It was exactly 8:00am when Derek maneuvered into the Café and yawned until they arrived at the request window. “You don’t want anything?” Derek asked.
“Nothing much… Just a toasted bread.” Robert said after yawning.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” Robert asked Derek, who was staring at him like he knew something Robert didn’t want to divulge.
“You don’t want that?” Derek asked.
“Want what exactly?”
“Coffee punk.”
“Oh… Yeah, it will keep my eyes open.” Robert said.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have said we were starting so fuc-”
“Order when you’re ready,” the speaker squawked.
After he ordered and pulled forward, Derek finished, “So fuckin’ early.”
“It’s better that way because I will have to get home on time. I will have to go to Katie’s game and also drive some hot laps. You know, racing and all of that.”
“Don’t the patrons pay to see the vehicle win?”
“Of course.” Robert said, “you will try to backpedal after you see me drive. During practice, I killed it.”
“I genuinely want to believe that you kill it once more and don’t wind up dead. I don’t have any other friends who will pay me a nice hundred dollars to rake some leaves.”
When Robert saw Ms. Chino’s yard, he hoped that Derek would still be saying that.
He took the beverages they brought along from Derek and said, “That’s what friends do.” Regardless of whether Derek thought it was an excessive amount of work, meeting Ms. Chino would compensate for any rankles on his fingers.
As he began removing their food from the bag, he thought of raising some questions about Derek entering his sister’s room. But he was interrupted before he could ask,
“Where is this place, anyway?” Derek asked.
“You won’t know where it is, So go west.” Robert stated, “I’ll tell you when to turn.”
“Don’t underestimate me,” Derek said.
“Alright, take us to…” Robert paused for a while before divulging the address.
“Seriously.” Derek tried not to sound surprised.
“You know there?”
“If Derek knew how far it was, he will definitely request for a more pay.” He said to himself.
“Ah, no, no, I’ve never been there.” Derek responded.
“But it sounds far.” Derek added pretending.
“No, it isn’t so far,” Robert said. “Head straight up. We’ll be there before you wrap up eating all that food.”
“You’re paying for my pit pass or half the gas.” Derek stated.
“As expected. Why slow down? Fine, I’m paying. Just drive.”
“You look pretty tired, did you stay up late?” Robert asked after Derek hit on the accelerator.
“I should be asking you cause you’re the one drinking coffee,” Derek said. “I don’t understand how you can consume that. It’s awful.”
“I like it,” he said. “Do you ever enter your sister’s room at night?” He didn’t know when he asked that. But his mind was pumping it out already.
“What?” Derek’s attention was no longer divided.
“You heard me; do you ever enter Ella’s room after your mother has gone to bed?”
“Why won’t I? If it suits me.”
“Would your mother be furious?”
“Uh, why are you asking?”
“My dad got pissed, behaved like some kind of problem with me being in Carmen’s room when she was asleep.”
“Dude, you finally had the guts. You wanna listen to me now?”
“No!” Robert exclaimed.
“For what other reason could you be in her room late around evening time?”
“Same reason you enter Ella’s room. Anything, get something, put something in there, or ask her a question. Isn’t that no big deal?”
“Definitely not a big deal.” Derek said, “Naturally, if your father entered while your sister was scolding you, then…”
“Don’t be stupid,” he said. “Can’t allow that to happen: I scared him, I guess. Maybe he thought I broke those dotty siblings rule he forced on us when growing up.”
“I still don’t know why you went into her room,” Derek pressed on.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry.” He knew Derek didn’t buy all of that, so he started blabbering.
“I was up working out, and I uhm… After, I walked to my room, but I saw her light on. I turned it off because she was sleeping and left.”
“Mm, was she naked… Like, you know what I mean, dude.” Derek said, poking him.
“Pervert.”
“Don’t pretend you wouldn’t get a boner if your sister, one of the hottest girls in school, happened to be naked. Damn…. I can’t imagine having to live with Sarah, Katie, and your mother. I’d be hard all day, every day.”
“That’s because you’re.…” Robert didn’t finish be he cut in.
“I wasn’t the one who slept with my sister, that’s why.”
“Yeah… No, nothing is going to happen, and if you kiss Ella, you’ll know it’s not a good thing,” Robert retaliated.
After that, Derek didn’t say anything, and he looked the same way he did when he heard about Ms. Chino’s address. Robert planned to figure out what was wrong before the day was out.
When they showed up at Ms. Chino’s. For close to thirty minutes, Derek hardly spoke.
Derek did not voice any complaints about either the yard’s size or the long drive, despite Robert’s misgivings about them.
Derek, on the other hand, became irritated when Ms. Chino called to say that she would see them next week because she had to go somewhere. It appeared as though getting to know her was more important than money. Nevertheless, she kept their money in an envelope.
They were too busy working on a lot of things to think about Derek’s interest in Ms. Chino and Scorpion.
When they completed the front yard, Derek proposed they cool off in the pool before heading back home.
Robert mulled over everything, and he saw a lot of reasons why he should get into the pool, but he said,
“No, she said, use the pool, not thin plunge. Additionally, nobody knows who might show up. Presumably be some girls Scouts dropping off treats.”
“Don’t talk me out,” Derek said. “You realize I got removed from the Scouts for eating a brownie that a drug addict gave me.”
“We’re not doing it. Probably next week.”
“Dude, nobody would ever travel this far. We are too far to been seen.”
“Can we just finish?” Robert asked, “I’ll bring up your idea and see if she’s okay with you coming by to swim next week when I see her. I’ll be sure to tell her about the mules; who knows, she might even want to swim with you.”
“F*ck you!”
They finished up and drove back home.
“I’m going to go home, shower, and sleep.” Robert said when they got to Derek’s house.
“Dude, I might sleep even before the shower,” Derek said with a tired tone.
“I know what you mean.”Robert added, “Anyways, Thanks for showing up, I would never have made it happen without you and your mighty truck.”
“Whenever you want to give me 100 bucks, I’m in, however I truly have to meet her later. This is a golden opportunity. I need to understand what you were trying to say. You can take me next week.”
“We’ll discuss it. I’m returning home. We can meet at the ballpark tomorrow and go to the races from there if you want.”
“I’ll message you and let you know whether I can get up tomorrow.”
“That’s fine with me.” Robert got in his vehicle and zoomed off.