The assignment, p.3
The Assignment, page 3
After we returned Mr. Serrano to his room at the facility, I was on my way to clock out for the day when Troy stopped me in the hallway.
“Hey, Aspyn…”
I turned to face him. “Yeah?”
“Thank you for today—helping me look for him. The situation freaked me out. Having you there made it easier.”
“Yeah, well, he wouldn’t have left if we weren’t arguing in the first place.”
“It’s crazy how this whole thing happened, huh?”
“What are you referring to specifically?”
“You and me having to spend time together. What are the chances? Terrible luck on your part.”
“I’d have to agree.”
Troy snickered. “It’s a small world after all.”
It took me a few seconds. “It’s a Small World After All.” The Disney song. I rolled my eyes. “Stop with the Disney jokes.”
“Stop with Disney clothes, and I’ll stop with the Disney jokes.” He winked before walking away.
The fresh air that hit me as I went out to the parking lot helped clear my mind and mood a little, but the events of the day ran through my head the entire ride home. I couldn’t stop thinking about how easily Troy still got to me after all these years.
Since I was stopping at my parents’ on the way to my house, I thought I’d give my mom the flowers Mr. Serrano had bought.
I parked in front of my parents’ place and reached over to the passenger side for the Vera Bradley clutch where I kept my money and phone. I patted the seat. Where is it?
I couldn’t remember bringing it back into Horizons with me. My heart dropped.
I left it in Troy Serrano’s car.
Troy
On the way home from Nonno’s, I stopped at the home improvement store to pick up a shoe rack for the closet in my room. When I opened the back of my Range Rover to place the flat box on the seat, I noticed something: a wallet made of flowery fabric with a thin strap. It was on the side of the seat where Aspyn had been sitting. I picked it up.
Shit. I was just about to text her when I realized her phone was tucked into the front flap. Damn it.
I opened the wallet and looked inside for her license. Her photo featured the same resting bitch face she’d aimed at me most of today. The address listed wasn’t all that far from where I lived, and even if it were, I needed to get this back to her tonight. Returning to the driver’s seat, I popped the address into my GPS and took off down the road.
On the ride over, I thought about today. Aspyn had seemed to soften a little by the end, but overall she’d been really on edge around me. Was I that much of an asshole in high school? Deep down, I knew the answer was yes.
I always remembered her as an odd duck. Back in the day, she’d tag along with Jasmine and me but not really say much. I liked her enough—until she went batshit crazy. She’d given me every reason to dislike her after that. I thought I’d long moved on from anything that happened back then, but it was clear she hadn’t. I respected her for sticking up for her friend, even if she’d fucked me over to do it. But at the time, I’d taken her actions as a personal attack.
I have to say, Aspyn was definitely cuter than I remembered. She’d really grown into herself over the past decade. Her long, sand-colored hair was beautiful—straight and voluminous, practically down to her butt. Her ass looked pretty nice in those Goofy pants, too. They fit like a glove. She was tall, curvy, and jiggled in all the right places. Scrubs don’t lie. No, I definitely wouldn’t throw Aspyn Dumont out of the bedroom, although she’d probably cut my dick off in the middle of the night.
When I pulled up to the house, I double-checked to make sure the number on the mailbox matched the one in my GPS. I grabbed the wallet from my passenger side and headed toward the door.
After knocking, I waited.
About thirty seconds went by before I knocked again.
There was no answer, but through the window, I could see the television was on. There seemed to be a kid’s show playing. I knew she liked Disney, but damn.
I rapped on the door a third time and called out, “Hey! Aspyn, are you home?”
“Go away!” A child’s voice came from behind the door. It sounded like a little girl.
“Uh...” I blinked. “Who am I talking to?”
“Are you crazy?” she said. “I’m not telling you my name!”
“Why?”
“Stranger danger!”
