of plans, and was desperately close to running out of give-a-damn.
It doesn’t help to come face to face with his older brother, Ray, who’d spent much of his childhood either ignoring him, ditching him, or complaining about his very existence. It’s enough to send him right back on the road again, or at least, it would have been, were it not for a house, a cat named Slash, and Mason, his best friend-with-benefits, now the head librarian in town and hot as sin.
It was hard enough leaving Mace in the first place, but a second time, well, he didn’t think he had it in him to be so heartless. Twelve years ago, he’d slipped away under the cover of darkness, without even a single goodbye. Now, standing on the edge of night, looking down at the tiny town he’d fled, Derrick is left with one burning question:
Can the door to the past ever be closed enough to allow space for the future?
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