“Everything should fit in the car!” Avi cheerfully confirmed with a clap of his hands.
“That’s great.” Mitch used the interruption to take a step backwards, and nodded when Avi mouthed ‘Are you OK?’ at him. Giving a quick thumbs up, Avi then grabbed more bins, and commented that it’d only be one more trip until they could take off. While he waited for Avi to leave again, Mitch enjoyed the unspoken ceasefire, and for one final time, basked in the sunlight that poured in through the window wall. Too many times were spent in front of it strung out, simultaneously cooking and shivering on the sofa. The sensation of sweat-drenched skin and body hair ripping away from the black leather, pulling like a strip of Velcro, remained imprinted in him.
Once he and Calvin were alone, frost permeated the room. Mitch gathered himself, looked Calvin in the eye, and said, “Look, I need one last favor.”
Calvin ignored him, opting to remark, “He’s pretty cute. Are you two a thing?”
“No. I barely know him. He’s just…nice. Really nice.” Mitch shook his head, and ignored the jab from guilt that manifested somewhere in his digestive track, right around where the esophagus and stomach met. Avi made himself approachable ever since he moved in, but especially during this road trip. In exchange, that morning Mitch revealed a few key things about himself that he’d never told anyone before, not even Jodie. They were probably friends by now, or at least on a fast track to getting there. No one else was around to help him get his stuff, after all.
But Calvin didn’t need that information, so Mitch snapped his fingers and continued with, “Focus, please. It’s important.”
“That’s awfully bold,” scoffed Calvin, but the way that the corner of his lip curled meant that he was amused. Mitch decided that this was a hurdle that he could manage.
“I need health insurance, at least until I know this is healed,” he gestured to his right arm. “I don’t get it through my job since I’m a contractor, and I’d rather not deal with any gaps in coverage. Can I just pay you to keep me on yours? And then I can owe you a favor, or I can fuck off forever, whichever you prefer.”
Calvin’s face practically split open “Oh, I would have taken care of it regardless, you know that I love a charity case!” Mitch glowered, and Calvin eased up on the theatrics. “I’m kidding. Your words, remember? You’re the one that said that I like to ‘fuck wounded animals’.”
“That is so not what I said,” deadpanned Mitch.
“But in exchange for a favor?” Calvin continued as though he hadn’t heard the counter. “Sure, Mitch. You got it. Don’t know what I’ll ever need from you, but I’m game for that.”
In hindsight, the favor in question should have been allowing Calvin to continue delivering lowblows without taking him up on that offer to slap the shit out of him.
“Cool. Thanks. I mean that.” Mitch kept it earnest, but dialed down the relief. He almost hoped that the request would have been declined, because it couldn’t be a good idea to stay attached any longer than necessary. But he was hedging a bet that Calvin would get bored sooner rather than later and forget the favor owed altogether.
“Look, I’d rather we not hate one another.” The sincerity that Calvin spoke with sounded vulnerable. Mitch, taken aback, stared blankly at him, his rabbit heart hammering as he stood there prepared to sprint for the door. “I know that’s a tall ask, and you probably don’t believe me when I say that I still lo-“
“You can’t,” Mitch stopped him before he could finish the word, his body on the verge of seizing up. Last thing he needed was to go into cardiac arrest and be taken out on a stretcher, instead of on his own terms, on his own two feet. “You can’t say that. Not now.”
“I had to do this, we’re not healthy for one another. We’ve become stagnant.” Blinking a few times, Mitch’s brain went into overtime, as if a sleeper agent phrase had been activated. ‘Stagnant’ was a newer term that Calvin picked up ever since he turned 30 and tried to solve the what does it all mean conundrum which every person with unearned wealth finds themselves faced with. Mitch tuned it out a while back because he had real-world stuff to worry about, like student loans. He didn’t have the time for a zany spirit quest to find himself.
“Oh my god, it’s that fucking yoga instructor, isn’t it?” His head whipped towards the front entryway in the kitchen, and he spotted a pair of tennis shoes on the shoerack that belonged to neither of them. “That wackjob, right? The yoga guy? Am I in a movie? This happens in movies.”
“He’s a spiritual guide, Mitch,” Calvin clarified, like he’d done so many times when he’d mention the man’s name in the past. Each time, Mitch reduced it to ‘yoga guy’. “And maybe if you respected that-“
“No way, babe. Good for you for being a stereotype and bagging hot ass yoga guy, be sure to tell me all about the crystals that he recommends he shoves up your butt for detoxing or whatever,” Mitch grinned with delight, making no effort to stand his ground as Calvin shoved him away. And when Avi resurfaced, it only made Mitch that more amped up for the upcoming car ride back. He’d probably burst into tears before they even left the garage, but once he got past that it was going to be worth a good laugh. He hoped so, anyway. If Jodie brought him, she’d just fume and scream for the entire 3 hour road trip, and then for the next week after that. Maybe even an entire month. But Avi, with his laid back demeanor, would probably just be entertained and laugh along with Mitch, and he looked forward to that.
It felt good, in a way that a lot of things hadn’t lately. To not be reminded of the weight that had repeatedly threatened to crush him. He couldn’t even remember why he’d been so intimidated or annoyed by Avi in the first place.
“Last trip?” Avi asked, and Mitch walked over to dwindling pile and slung his guitar case over his back.
“Yup,” Mitch nodded, feeling more sure of himself than he’d been in recent memory. Every step was like walking barefoot on broken glass, but he could take solace that for once he hadn’t been the one to put the glass there. And that was an incredibly rare feat, to not take on the mantle of blame. The other stages of grief would be free to come as they pleased, but at least this portion that he’d been fighting uphill with was overcome and slain.
The final few totes were gathered up, and Mitch told Avi that he’d meet him downstairs.