“I promise I’m not a dangerous person. My name is Troy. I just need to get Aspyn her wallet and phone. She left them in my car today.” After she didn’t respond, I said, “How about this…if you open the door a crack, I can just stick it through. You won’t even have to see me.”
“Open the door just enough so you can shoot? How do I know you don’t have a gun?”
“Technically, I could shoot through the door if I had a gun. But I don’t have a gun, and I promise you I’m totally legit.”
I could hear muffled talking and then the door suddenly opened. Aspyn stood there with her hair dripping wet, looking like she’d just gotten out of the shower. She seemed out of breath.
Before I could even utter a word, I looked down to find the pint-sized girl with a gigantic water gun aimed at me. I held up my hands, but not before she began to shoot. A deluge of water came at me. Because of her height, the line of fire was aimed straight at my dick.
Shit!
Bursts of water continued to pummel me.
“Kiki, stop!” Aspyn finally shouted.
It took her long enough.
“What the hell?” I said, looking down at my drenched pants.
The girl’s chest heaved as she withdrew her weapon. “You shouldn’t have opened the door!” she told Aspyn.
“He’s not a stranger. I know him.” Aspyn turned to me, a hint of amusement on her face. “I’m really sorry.”
My brow lifted. “Are you?”
“Kiki, go to your room, and please put that away,” she ordered.
The little girl shot daggers at me before she marched off.
I held out the purse, which somehow managed to stay mostly dry. “You left your wallet thingy and phone in my car.”
Her eyes fell momentarily to the gigantic water spot on my crotch before she looked back up at me. “I know. I tried to get in touch with your grandfather for your number, but they said he was asleep. And for some reason the office staff couldn’t locate your contact information. Nancy was gone for the day, and they couldn’t reach her. I was going to look you up on Facebook to try to message you as soon as I got out of the shower. You just beat me to it. Thank you for bringing it by. Sorry about the attack just now.”
“I’m surprised you told her to stop shooting.”
“Yeah, well, you were nice enough to drive here with my purse, so…”
I looked beyond her shoulders. “Is she…your daughter?”
Aspyn hesitated. “My niece.”
“Ah. You don’t have kids then…”
“No.”
“Babysitting?”
She looked down at her feet. “Not exactly.”
“She lives with you?”
Aspyn looked up at me. “My sister…died. So, my niece divides her time between my place and my parents’ house.”
Shit. I swallowed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“You don’t have to feel sorry for me. I can see that look in your eyes again.” She mocked, “Poor little Aspyn stuck in Meadowbrook.”
My heart sank, regretting the stupid shit I’d said earlier. “That’s not what I was thinking at all. Not in the least.”
The sad look in her eyes hit me hard. I wanted to hug her, which was weird, considering how much I knew she disliked me.
Droplets of water dripped down her T-shirt as she blew out a breath. “Anyway…thank you for dropping this by. I really appreciate it.”
“Yeah.” I slipped my hands into my pockets. “No problem.”
I lingered for a few seconds until she grabbed the door handle. I took that as my cue to leave. Nodding my head, I made my way out the door, and she wasted no time closing it behind me.
Aspyn couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.
• • •
Because I’d had to drop off the wallet, I was ten minutes late meeting my buddy Eric for dinner at a local bar and grill. Eric had gone to high school with us, and this would be my third time hanging out with him since arriving back in Meadowbrook.
He was already seated in a booth when I got to Boone’s Pub, where the air always smelled like a mix of burned meat and alcohol.
Eric immediately looked down at my wet spot. “What the hell, man? Did you piss yourself?”
“No.” I took a seat across from him. “I got shot at with a Super Soaker. I didn’t have time to head home and change.”
“What the fuck?”
“Yeah…this little girl—long story. I’ll explain later.” I grabbed a menu. “Let’s just order. I’m starving.”
After we put in for our food, I asked him the question that had been weighing on me the entire ride over. “You ever take one look at someone or something from the past, and it just brings back all this shit you’ve tried to forget? Makes you realize all these feelings you thought were gone never really went away?”
