17: Gum on the Shoes

Aaron rode home slower than usual. Blurry lights of the night life of NYC looked psychedelic. Every moment he spent with Sophie replayed in his head on a loop. Her voice had become the voice in his head, telling him to turn right and left like a GPS. He felt like a different man. A man who cared about someone other than himself. A man who had a heart in his chest. As far as he could remember, he had only yearned to survive. The day felt like the only one that he had truly lived. He realized that he was grinning ear to ear inside the helmet.
He reached his home and paid Manjeet a visit to replenish his supply of beer and fags. Manjeet wasn’t there. His employee enthusiastically greeted him, not even attempting to hide his greed for a tip. Lucky for him, Aaron was in a good mood. He grabbed what he needed and left dime as a tip. The employee was overjoyed. He looked through the bill under the light instinctively with a huge grin. Aaron let him be and went to his room. The hallway was deserted as usual. He entered his room and found a surprise waiting for him. Another piece of paper stared at him from the floor. His smile vanished. He picked it up and walked to the table. He locked the door behind him. He expected it to be the herald of anything but good news. His fears proved correct. There were no riddles, no puzzles or vague symbolism. The letter plainly informed him that his sworn enemy had arrived in his city. He was getting really tired of all the running. A part of him wanted his enemy to catch up to him and get this over with one way or the other. He sighed and folded the paper to set it ablaze. As he did, he caught a glimpse of writing at the back of it.
“If you do care for her, you know what to do”, the scrawling at the back of the paper made out. It looked like a last-minute addition. Aaron was fuming with rage. He had never disregarded any directions given to him. He flipped the table and shouted “Fuck!” in fury.
“Keep it down!”, a voice told him from the room next door. He got a hold of himself and collapsed on the chair with his face buried in his hands. His appetite for beer faded away. He decided to go to bed. It was a long night.
The next morning, he showed up at work with an agitated mood. He noticed every movement and every word being said around him. His paranoia was at its peak. He reached his work station and tried to dissolve in the chaos around him. Just as he was starting to calm down, Sophie arrived in the office with a ton of files in her arms and ambled into her office. As soon as he saw her face, the image of the letter flashed in front of his eyes. A moment later, Sophie emerged from her office with a stack of papers to hand to the new employees. He stood up and paced to the pantry before she got to his work station. The papers would reach his desk anyway. He waited for her to return to her office. He peaked out and found Sophie standing at his face with her arms crossed. She wore a questioning look.
“You suck at hiding. You know that, don’t you?”, she fired at him and stepped into the pantry for a cup of coffee. Aaron froze.
“I wasn’t …”, Aaron’s response was cut short.
“I know what I said yesterday, but we can still hang out. Besides, we don’t need to pretend that yesterday didn’t happen”, she said, trying to calm him down. Aaron felt significantly better. “And I won’t pretend that I didn’t need your help. I didn’t even thank you for it”, she added. Still no words from Aaron.
“Wanna grab a coffee after work?”, she offered. The back of the letter flashed in front of Aaron’s eyes. His hearted wanted to say yes but his mind said otherwise.
“I’d love to but I’ve got a thing to take care of so…”, he barely managed. He instantly regretted it, seeing the sad look on Sophie’s face. He got the hint that she needed it but he knew better than to ignore the warnings conveyed to him.
“Okay then. Breakfast tomorrow? The same place?”, she unexpectedly offered. Aaron knew he would look like a complete jerk if he tried to evade that one. His mind raced but he ended up conceding.
“Sounds good”, he responded. The coffee machine dinged. Sophie’s coffee was ready.
“Well, see ya!”, she grabbed her cup and strolled out of the room. Aaron was left wondering if he had made the right decision. He knew keeping the girl close was dangerous for her. “Sophie needs it”, he convinced himself that it was more than a selfish spontaneous decision. The rest of the day went on with an odor of awkwardness in the air. He spent the rest of the day buried in papers and assignments. He looked forward to the meet up but he was genuinely worried. The man trying to hunt him down was wreaking havoc everywhere he went looking for him. It was established beyond a shadow of doubt that the man was dangerous and resourceful. Aaron understood that it was just a matter of time before he was knocking on his door. He needed to be ready for the day but nothing was going according to his plans. He needed some time to think it through. The enemy was relentless, his dead friends were proof of it.
He headed home. The beers were already there and there was no new letter to tell him what not to do. He put all his worries aside and focused on the positive. He was going to meet Sophie before work. He was developing feelings for her. He slept an excited man.

Sophie was welcomed by a supercharged Chloe. Sophie could afford a place of her own but decided to stick with a friendly face.
“How did it go?”, Chloe started the spree of questions. Sophie was already fed up with them. She threw her bag on the couch and crashed beside it.
“We planned for breakfast tomorrow”
“Tomorrow? What happened to today?”
“He was busy”, Sophie explained, apparently not well enough to satisfy Chloe.
“You fucked it up, didn’t you? Go on, repeat what you said to him”
“It went smoothly. We’re gonna meet tomorrow. Just hold your horses girl!”, Sophie slowed her down. Chloe was silent for a bit.
“Did he sound genuinely interested?”, Chloe asked in a calmer manner.
“I don’t know. I didn’t catch anything”
“Tell me you didn’t forget to take his phone number!”, Chloe mocked. The silence from Sophie was answer enough.
“See this shit? That’s why I keep saying you’re gonna end up a cat lady!”, Choe taunted. She wasn’t impressed. Sophie was out of excuses herself. She was starting to think if she had made a mistake and sent mixed signals.