Brothers Keep Her

Flood in the Men's Room

You don't see Sam around on your days off from work even though you look for him everywhere you go (just in case). You go back to work two days after the spin out, hoping Sam will come in. But he doesn't. He doesn't the next day, either, or the next.  After a few weeks, you figured he and his brother had definitely moved on to wherever they were going. C'est la vie.

Three different mechanics were never able to find any major problems with your car. You're relieved, but curious. Though you will probably never know why you spun out that night, you can't stop thinking about it. At least you have enough money to get your trunk repainted and still have a little bit left in savings. What douchebag would key your car? There isn't a person in the world you can think of who you might have pissed off enough to deserve that. 

People are jerks. 

You try Googling "D W S W" but only come up with crap that doesn't make any sense like Deep Water Slender Wells and DSW Shoes. Google is no help. 

"What are you looking at?" Nanami asks as she catches you gazing out the front windows one afternoon. 

"Nothing," you say, and start to wipe down the counter. 

"Okay, who are you looking for?" Nanami knows you well enough to know when you're trying to avoid a subject. 

"Nobody. I was just thinking. About school." You can't look at her because if you do, she'll see right through you. 

"Right. I'm supposed to believe that?" She leans in and snags the towel from your hand.  "You've wiped down that spot six times in the last fifteen minutes. So, who is he?"

When you finally look at her, your smile is impossible to suppress. You laugh. "Okay. Do you remember that really tall guy that came in a few months ago? The one that was here right at the end of my shift?" 

Nanami scrunches her nose as she thinks for a moment. "Oh, the cute one? With the long hair?"

You tell her about seeing him at the library and how he saved you from busting your face on the stairs. 

"Did you get his number?" she asks, smiling with you. 

You shake your head. "No. Just his name. Sam."

Nanami grimaces. "Sam? You don't hear that name very much any more." 

You shrug. "I think it's nice. It fits him."

She giggles. "How do you know? You don't even know the guy."

"I don't know. He's just..." You sigh because you can't think of the right word. 

"Oh, hey, who keyed your car? Did that happen here? I saw it on my way in." 

You glower. "No idea. I didn't see it until I got home to my apartment. Might have been here, could have been the library. I don't know. It's been there for a few weeks, now."

"You getting that fixed?"

"Yep. Made an appointment for next week." 

"Did you call the cops? Or your insurance?"

"Yeah. Not much they can do. It's cosmetic, so. I got pictures of it." 

"That sucks. Sorry, girl. What does it even say?"

You shake your head. "No idea."

9 Months Go By

It's the fall semester and you're walking to your first day of class in the early afternoon. The end-of-summer heat wanes every day, which is great because fall and winter are your favorite seasons. It's your senior year and you will have that degree before you know it.