Eric nodded. “That’s how I feel when I look at Stoli vodka. Reminds me of the time I puked all over Christy Hemingway in tenth grade.”
Aspyn was like my very own pile of vomit.
“You remember Aspyn Dumont from high school?”
He ripped apart a piece of bread. “Yeah, sure.”
“She works at the place my grandfather’s at.”
“Really? Wasn’t she psycho?” he asked as he reached for the butter.
His use of the word psycho jarred me a little, mainly because I knew he’d gotten that idea about her from me. That had been my usual nickname for her after the incidents in high school. But even if I’d thought she was a little psycho back then, I should’ve chosen the words I’d spoken aloud more carefully. I felt like shit right now.
“She had her moments, yeah. We pretty much hated each other, talked shit about each other. But a lot of it was my fault.”
While we continued waiting for our food, I caught Eric up on the situation with Aspyn and explained why she’d been assigned to chaperone the outings. I also reminded him of the reason behind some of the crap she pulled on me in high school.
I sipped my beer and stared down at the bottle. “Anyway, I don’t know why I’m even talking about her...”
“What does she look like now?” he asked.
The waitress came by with our food, and that gave me a minute before responding. I thought about Aspyn’s physical appearance. Her sand-colored hair was so long, almost down to her voluptuous ass. Without a drop of makeup, her skin was smooth and flawless. She was naturally beautiful, even more so somehow when she got mad at me. I’d been taken aback by the fact that I found myself very attracted to her, someone I used to have nothing but disdain for. That was a contradiction I hadn’t experienced before. Maybe somehow her hatred made her more appealing in a twisted way?
I downplayed it. “She’s not a knockout or anything, but she’s…pretty. Nice ass and tits. It was hard to see past the look of hatred on her face, though.”
“Well, sounds like you’re gonna have other opportunities to change her mind about you if you’re stuck with her twice a week.”
“Not sure I should bother trying to change her mind. She seems really hung up on the past.”
He chewed a sweet potato fry. “How long are you staying in Meadowbrook anyway?”
“For as long as my dad’s away. Probably a few more months max. He hasn’t bought his return ticket, because they’re sort of winging the whole trip.”
“What’s he doing again?”
“Touring Europe with his girlfriend.”
“Damn. Nice life.”
“Yeah, well, he earned it.” I opened the ketchup and poured some onto my plate. “I’m staying at the house, making sure everything’s kosher while he’s gone.”
My father had busted his ass raising me as a single father. We never took vacations, and he rarely did anything for himself. A couple of years ago, he met a woman he really connected with. It was the first real relationship I could ever remember him having. He turned fifty this year and became eligible to retire early from the fire department. So that’s what he did. He and Sheryl decided to tour Europe. He almost didn’t go, because he felt guilty about leaving my grandfather. We didn’t have any other family locally. But I assured him I’d handle everything. It was the least I could do for a man who’d devoted his entire life to raising me. And I wasn’t easy. Despite my dad’s best efforts, I’d acted out a lot as a kid. Even though my grades were good and I excelled at sports, I gave him a run for his money, constantly getting into fights and stirring up trouble. I owed him a lot.
That night, after I returned home from dinner with Eric, I kicked my feet up on the couch and decided to Google Aspyn Dumont. The first thing to come up in my search was her sister’s obituary from eight years ago. While it didn’t list a cause of death, it said she’d left behind a six-month-old daughter. That made my chest hurt. Ashlyn Dumont was only twenty-four when she died. Ashlyn and Aspyn. They must have been close. I was an only child, but I couldn’t imagine losing a sibling. My chest tightened. I felt guilty once again for taunting Aspyn about staying in Meadowbrook now that I knew she’d been helping to care for her niece. That wasn’t an easy life.
