Sun Behind the Clouds

Chapter 13

He was warm in his uncomfortable bed, but he was not alone. The realization snapped him awake faster than a knife to his throat. His eyes flew open, and stared in confusion at the golden hair spread across the pillow in front of his face. It smelled like sunshine, and was completely foreign to him. He was in his own bed, in his own apartment. He had wished for Amber and the big white bed, but that golden hair said his wishes meant nothing.

Trent tried to recreate the night before. He recalled talking to the blond girl, but he couldn't remember her accompanying him back to his room. Unexpected, but definitely not unwelcome. Her name was Sandy, and she was a dancer at some strip club or other. He liked her. As odd as it was, she seemed to like him, too.

He put his head back on the pillow and relished the sensation of her in his arms. She was much warmer than Erin had ever been while in bed with him. It was a little sad, but Erin was his only recent benchmark for that kind of thing. If his belly hadn't been gnawing at his backbone he never would have thought of getting up. He was uncomfortably happy with where he was at that moment. It wasn't something he was used to.

Trent didn't bother trying to hide the fact that he was getting out of bed. It was nice to feel that he didn't have to tiptoe around his own room for once. But he was glad she didn't wake up. He stared down at the perfect contentment on her face, studying it curiously. She was stunning, unlike anyone he had supposed would get into bed with him, anymore. Perhaps women were just able to sniff out guys that were emotional wrecks.

Unfortunately, Trent didn't think he would get anywhere with finding food if he walked around naked. Bums were one thing, naked bums were something else entirely. A pair of blue jeans out of the bin, and a t-shirt bearing the words from some concert or another that he hadn't gone to were what he would settle for. He slipped into flip-flops in case he needed to walk. Of course he would need to walk, walking to eat was a certainty after frying up all his potatoes.

He swung his bedroom door open and laughed silently at the picture that greeted him. Of his friends, Dave, Bobby, Lex, and Bailey were left. If Bailey could be considered a friend. Lex was asleep in the corner beneath a blanket with the same brunette he had been chatting up the night before, and Dave had a girl curled up on the couch with him. Trent couldn't believe the old drifter had gotten a girl when Bobby was passed out next to the TV cradling nothing but an empty bottle. It just gave a bit of credence to Trent's theories about women's taste in men.

Bailey was, of course, alone, his head stuck inside the microwave of all places. There was no telling how it ended up there, but to each their own. It certainly didn't look like a comfortable way to sleep, since the microwave sat six inches off the ground on a short milk crate.

“The head is where the heart is,” Trent laughed to himself at the tableau of the fat man. The microwave would certainly need to be washed out after the guy's greasy head was rubbed inside of it.

Trent walked to the TV and picked up four of the joints still on top and checked his pockets to make sure he had grabbed everything he would need. Phone, two bags of weed, a few extra baggies, and a smashed up pack of cigarettes. He paused at the door one last time to look on the strange scene, chuckled once at the fact that the room was actually cleaner than it had been, and walked out of the apartment.

The combination of sun and tightly packed buildings turned anyone at street level into a future heat-stroke victim. Trent reminded himself to pick up some sunglasses for the hundredth time, and fanned his shirt against the sweat he could feel breaking out.

He flipped his phone open and considered where to go. There was only one real choice for food. He punched in Penny's number and waited for his first tongue lashing of the day. The fat girl was mean, but she was the person to go to for food.

“S'up, Trent?” None of the disdain he had expected.

The morning was going altogether too well. Trent smelled a trick, but couldn't pass up the good luck coming his way. Good luck meant he was safe to feel good.

“Hey, Penny. What say you to a trade of sorts? I got weed, but no food.” Penny was always up for giving away Charlie's food when it meant she could get high. As angry as everyone was about Trent quicking, they couldn't deny that Charlie was an a*s.

“Come on over. I'm still on the damn fries, and Cali's on the grill as usual. I'll see ya when you get here.” Penny hung up quick, but not before Trent heard California yell about the nickname.

He began to walk and lit one of the joints he had snatched off the TV. He used the walk to wonder at why the world seemed a better place all of a sudden. Was it the fact that Erin was finally gone? She had made his life hell for so long that he had gotten used to being treated like a third-class citizen. It would take time to get used to not being chastised on a regular basis. Why had he stayed with her so long?

Perhaps it was the deal he worked out with Crazy Pete. It could improve his life in ways he had no way of foreseeing. Suddenly he would have money, a position in life that he could rise as far as he wanted, and a group of people to belong to. Lex thought it was a choice to go downhill on the express slide, but he was as far down as it was possible to be, so anything whatsoever was an improvement.

