Graffiti Casanova

Deal With The Genie

The bar was quiet when we walked in, which made sense considering it was late afternoon.

Otto hadn't answered Jared's calls, which was why we were here. I'd started to tell Jared that I wouldn't have answered his calls either if I knew he was trying to manipulate a favor out of me, and then realized that I had answered one of those calls already, and that it was what got me into this mess in the first place. And so with a little bit of self-loathing, I'd shut up and opted to let this play out.

So I filed in the door behind Jared, who seemed confident his plan was going to work. Ian glanced up from wiping down the bar and shot us an easy half-smile.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"Ian! How's it goin', man?" Jared headed to the bar, sliding onto a stool. "Otto in today?"

Ian tilted his head toward the kitchen door. "Yeah, in the back, making some calls. Can I get you guys anything?" He wiped his hands and leaned on the bar, towel dangling from one hand. His eyes darted to me and I could tell he was trying to gauge how I was, remembering the state he'd found me in a couple nights back.

I wasn't going to bring it up, and I definitely didn't want him to either.

I kept my tone light. "I'll take a coffee."

"Sure."

He turned to make our drinks. A voice from the back room grew louder, until the door pushed open, Otto backing out with his phone to his ear in one hand and a giant cardboard box held against his body in the other. His voice was raised, escalating by the second.

"No, Carl. No. That is entirely unacceptable for one of my employees to say. I absolutely cannot ethically give compensation to someone who believes that Captain America is better than Iron Man." He slid his hand across the bottom of the box to get a better grip. "I appreciate your concerns. But this will most certainly be brought up in your next performance review. Now-- oh, what's that? Oh, sure! See you tomorrow, man, have a good time with your grandma."

Ian handed me my coffee and went to work on Jared's tea as Otto disconnected his call and turned to us.

Otto stopped in his tracks when he saw us and slumped over with an exaggerated sigh. "What now, Jared?" He let the door fall shut as he lifted the box onto the counter. "You've used all three of your wishes already."

His tone was exasperated, but his gaze flitted to mine and he shot me a quick wink.

Jared shook his head solemnly. "Breaking my cousin's heart is worth at least four wishes."

Otto scoffed. "Sarah's heart is fine. She's moved on to better--" he held up one finger to emphasize, "but, of course, not bigger things. I'm the one crying and binging on Ben and Jerry's and netflix every night." He gave a pitiful sniff that wasn't at all convincing.

"I'd be terrified of anyone who could actually do that to Otto," I murmured to Davey.

"Mrs. Brown," said Otto, voice reverent.

I blinked at him. "Huh?"

"My ninth grade French teacher. I knew she was the one for me the moment I stepped into the classroom."

"I'd imagine there was a bit of an age difference there," I said dryly.

Ian handed Jared his tea, smirking as he listened.

Otto kept going as if he didn't hear me. "I asked her to go to prom with me in front of the whole class. I had flowers, a cake, wrote her a song and everything. Turned me down and broke my heart."

"Sounds traumatic."

"Can you even go to prom in ninth grade?" asked Davey.

"I was going to marry her someday."

"Mrs. Brown? Sounds like someone had beat you to it."

Otto's gaze snapped to me and he frowned at me quizzically, like he didn't see my point. "Well, you can't let those kinds of things stop you, Lil' Clairity. No wonder you're still single!" He ruffled my hair and grinned as I glared up at him.

"Now," he said, turning to Jared before I could point out that he was single too. "I know you're here to ask for something, so you may as well get on with it."

We all looked at Jared.

"So, ah," Jared bit his lip; he was hedging. "I see you got new neighbors?"

Otto gave him a strange look and stuck a hand in the air. "Uh, Judge Claire? Objection of irrelevance."

"Counselor?" I turned to Jared with a stern expression.

Jared held up his hands in defence, looking at us like we were nuts. "Dude. Just let me finish!"

I looked at Otto and shrugged. "Overruled." I waved a hand. "Continue."

Jared rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Your Honor." He turned back to Otto. "Well?"

Otto eyed him with suspicion, but humored him. "Yeah. They won't open for another month or so because of renovations."

Jared nodded. "So your storage room above them wouldn't get any noise complaints in the next few weeks, would it?"

"Jared, you're brilliant." I sat back, a little shocked that those words had come out of my mouth.

He gave a little sniff of offense at my surprise. "I've often thought so."

Otto was catching on too, and his lips curled in an amused smile. "You want to use my storage room as a practice space." He folded his arms on the counter, hunching over it like he was ready to get to business. "What do I get out of it?"

Jared sipped his tea. "You get to be serenaded by a soon-to-be-famous band whenever you want?"

I rolled my eyes and intervened before their massive egos could go head to head. "We'll do free shows."

Otto pursed his lips in thought before nodding. "Deal." He straightened, stepping back to the box with a box-cutter in hand, which he pointed at us. "But you gotta move stuff around yourselves." He sliced through the tape seal on the box and continued under his breath, "I don't want to go in there any more than I have to."

"That sounds promising," I muttered to Davey, who just smirked in response.

"Totally fine. Thanks man!" Jared set his empty cup on the bar and stood. "Shall we go take a look?" He caught the keys that Otto tossed over the counter as he strolled towards the stairs, and made a sweeping gesture to Davey and I, who traipsed after him.

"What'd I tell you guys?" he said as we reached the door and he stuck the key in the lock. He twisted, and the door gave a shudder before groaning open.

"You mean about how playing dirty would get us a practice space?" I said, peering into the darkness. Davey hit the lightswitch, and I winced as the room was illuminated. Dust floated in the air and coated the boxes which towered in crooked stacks before us; extra tables and chairs were littered across a grimy floor that looked like it hadn't seen a mop in years.

Davey sneezed. "Looks like you were right about the dirty part."

Otto the genie?! Gotta be honest, if I were Jared, I probably would've wished for a lifetime of free food from the V-Bar. So, THAT was a missed opportunity. Hit that star! Chapter song is Running With The Boys by Lights.