Dennis
sits in his car and rehearses what he’s going to say. He turns
the radio down. It’s too quiet. He turns it back up.
How
many times has he done this? He can’t even remember. Why is it
always so hard? Practice make perfect. He sees her coming in his rearview
mirror, but pretends not to. He tells himself he’s not an asshole.
She
knocks on the passenger window. He leans over and unlocks the door,
and starts to puts smile on. Fuck it--he’s allowed to look how
he feels.
She
gets in.
“I
can’t believe you came all the way here for my break. You didn’t
even work today.”
Why
does she have to be smiling? Her damn smiling doesn’t make this
easier. He tells himself he’s not a asshole.
“It’s
nothing, I’m picking Kris up anyway and we’re heading over
to Luke’s.”
“Boy’s
night out?”
“Right.”
She
takes her sandwich out of the paper bag and starts eating it.
“So
what did you want to talk about?”
He
doesn’t say anything. She looks at him. He looks away.
She
waves her hand in front of his face, “Dennis? Hello?”
He
runs his fingers through his hair and looks at his hand. He looks out
into the parking lot, he watches an old lady struggle to remember where
she parked. He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He turns
the radio down. He turns the radio back up.
“I’ve
been trying to think of how to phrase this all day. I had a great little
speech all thought out, but now it escapes me.”
He
takes a deep breath. This is the hard part.
“I
don’t think...”
He
looks at her. She looks away.
He
tells himself he’s not an asshole. He’s not convinced.