The day was perfect. Sure, it was just as hot as always, and the sun conspired with the fiery air radiating off the asphalt to cook him alive, but he could ignore that. He was even humming to himself as he walked in to Charlie's parking lot, smiling wildly and wishing someone would walk by so he could say hello.

He finished the joint and texted Penny. Within seconds the door to Charlie's kitchen opened soundlessly on its greased hinges and Penny stepped out with a bag of goodness big enough to send tingles through his cramping stomach.

“You are absolutely beautiful!” He cried exuberantly at the big girl.

Penny froze in shock. Trent looked his usual hungover self. His eyes somehow shaded in the sun when shade couldn't be found a hundred feet underground, and his cheeks were hollow from too many drugs, but the smile on his face was brilliant. His entire body seemed to bounce as he walked up to her.

“What'd you just say?”

“What? Thank you for the gift of food that you are bestowing upon me on this magnificent day.” His voice bubbled into another laugh at his choice of formality.

“What the hell? Why're you so happy?” Penny quirked an eyebrow and wondered what kinds of drugs could have transformed Trent into the happy stranger in front of her. Normally he was so broody you couldn't get him to speak in more than grunts.

“I dunno. Just a good day, ya know? Here,” he pulled the small bag of weed out of his pocket.

“Thanks...” She accepted the plastic baggie and handed over the paper sack. Trent tore it open and dug through the contents to get at the first burger. “One hell of a party last night. I didn't think I'd ever see the end of it.” She paused as Trent nodded enthusiastically at her with his mouth full of the first bite of his greasy burger. She did a double take at the congenial attitude, but kept talking. “D'you see Bailey' tryin' to smoke with everyone? He was tryin' to make imaginary TV dinners by the time I left.” She laughed at the memory, then cut herself off. She couldn't believe she was talking to Trent so easily.

He stifled a laugh to keep the burger in his mouth, then snapped his fingers and swallowed. “That explains why his damn head was in the microwave. I was wonderin' about how that'd happened.” He smiled at Penny when she laughed. “Thanks again for the burger.” He held up his delightfully greasy breakfast. “I'm sure everyone at the apartment'll thank ya, too. I ain't got a single scrap of food, so you may've just saved a few folks from starvation.”

Penny studied him quizzically as he shoved a hand into the bag to pull out another handful of fries. This wasn't at all like the Trent she knew.

“I gotta ask, man, and don't bullshit me. Why the hell're you in such a good mood?” It wasn't possible he was in such a good mood because Erin broke up with him. Even if it was a positive change, that wasn't right.

“Hmm,” Trent frowned as he thought of how to answer the same question he had asked himself. He swallowed the mouthful of fries and looked at Penny seriously. “Maybe I'm tired of bein' pissed off all the time.”

“I wish you were always like this.” Penny paused before uttering her next words, but she felt they needed to be said. “Maybe Erin'd still be with you if ya acted like this all the time.”

Trent snorted and waved off her statement as he shoved more fries in his mouth. She continued, “No, I'm serious. Alotta Erin's problems with y'all's relationship stemmed from how pissed you were at the world. I'm just wonderin'--” She didn't get to finish her statement, and actually jumped at how hard Trent cut her off.

“I couldn't give a s**t less, Penny.” Trent said. He was in such a good mood that he didn't laugh at the hurt look on the big girl's face. His own smile tightened into a grimace. “If she wants to be miserable, she can be miserable on her own. Screw her.”

“Oh,” Penny's hand came up to his cheek. “Did she hurt you that bad?”

Trent choked on the fries he had been eating and coughed before finally finding his voice again. “I dunno how many times I can say this, or how many people are gonna bug me with it. I just don't give a s**t anymore. I wasn't happy with her, and if she was with me then there's far more wrong with her than I thought.” Penny still wasn't satisfied with his explanation. He sighed, beginning to grow frustrated. “For Christ's sake, I got a gorgeous girl in my bed right now, and I can assure you we didn't get much sleep last night. Why should I miss Erin?”

He watched as a startling change came over Penny's face. He hadn't noticed how different she looked while being nice. Now he noticed.

She seemed to swell, her aspiring linebacker's build getting even more impressive. He felt his body tremble at the thought of a fight, whether in eagerness or fear, he didn't know.

“Are you kidding me!?” Her scream echoed around the empty parking lot. “In spite of how useless you are. Erin's been absolutely heart-broken about how things ended. And you wanna act happy as hell after you slept with some w***e?” Trent stared at her, a handful of fries frozen halfway to his mouth. “What the hell's she supposed to do now? Ya know, it'd be better if she just went ahead and--,” her teeth clicked shut.

