Page 12 of Bad Reputation
I throw my car into drive and pull out, tires squealing.
5
Jameson
Iclimb out of my Jeep at the diner that my brother Forest suggested. Shading my eyes against the midday sun, I wish that I hadn’t had that last drink the night before. I’m definitely hungover.
I adjust my Ray-Ban sunglasses and head into the diner. The place is a little greasy spoon that Forest loves, painted bright orange inside and out. We eat here from time to time, but the owner always remembers us.
“Jameson!” she howls when I step inside. She’s manning the grill, wearing her usual all-black outfit, and grinning ear to ear.
“Hey there Ms. Parker,” I say with a nod.
I’m not even concerned about the fact that she got my name a little bit wrong. The fact is, she remembers almost everybody that comes in here, and that’s pretty fucking impressive.
Ms. Parker points to the booth in the far corner, where Forest is already sitting. I give her a wave and head over there, sliding into there booth opposite my brother.
“Yo,” I greet him. “What’s up?”
Forest sips his coffee, then makes a contented sound. “Not much.”
The waitress comes over, and I order a coffee and their crawfish etouffee omelet. Forest orders french fries and scrambled eggs.
As I add some sugar to my black coffee, I study my brother. He has been to the barber recently, because his hair is cropped very close to his scalp. Always way more preppy than I’ve ever been, even today on his day off he has shaved.
“How are my investments doing, oh magical money maker?” I kid.
He considers that for a second. “Good. Actually, that’s part of what I want to talk to you about.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask. I sip my coffee. It’s thick and black, just the way I like it.
“Yeah. You know how the apartment you and Asher live in is a duplex?”
“Mmm, I think the other side is full of… I don’t know, the owner’s stuff.” The owner is an older man in his seventies, and he doesn’t come around much these days.
“Well, Asher put out a feeler, just to see if the owner would be interested in selling him the place.”
“Really?” I’m a little surprised that Asher didn’t tell me about it, being that I’m supposedly his roommate and best friend.
“Yep. He just heard back, and the landlord is more than happy to get it off his hands.”
“Huh.” I consider that.
“My point in telling you this is that I think you and Asher should go in on the house together. Then you can each live in one half, or rent it out, or whatever you want to do. The place is a steal, only like $200,000. Split two ways, that’s really really reasonable.”
“Huh,” I say again. I drum my fingertips on the laminate countertop. “Can I afford that?”
“Easily. And it will build equity for you too. I think it’s a really solid idea.”
“Cool,” I say with a shrug. “Yeah, why not?”
“Well, I just want to make sure that there’s nothing weird between you guys before I bring the idea up to him. I mean, it’s almost a no-brainer for you.”
I give him a slow nod, thinking about Emma. She would definitely qualify as ‘something weird” between me and Asher, but Asher doesn’t know about it. I broke it off because of Asher, because of how he would act if he ever found out.
I sigh. “Yeah, there is nothing weird between us.”
At least not anymore.