Page 44 of Devil’s Disciples

“Everyone from The Delfonics to James Blunt, why?”

Both were artists that I had listened to, and enjoyed. I was surprised that our taste in music was so similar.

“Just wondering.” I glanced around her office, and wondered why she hadn’t given it a woman’s touch. When she came back into my line of sight, I grinned. “What makes you angry?”

“What do you mean?

“What irritates you in life?” I asked. “Day to day life. Give me the top ten.”

She counted on her fingers as she responded. “Tailgaters. Lines at the grocery store. Oranges that I can’t get the peel off. People who don’t use their turn signal. Call centers who call me and try to sell me something. Stubbing my toe. Upside down toilet paper. Having the cashier hand me change on top of a receipt. People who park crooked, and burnt toast.”

Her response was without hesitation, which I thought was impressive. I agreed with everything she mentioned except for one thing.

“What’s upside down toilet paper?” I asked.

She twirled her finger in a circle. “When it’s upside down.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“When it comes off the back instead of the top.” She exhaled a breath through her clenched teeth as she shook her head. “If I’m at someone’s house, and their toilet paper is like that, I’ll fix it. It drives me insane.”

“I’m the same way.”

“Why’d you ask me what irritated me? Nobody’s ever done that.”

“If your favorite car color is red, and mine is blue, we’re not going to argue about who’s right. We’ll just accept it. But, if you hate it when people park crooked, and every time we went somewhere I parked crooked, it’d drive you nuts. A person’s dislikes reveal far more about their compatibility than anything.”

She leaned away and looked down her nose at me. “Why are you worried if we’re compatible?”

She had a good point. I really had no idea why I asked her the question. It was time to change subjects.

I looked away. “I’m not.”

After a short period of silence, she cleared her throat. “We got off track. You were guessing who was moving in upstairs.”

I wasn’t in the mood any longer. “I’ve got to make my rounds.” I stood and brushed the wrinkles from my jeans. “Just tell me.”

“Me,” she said with a smile. “We’re going to be neighbors!”

Just like that, my biggest fear was one wrong move away from becoming a reality.

16

Andy

Holly glanced around the apartment. “It seems empty.”

A contemporary red leather couch and a modern oversized blue fabric chair sat across from one another in the otherwise lonely space. Everything else I once owned had been sold to pay rent. Frustrated at what I’d lost, but more grateful for what remained, I waved toward the two pieces of furniture. “It is empty. It’s bigger than your entire house, and it’s got nothing but a couch and a chair in it.”

“You need to go shopping.”

“I’ve got bills to pay first,” I said, more to remind myself than to make her aware of it. “Maybe in a few months.”

She gave the spacious room another quick look. “It’s just you, so I guess it’ll be okay.”

I shrugged. “It’s going to have to be.”

“An upside is that you get to park your bike in the basement. It’ll keep people from messing with you on the nights you have to…” She did the air quote thingy. “Work late.”