Counting Paths

Chapter 5.

Roland

Sterling kicks off her boots and brings her knees to her chest and her feet on the seat. She turns, leaning on the car door, and looks at me. "You need to get laid."

"What the actual hell did you just say to me?" I snarl at her. But she only smiles at my feral response.

"Do you even have a girlfriend?"

I cringe. "First, you're thirteen years old, you shouldn't even know what the word 'laid' means, let alone be using it. And second, you don't ask personal questions like that, not while you're staying here with me."

"So...no. And please don't belittle me like that. How old were you when you found out about sex?"

"What did I just say?"

Kevin finally, finally returns with a new bottle of whiskey, I think he was taking his sweet time on purpose, and points to Sterling. "She coming?"

I nod and snatch the bottle from him. "Sadly." He gives me a look that says I should watch the way I speak around her but I get the feeling no matter how harsh I talk about Sterling, she won't freaking leave. "And we're stopping at Dominos before the meet-up," I tell him, then shut the door.

I grab my phone when Sterling's black and yellow plaid pants catch my attention again.

"Do you have clothes?" I ask her.

"Do you see a bag?"

"Alright, smart-ass-"

She leans forward, holding up her hand. "Sorry. That woman stole everything."

I focus on her black eye. "Remind me tomorrow and we can go to the mall or something."

Her face lights up, her nose scrunching. "Really?!"

"Yeah. You're not wearing my clothes anymore."

"Can I get a phone?"

"Are you good with them?"

"I had the same phone for three years and it only cracked once-not my fault! A bulldog knocked it out of my hand."

"Yeah, sure, you can get a phone."

Twenty-three long minutes of Sterling playing her music later, we finally arrive at Dominos. Kevin stays in the car, and Starling and I walk inside. A man in his late thirties stands in front of the counter, waiting for the only worker in the store to finish cutting up a pie. At the sound of the ringing bell above the door exposing our entry, the guy glances at us. Then he looks at me again and narrows his eyes for a moment or two before it sinks in and they widen with fear. He stumbles away from the counter, stuttering, "pl-pl-please, go ahead."

"Thank you...?" Sterling tells him, then whispers to me, "that was odd."

I don't tell her it's normal for me. I don't tell her why.

I read the name on the name tag as Mark approaches us. "Hi, sorry about the-" He rocognizes me and gulps. "Hi, Mr. Roland."

Crap.

"You know Roland?" Sterling asks Mark, peering up at me.

"Just tell him what you want," I tell her. I watch her in the corner of her eye.

She shakes her head and looks at Mark again. "Can I have a large, regular pie?"

"Would that be all?"

She nudges my side with her elbow. "You want anything?"

I shake my head. "I'm good."

"That'll be all." I pay for the pie, then Sterling and I step away from the counter. "They knew you," she says, gathering her hair and tying it into a low pun as we take a seat at a bench. "Both of them knew you-they're looking, Roland."