Destined To Collide

Chapter 9

3 months later- November- a rainy Wednesday- about noon time

Donny-

"Hey, Donny Boy!" I see one of my fellow paralegals, Craig, in the stairwell on my way to lunch. "Good job on that deposition, man. Three months in and you're human dynamo!"

"What can I say, Craig," I say with smile, "rooming with you has rubbed off on me." We both chuckle. "I'll see you later, man."

Yes, Craig's not only my coworker, he's also my roommate in our Midtown apartment. Yes, I know Midtown is quite a schlep from Carl's law firm but, it's close to Chester's group home.

My new income allowed me to get my brother out of that facility and in a place where he can have a little more freedom and a social circle. I was even able to get him and our Dad, Russ, to meet for the first time since before my Dad went to jail.

Russ was granted a short term parole and is now living in my old apartment in new Jersey and he's working  with Kenny at the restaurant. But I'm getting ahead of myself and I'm at the diner around the corner to have lunch with Chad and Janine. I don't get to see them much lately so we decided we'd have lunch most days when none of us are busy. Janine doesn't always join us but she is now.

"Hey, Donald!" Chad yells at me as I come in from the drizzling rain, "I heard you kicked ass today, bro!" I do the handshake into a hug thing and then me and Janine embrace and she gives me a friendly peck on the cheek.

"That's what they tell me, Chadly Bear." I say jokingly.

"So, Donny, how've you, I haven't seen you since the last time I joined you guys for lunch," Janine says happily, "since this one doesn't tell me anything." She says elbowing Chad. (Janine works for the same law firm but in a totally separate office; they have an annex in SoHo)

"I told you, there's nothing for me to tell, Janine" Chad protests,  "I hardly see him anymore since they sent him to another department. Now, all we do at lunch is either make fun of Spencer or reminisce about college."

"How is that big galoot doing?," I say referring to Spencer, "is he still pissing in bottles in his office?" Both me and Chad laugh out loud while Janine has her mouth gaping open wide with shock.

"He does what!?" Janine says; a little exacerbated.

"One sec, Janine," Chad manages to say during his fit of laughter, "yes, Donald, he's still doing that shit."

"That's disgusting!", Janine exclaimed, "Why does he do that!?"

"Because the Jolly Green Suit thinks it's beneath him to use the bathroom," I explain ", oblivious to the irony that doing that is even more disgusting."

"Does Carl know about this?" Janine asks. Both me and Chad immediately get serious and we look at each other no doubt thinking the same thing.

"Oh, don't get us started with Carl," Chad says rubbing his eyes, "Yes! He thinks there's nothing wrong with it! Spencer's not even the real problem anymore. It's his future father-in-law that's making things real difficult for EVERYONE. Especially me!"

"What's he talking about, Donny?" Janine asks, sounding surprised.

"You see, when I first started here, I was working together with Chad which put us in direct contact with Spencer." I begin to explain, "We had so much fun taking the piss out of that big oaf that he went to Carl and threatened to quit and since Carl loves Spencer, he put me in a different department and more than doubled my workload so that I would be forced to work overtime and weekends."

"Why would he do that?" Janine asks, "I thought Carl gave you this job because of he likes you and knows you're good for Carolynn."

Me and Chad vigorously shake our heads.