PART 12

[9/26/18 4:00 PM]

It was a sunny afternoon when Oliver got a text from Juanito asking him if he could stop by.

"Yeah, I'll be here. Come around 5:30"

[I've got alcohol for days in my house, why make him spend any more money than he has? Or more money than I make? My last two client's have been a few cheapskates. One motherfucker only paid me half of what I charged and then held a gun to my head before he left. The other? Let's just say, he wanted a whole lot for me to receive very little in return.]

Juanito was making his final runs on his job, he  called his wife and told her he'd be running a little late. "Yeah, I'm meeting a buddy for a drink."

After a quick gym workout and a shower, he made his way to Oliver's home where Oliver was inside sitting on the sofa. The doorbell rang.

"Hey boy what's good?"

After dapping their fists, Oliver asked him if he wanted a drink.

"Get me some of that rum over ice"

Wasting no time, Juan cut right to the chase and asked about the profession.

"Damn, you don't waste no time do you?" Oliver responded "Yes, I'm what one calls a mlut or a male slut"

"Look I'm not here to judge, but my wife states that you serviced one of her classmates"

[I've been out to my friends since I was 15, I just didn't inform my mother until much later. If my dad were alive to see what my profession was I'm sure that It'd kill him or he'd kill me.]

"And yes, the guy that you saw me with was one of my clients. Do you honestly think that I like this?"

"Calm down!".

[Yeah, I just LOVE being a cumdumpster. I busted my ass in college, interned with the government, even worked for the federal government for two years only to suck dick. That sounds about right.]

"I'm trying to come out of it. I really don't like it. I've registered for school and...."

"Again, not here to judge. Where you applying?"

"Man, I've applied to Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Orlando a few places."

"What about Tampa?"

"Haven't given it much thought."

"The one in Fort Lauderdale would be great because it's not far from my house."

"Again not here to judge, I know the last thing that you need is another lecture, but all I'm gonna say is that people are talking. Giving you the heads up."

"Thanks…I think."

"But hey look at me, I've got two degrees and I barely make above minimum wage living with my fucking parents. You know how embarrassing that is? Me and my wife sleeping in my old bedroom?"

"Your sex life must suck."

"Sex life? That's virtually none existent! I might have to use your connections to get a hotel room."

After a couple of more drinks, Juanito  left and went home. "Later Ollie."

"Later bro"

After he finished his bottle of rum, he took one large sleeping pill and went to sleep. The following morning, he got up and fixed himself bagel, a couple of egg whites and some turkey bacon. He sat around for a bit and jacked off, then took a shower. It was only 6:00 am. "Well, at least there's a coffee shop open somewhere. I could use a hot beverage." He found a local mom and pop coffee shop about 20 minutes from his home. He sat down when the owner introduced himself as "Kenny." He was probably in his mid 50s. He opened this coffee shop up with his wife about five years ago.

"I've never even seen y'all, but I grew up a bit further down in Miami Beach"

 "Well welcome! I'm glad you've found us. We just put our pumpkin spice back beverages on the menu. They're big sellers. It's also amazing blended."

"I'll take a hot one."

"Want any food?"

"Not right now, just gonna stick with my coffee. I'll take a latte. But you can leave the menu there."

His beverage arrived, hot and quite rich. It had an impressive presentation. Served in a mug, topped with whipped cream with a bit of the pumpkin spice sauce drizzled on top. It was probably the best cup of coffee that he had during the year. It took his mind off of his graduate school search for a bit. He decided to order a BLT.

"I think I"ll take another one of these lattes too!"

"Coming right up"

He drank his second cup of coffee and ate his sandwich before leaving, assuring that he'd be back. "I think I've got a new hangout spot." It was a seven minutes after 7:30 am by the time he left, however he wasn't expected to be at work for another 2 hours.
[It's times like this that I wish my crib had a pool.Fuck man, I already took a shower. Otherwise I'd go to the beach.]
Oliver eventually got to the office when his boss asked him in for an unexpected meeting.
"Is everything okay?" He asked
"I like you. You do good work. You also make great conversation.
 "Thanks."
"I'd like to put in a good word for you. I have a few professor friends that may be able to help you"
"That's be great"
"You should come out with me and my husband to dinner"
 "Sure, how's Friday?"
"See you at 7:30"
"See you then"

He went back to sorting applications when Claudia came in. "So what was the about?"

"Random, she invited me to dinner with her and her husband"
"For what...."
"I do not know"

[And I'm hoping that this is a genuine dinner date and not another one of those couples nights where I'm the third wheel. You know, the kind where you get wasted and then you screw and get screwed? Yeah, just had one of those and I'm thankfully without an insurance bill for a while, but if I had a choice......this would be a business meeting where I'm signing paperwork as a graduate student taking a job as a research assistant. Hell if I had my choice, I'd be working as a social worker and teaching as an adjunct lecturer somewhere.]

"Did she say anything else?"

"Not really. She said she like my performance and that I make good conversation. I didn't even know she was married."

"Yeah, she's a private person, she doesn't really talk about her home life"

"Any kids?"

"No children, but her and her husband have been married for about 4 years."

"I'll be damned."

"Yeah."

"Well what about you?"

"Well, I'm got a couple of interviews coming up, K-12 school and at a high school."

"SWEET! Keep me posted."

"Well, I gotta get to calling these clients and reminding them about the Halloween party coming up. Good thing it's early in the day. I'm hosting a little something myself that night. It'll be an adult party."

Spending the rest of this day contacting clients, he came across one that he knew personally. This was the older brother of one of his high school teammates. Carrying on with his duties, he called and notified him of the event, however he did take down his cell number to send a text later. After calling 10 more, he took a coffee break.