He had gotten rid of Erin, and here Penny was trying to take her place in nagging at him. Fight or flight? It was a more balanced question than it once was.

The fingers on one hand curled, and his choice was made. “Shut the hell up! Jeez, you act like we're still together or something. We're done! I dunno how long it's gonna take you to get it, but the sooner the better. She didn't wanna be in that relationship any more than I did. Just leave it alone! I'm tired of everyone bein' so far in my business I can't get an itch in my throat without you tellin' me to cover my mouth when I cough. I'm over this s**t, Penny!” Trent stared Penny down; probably the first person to do so in recent memory.

Her body recoiled from the anger in Trent's eyes before she could stop herself. His smile turned cruel at her reaction. Her fists clenched, and the tendons in her arms stood out. She fantasized about beating Trent so bad even Charlie would feel bad for him, but she turned away.

He watched as Penny stomped into Charlie's Diner like every step was landing on his face, and chuckled meanly. The door slammed behind her, and Trent turned to walk out of the parking lot, but stopped to light another joint. He slid down against a car, deciding to really enjoy it. The day was too nice to let some fat girl ruin it for him. He polished off two more burgers, a few handfuls of fries, and wished he had something to drink on hand. He didn't give a thought to Penny.

The joint burned him, and he flung it away with a curse. Then the stealthy sound of the diner door clicking shut reached his ears.

Trent froze. What if Penny had gone in and told someone he was out there? She wasn't above sending someone to beat him up. Charlie probably wanted nothing in the world more than to beat him beyond recognition. Trent held his breath at the footsteps he knew in his heart were coming for him.

Whoever it was seemed to be falling down drunk. A drunk wouldn't hesitate to attack him. Trent studied the car he leaned against, and sighed in relief. It was one of the waitresses. A chubby girl so shy she'd faint dead if she found him, and none of the other cars were further from the building. He breathed easier for a moment, then listened to the footsteps as they came closer and closer. They stopped on the other side of the car.

He heard a door open, and a lighter clicked nearly a dozen times. Something exploded.

Trent stiffened and grabbed at his lower back when something hit it. He sagged and tried to keep from whimpering when he realized the sound had been the lighter bursting against the asphalt. A piece must have flown under the car and hit him.

Whoever it was began sobbing. Not the usual little sounds of crying, but a full, gut-wrenching sob that broke the peace he had been enjoying in the parking lot only moments before.

Trent dropped a fry in his lap, staring blindly forward as all his senses shut down so he could focus on his hearing. He knew exactly who it was, and he was positive about what had happened. Penny had gone inside and told the worst person possible he was outside.

Now, Erin sat just ten feet away, crying her eyes out. A part of him relished the fact that he had managed to make her cry. He wasn't so callous as to feel victorious, though. His smile faded in light of hearing someone cry so hard.

Whatever had made the day good, the part of him that Penny had commented on, cried out in the depths of his mind that vengeance wasn't meant to hurt him, too. It screamed in anguish that the woman he had spent nearly three years with was hurting. Worst of all, he knew he should comfort her. She needed someone to help her through what she was experiencing. That voice, such a small thing, kept him from being truly happy at the prospect of Erin's pain.

He tried to slap it down. It was such a small part of him, that voice, and didn't have the power necessary to influence him. He wouldn't help her. She had tried to hurt him first. But she had failed. She had made his life a seemingly inescapable hell for three years, so it wasn't as if he held the tender memories of a perfect romance when he thought of her.

The voice was weaker the next time it spoke, and Erin's crying had fallen to nothing but a mere whisper. He could hear her moving things in her car, and the voice sounded like it was screaming from behind a steel door. That voice was far too quiet to fight the monster roaring at the girl behind the car. Trent listened to something dark and vindictive tear the crying voice to pieces. His conscience went quiet, and was replaced by something darker.

A cruel smile spread across his face, and he listened with joy at the sound of Erin pulling herself together, shutting her car door, and walking out of his life forever.

He was foolish enough to believe he had won a battle.

Reviews

[Xavier Lee]

Well this was pleasant. I can't decide whether I should feel sorry for Erin or not. I do feel bad for Trent. Guy was finally having a good day and Penny had to go and ruin it. I have to agree with him. Erin made him unhappy, and now that she's gone, he can truly smile.
I'm just not sure how to feel about this.
I did love it, as with every other chapter, I know that.