A Month To Live - Extras

The Retreat (2/3)

Day two went by quite quickly actually. We had a lot of deliveries and when they were done, we went out back and started spray painting some old tyres. I never really understood why the guys painted the tyres but once you actually did it yourself, it was kind of fun. Except for the whole smelling of paint part. I had to take an extra-long shower and wash my hair several times to get rid of the smell of fumes.

Bradley called again and we spent the better part of an hour just talking about random stuff. I couldn’t even recall what. By the time I fell asleep it was midnight and my alarm went off on Wednesday a lot earlier than I would have liked and I got ready in a somewhat bleary-eyed way.

Wednesdays were always the longest day for me. Remi usually stopped by for lunch on Wednesday afternoons,  though. She was working at some nine to five office job to save up some money. She and Kyle wanted to go travelling at the start of next year so she could - in her words – ‘escape this dead ass country for a while’. Personally, I wouldn’t mind hopping on a plane with her right now and ditching work for the rest of the week but unfortunately, I had to at least pretend to be an adult.

When I was locking my front door, I happened to cross paths with Tommy who looked like he was just returning home from a night shift. I don’t even recall where he worked anymore. He always had multiple jobs on the go at once. I got the feeling that he was easily bored by them so didn’t stick around for too long.

My stomach clenched up as I looked over him and and I tried to keep the wince off my face. My mind was still a little muddled, and maybe in denial.

‘Working?’ I asked, tucking my apartment key into my handbag and swapping it out for Bradley’s car key.

‘Long shift,’ he confirmed, running a hand through his hair and pulling a face. ‘Time to sleep for twelve hours,’ he added, making to walk up his stairs and disappear.

He certainly didn’t act like someone who had even a slight interest in me which I took as a good sign. Then again, I’d been wrong about a lot of things before. And once more, my annoying habit of needing to know everything took.

‘Can I ask you something stupid?’ I said before he could go inside.

‘I guess you’ll ask whether I agree or not,’ Tommy replied, pausing at the top of his stairs and looking over at me.

I meandered closer as I attempted to get my words straight in my head. I didn’t want to offend him or anything. Actually, I’m not sure why I even wanted to know. I guess I felt a bad that I was so ignorant. If it were even true, of course. If not then phew, bullet dodged.

‘I guess I shouldn’t really ask but this is kind of weirding me out a little,’ I said, almost talking to myself. ‘I don’t even know why. Well, actually I do know why. I mean it’s just strange when you don’t know how someone...’ I trailed off.

‘Get on with it, I want to sleep,’ Tommy complained, letting out a loud huff and planting his hands on his hips as he glared down at me.

‘Last summer, did you-’ I broke off again. ‘Actually, this is dumb!’ I muttered, feeling suddenly embarrassed. What did I even want out of his conversation? More awkwardness?

‘I think the movie is called I Know What You Did Last Summer, not I Don’t Know,’ Tommy replied with an annoyed looked. ‘Just spit it out.’

‘Shut up,’ I laughed, feeling slightly relieved at his brusque manner. I took a breath before going on. ‘Okay, I’m terrible at this. You didn’t like... have feelings for me or anything, right?’

‘I’m having feelings of irritation and short temperedness right now,’ he grumbled.

‘Tommy!’