[I'm gonna be wide awake tonight, between the coffee I drank early this morning and what I'm doing now. I just hope they didn't get this water out of the restroom.]

"Still trying to wake up?" Claudia asked, sitting down to join him. "I guess so. My sleeping pattern is all out of wack these days."

"Same here. Between certification exams and applying for teaching positions, I'll sleep for an hour, wake up for two. Struggle to go back to sleep and just when I'm in a deep sleep, my alarm goes off."

[The life of our side jobs. I've had a few sleepless nights my damn self. From wild ass parties, to one night stands. To the guilt of basically allowing myself to be tossed around like a fucking beach ball all so I could pay rent for the roach-laden apartment complex that I was residing in.]

"Maybe you'll feel a bit better after your interviews. I'm still waiting to hear from ONE of the grad schools that I've applied to."

"No word yet?"

"Not yet, no letters of rejection so that's good."

"Hey how about we go to that new Caribbean place for lunch?"

"Yeah, I've heard good stuff about it."

"You game?"

"Sure. I'm gonna try to knock out a little more of my work, gotta get the rest of these phone calls to get done."

"You know we are gonna send out letters for those who have addresses on file right? You only need to call those who don't have an address listed"

"You just made my job much easier. We can leave around 11:30, take an early lunch."

"Ummm yeah, I'm going to start getting those letters ready tomorrow. So you'll only be asking for addresses."

[Ummmm yeah.........I'm not going back to call all of those individuals, I'll send a mass email and they can respond to me individually.]

Oliver looked through the list of clients and verified addresses now that he had an idea of what he was doing. His job would ultimately help Claudia do her job tomorrow. "Do they not update with you guys every year?"

"They're supposed to, but they don't always do so and often we get mail returned with the forwarding address."

"Oh I know that story, I worked for the FEMA, same shit."

"Don't think I could put up with that one."

"It was much more organized than the last disaster job I did. Rules and regulations changed on the daily it seemed like. I remember working with someone who had come from a State job and he found it mind boggling how often this changed. The program was very poorly organized. He didn't last long. We were all shocked when he got fired. I got laid off not far behind it as the application portion of the program was coming to an end, but in the time I was there, I saw about six people resign and at least four get fired. I suspect some fraud and you should've seen the comments we were getting online from disgruntled clients."

"Would you do it again?"

"FEMA? Yes, but another state program being contracted out to other companies? Hellllllllllllll no."

He looked down at his watch momentarly and saw that it was 15 minutes till, "I'm just gonna make a quick restroom run and we can get ready."

"Sweet, I'll do the same. Mind if I carpool with you?"

"Not at all."

"Thank you ma'am."

[Case work? Fuck no. Not unless it's civil service and even then, it would have to pay a shit ton of money. It's an unfair job. A very thankless job. Client doesn't do their part? You lose. You don't do your part. You lose. Client can't be reached, you're at fault. Fuck that!]

They arrived at the restaurant. "I hear the jerk pork is KILLER!"

"I haven't been, but I'm looking forward to it. They have a food truck and the food truck has rave reviews."

Once arriving to the restaurant, the food was delivered after approximately 20 minutes. Surprisingly the food was hot and the amount they received for their dollar was well worth it. Oliver got the jerk pork while Claudia got the jerk chicken. Their entrees came with a side of rice and fried bread. They were able to enjoy this lunch as they knew their supervisor would be running a little late this afternoon.

"She's normally pretty good about lunch. She already knows we're here"Claudia said as she took a bit of rice. "This food is good, I think they do deliveries too"

"I may had to add this place to my list, then" Oliver said taking a sip of lemonade. "This pork is the shit."

"I went to a really nice coffee shop this morning, not far from my house. I've gotta bring you there one day. They owner's name is Kenny. He's got a wife. I had the best pumpkin spice beverage."

"I look forward going. Maybe this weekend? After all. I am officially certified as a teacher now."

"Yeah, we gotta celebrate. How about drinks this Friday and coffee the following morning?"

"It's a date"

[Yeah, one that doesn't end up with me in a stranger's hotel room.]

They eventually returned to the office to resume their task of promoting the Halloween party. After contacting as many as they could contact within the time frame available, they called it a day. Oliver drove home thinking about his own party that night. He turned his phone on to see a message from the school from Fort Lauderdale with good news. The school would like to meet with him on Monday morning. That gave him something to look forward to. There was no reason for him to not get in, he had great grades and was heavily involved when it came to his college career. In addition, he worked for the Federal government for a couple of years as a disaster relief worker. Even if he now regrets his time there, it is something that looks good on the resume. He had about five nights to think about his explanation for the work gap. He just hoped that no one would ask about that. Being a sex worker was a sure way to not get in.

He arrived home, put on a pair of  swimming trunks and headed to the beach for a swim. The dark blue waters of the Atlantic were rather refreshing. After his swim, he sat out and dried off while watching boats enjoy the water. On the way home, he picked up some Chinese food and called Damon.

"Hey man, I've got a day off this Friday, wanna hang?"

"Sure"

"I've got enough alcohol for my own bar and me and my coworker are celebrating her certification"

"Need me to bring anything?"

"A couple of 12 packs"

"Got it"

"I'll order some pizzas, we can just stuff our faces, and then get drunk. I keep plenty of water in the even that you need to kill some of the effects of alcohol."

He took a shower, washed his hair and called it a night. He turned in to one of his Youtube news channels and watched that until he eventually went to sleep. 

[PART 13 TO FOLLOW]