6. Chatbot
6
Chatbot
I chomped through my frustrations one salty, germ-infested snack at a time. What was the point of my brother changing his plans to be here if he wasn’t going to hang out with me?
Sal jerked his chin at the couple. “So, how long have they been dating? A few weeks?”
I frowned. “How’d you know?”
“Honeymoon period.” He munched indiscriminately on the broken pretzel bits. “Don’t worry; it’ll cool off. Me and my girlfriend did.”
“After how long?”
He squinted at the ceiling. “Mm, a couple of months, maybe?”
“Hm.” That wasn’t too long. “And where is she?”
“Oh, she’s not coming.” He tapped along to some rock song playing on the speakers, then bobbed his head at the bartender. “Anyway, what are you having?”
I needed to keep my wits about me. “Arnold Palmer, please.”
Sal absent-mindedly drummed to the music, then scanned the room.
I’d lose my only social lifeline if I didn’t try talking to him. I grabbed my drink and people-watched at his side. “So, are you telling me some couples can still do things independently? ”
“Shockingly enough, yes.” He chuckled and propped his chin up. “You know, Ash is pretty independent. She’s probably not looking for a relationship.”
Why would that matter? I shrugged. “That’s fine. I’m not either. I hate men. No offense.”
“None taken.” He slumped slower, all puppy dog eyes from this angle. Maybe that was uncharitable of me to say in front of him.
“What I meant is, it can be hard to trust someone like that, no matter what gender,” I said.
He nodded, watching me.
My neck burned, so I tugged down my cap. “Anyway, we can all live fulfilling lives with our respective relationship statuses. Luckily, you trust Janice. And my brother and Kat are a good fit. They obviously bring each other care and happiness.”
That was what mattered.
“Aw, yes,” Kat said, hugging my brother as I turned around.
When had they walked up behind us?
Ash inserted herself into our circle, her voice silky and slightly slurred. “Hey, how’s everyone doing tonight?”
Kat straightened her spine and fiddled with her necklace. “Good. Hi, by the way. I’m Kat. I work at Hot Contra, and this is my boyfriend, Victor, who manages Westbrook Cineplex.”
“She manages Hot Contra,” he said, brushing his fingertips along her arm.
She giggled and flushed. “Sorry, it’s still kind of new.”
“Congrats.” Sal fought a grin and nudged my arm.
Yes, a lot was new in their lives. Hopefully, everything would settle down soon .
“I’m Ash, manager at True Tech. I love your style.” She eyed Kat appreciatively, then offered up her card. “Maybe I should stop by. Call me if you need anything.”
Victor hugged his girlfriend closer and gave me another look.
Yes, this was weird. My boss hadn’t even acknowledged me. And I honestly couldn’t tell if she was pitching a sale or trying to slide into a hot punk girl’s DMs.
Kat laughed good-naturedly. “Oh, I think Zero’s got us covered on that front. She’s Victor’s sister.”
“Oh.” Ash dropped into a more casual mode and slung her thumbs through the belt loops on her slacks. “Cool.”
Was it? I couldn’t shake the weird impression she was disappointed by the connection.
“I’m Sal,” he announced, overly loud, and thrust his hand out to Kat with a ridiculous grin.
“Yes," Victor said, rubbing her arm.
“You work at the mall too, right?” Kat shook Sal's hand.
Thankfully, he didn’t cling to her. “Aw, did Zero talk about me?” he teased.
“She said you were Ash’s friend,” Victor deadpanned.
Sal’s face fell.
Guilt zapped my chest. I supposed I wouldn’t like being relegated to Victor’s sister either. “He works at the toy store nearby. Geppetto’s Workshop,” I clarified.
“I manage,” he bragged, popping his collar.
Oh, he was making fun of my brother’s earlier correction. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing.
Kat spun the thick cord around her neck. “That’s great. How long have you been there?”
“Mm, about twenty years,” he said.
I recoiled, eyeing him. “How old are you?”
He raised his chin. “Twenty-five. It’s a family business.”
“It’d be so fun to grow up in a toy store,” Kat said.
A lot more fun than a psychologist’s office, anyway.
Gray walls hummed in the back of my brain. Ink blot tests. Medication. Headaches.
I lost track of the conversation. By the time I rebooted, Kat was gushing about her cat. “I swear, Jinx has psychic powers or something. I trust his intuition. He, like me, loved Victor right away.”
Ash toasted with her beer bottle. “Cheers to pussy powers.”
I rolled my eyes. Sexual innuendos weren’t slotted for this early in my mental dialogue tree. I started at the beginning. “Has anyone played good games lately?”
Ash shrugged. “I’m waiting on Fallen Angels Six. It’s gonna be like forty hours of grinding just to rip my heart out, but I’ll still love it.”
I pushed my glasses up. “The fifth one was really fun. What’s the big draw for six?”
“Um, the demons have southern accents and cutoff shorts?” She snickered.
Kat knocked Victor’s hip. “Demon diversity. I love that for us.”
I filtered through what I remembered of the latest trailer for the boisterous first-person horror adventure game. “Is it supposed to be making fun of the bible belt or rodeos or something?”
Sal burst out laughing. “Can you imagine hog-tying a demon in cutoffs? Yeehaw, Satan.” He galloped in place and mimed spinning a lasso.