I couldn’t change how I’d treated Aspyn in high school or the nasty things I’d said about her behind her back. But I could at least try to show her I’d changed. The big question was: had I changed? Or was I still that same selfish asshole?
That question gave me pause, and I honestly didn’t know the answer. All I knew was that being back in Meadowbrook sure as hell made me feel like the bad guy again. I wanted to be a better person, and somehow, it mattered to me to show her I was. But why?
Aspyn felt like the personification of all my past mistakes, so maybe getting her to like me would absolve me of my sins.
• • •
On Thursday afternoon, when my second outing of the week with Nonno rolled around, Aspyn looked happy as always to see me when she met us in his room. Not.
“Are those donuts on your scrubs?” I asked.
“I wore them in honor of you.” She flashed a genuine smile.
Figures. The first real smile I get from her is related to trying to poison me.
“Did you buy those just for me?”
“Believe it or not, I already had them.”
“I do believe it, actually.”
“My scrubs are conversation pieces around here.”
“Then I think you should tell everyone what the donuts represent. Or might you be too ashamed to admit that you almost shit me to death?” I laughed, noticing she did the same. “I like that you’re finding your sense of humor, though.”
“It took me a while to dust it off. But it was in there, after all.”
When she smiled again, I noticed slight creases around her eyes. My stare might have lingered a bit too long.
“Ready to go?” she asked, interrupting my gaze.
I cleared my throat. “Yup.”
“Let’s roll,” my grandfather said as he wheeled himself to the door.
Since it was a dry, summer day, I thought it would be nice to spend our time outdoors. I’d promised Nonno I’d bring the cigar we’d bought at the mall on Tuesday so he could smoke it.
The three of us packed into my car and drove to a nearby park. Once I pulled into a parking spot, I removed a large Ziploc bag with the cigars I’d brought from my glove compartment.
We picked a spot under a shady tree. I took my grandfather’s cigar out of the bag and handed it to him. “Here’s your Macanudo, Nonno.”
After he placed it between his teeth, I lit a match and held it to the tip.
“Thank you, good sir.” He puffed on the stogie and flashed a huge smile. “This is the life.”
I chuckled. It certainly didn’t take much to please him. I hoped I could be that easily satisfied someday.
I took another cigar out of the bag and handed it to Aspyn.
“What are you doing?” She took a few steps back, as if I were trying to hand her my dick or something.
I held up the Tatiana Classic. “This is for you. We’re gonna smoke, too.”
She shook her head. “Oh, no, no, no. I don’t smoke.”
“You don’t have to inhale it. Just enjoy the flavor. Yours is infused with vanilla. As far as I know there’s no sugar in it. So, I think you’re good.”
“I’ve never smoked a cigar, and I don’t plan to start today.”
“I’m gonna pop your cherry. Literally.”
Aspyn squinted. “Excuse me?”
I pointed to the tip. “The lit part is known as the cherry, by the way.”
Her frown lessened. “Oh.”
“Just try it. If you don’t like it, you can throw it down and stomp on it.”
To my surprise, she gave in, taking the cigar from me. She held it wrong, like a cigarette.
I intervened. “Rest it on your middle finger—you’re good at using that one—then curl your index finger around it.”
She did as I said, and then hesitantly placed the cigar between her lips. Something about that was damn sexy. I felt my mind venturing toward the gutter.
I lit a match and reached it out to her. “Puff gently as I light it.”
Aspyn inhaled and immediately started coughing.
“What part of puff gently did you not understand?”
“I inhaled it,” she coughed out.
“Yeah, I got that. I told you not to do that. Just suck a little into your mouth and taste it.”
My mind was definitely fully in the gutter now.
“It’s all about technique,” I said. “Watch and learn.” I lit my own and demonstrated. “First thing,” I said as I took a little of the smoke in. “You can’t neglect the cherry.” I pointed to the tip. “You’ve got to keep it lit. At the same time, you have to find a happy medium between smoking too fast and not fast enough.”