“Are you going to ride him?” I snorted.
Sal chuckled, flushing. “If I could, that’d earn it game-of-the-year in a heartbeat.”
“He might prefer to ride you, instead,” I said .
It might’ve been the bar lights changing, but he turned even redder. Ash cackled and the others followed suit.
I grinned at my brother. See? I’m funny. Although I’d accidentally used an innuendo of my own. He smiled back, but there was a subtle tick of his jaw every time I laughed at one of Sal’s jokes. It wasn’t jealousy, obviously. He wanted me out of the house. But what was it?
Our group chatted without incident for a few minutes. Then, Victor gently touched my back and whispered, “We’re going to grab some food. Do you want anything?”
I shook my head. I was good. I had my new friends.
He slipped into the bar stool right behind me and chatted in low tones with Kat beside him. As the night wore on, our group drifted through the area for various bar games and beverages.
The only problem was we were an uneven number for pool, so Kat and Victor swapped off, eyeing each other with flirty possessiveness every time the other bent over the table or handed off the stick.
“It’s like they’re magnetized,” I muttered.
Sal chuckled. “Yep.”
My brother took a shot, the balls clacking in sharp succession. He stiffened, then stretched until his shoulder cracked.
Kat rubbed a circle on his back. “Is your rib bothering you again? Maybe we should see a physical therapist.”
“I’ll manage.” He flexed his neck.
“What happened?” Sal asked.
They hesitated and glanced at me. I bristled, my insides knotted. Was this about the spider incident?
“Work injury,” Victor clipped, flexing his shoulders.
Sal wrinkled his brow. “Is that code for sex?”
Victor chuckled and pulled his bangs down to cover his face.
“No.” I elbowed Sal. It was none of his business .
He pulled at his shirt. “Oh, right, that’d be awkward to talk about in front of your sister. Sorry. Usually, my girlfriend digs her nails into my arm to tell me when I’m being an idiot.”
I frowned. Wouldn’t that hurt?
“Where is Janice?” Ash asked curtly, walking past the couple to set up her next shot.
Sal hugged the pool cue. “Out with friends.”
“Clubbing again?”
“Not ‘again.’ But yes.” He shrugged, then leaned on his cue, “She loves to dance.”
“Do you?” I asked.
His face wrinkled in exaggerated contemplation. “Not in public. I’ll jump around at concerts. But I am in a band.”
“That she barely acknowledges,” Ash added.
“Hey, she’s come to a few sets. Rock isn’t her jam,” he said.
I smiled, perhaps out of pity or perhaps for the pun. “Nice one.”
We tapped sticks. They clinked like swords or glasses, though most of our drinks were guarded by my brother at the nearby high-top table.
“You’re distracting my process,” Ash joked, waving at us and winding around the pool table to plot her next move.
“Sorry,” Sal said sarcastically.
Once she was out of earshot, I whispered, “Outside of work, she’s actually kind of fun.”
He nudged me and smirked. “We could say the same about you.”
Fun? Me? I tugged my cap down and smiled. Maybe I could be social once a month or something.
He rubbed the scruff on his chin. “You know, Ash also likes dancing. Mostly when she’s been drinking, but she’s also into coffee and feminist fantasy stuff, if that’s more your thing. ”
Squirming, I accidentally rubbed his shoulder with mine. I liked some of that stuff, but we didn’t need to have everything in common to be friendly, did we?
“We could play a fantasy game. Multiplayer,” I suggested. That always brought out temperaments pretty quickly.
He pointed at his chest. “All of us? Or just you two?”
I shrugged. “Whoever. It’d be easier with more people, though.” Plus, I wanted to be inclusive of my brother’s new obsession.
He furrowed his brow. “Okay, um, I’ll create a channel for us, try to plot out a schedule.”
“We all work in retail. Our schedules are probably fucked,” I said.
“You’re right.” He laughed, then a mangled snap rang through the air.
“My process,” Ash complained, standing up straight.
“My bad. Do-over,” he said, hurrying to reset the pool balls.
What a weirdo. I smiled and shook my head. If we ever did squad up for multiplayer, it was going to be a disaster.
My brother tilted his head at me, a silent question, so I straightened my posture to better receive it.
It wasn’t quite, ‘Are you okay?’ Because I’d been playing and laughing and present. Maybe it was just ‘How are you?’ or ‘What are you doing?’
I vaguely flopped my arms at my sides. I didn’t know. Wasn’t I being normal? I gestured to the exit with my chin. ‘Leave after this game?’
He nodded.
Great.
I didn’t hug anyone goodbye, but I did tap their forearms, fists, and sticks. Whatever was presented.
“I’ll message you about game night,” Sal called as our trio walked away, still typing my username into his phone.
Ash hung onto his arm, whispering something.
“Shut up; she is not,” he said, shaking her off .
Who wasn’t what? I couldn’t exactly go back without looking desperate.
“Is it okay if Kat comes back with us?” Victor asked, holding the door open.
She feigned an apologetic smile and twisted her cross necklace. “It’s okay if I can’t. Jinx would prefer I come straight home, anyway.”
“It’s fine.” I pushed up my glasses and flashed them a small smile. After all, we were almost friends.