Center Courtship (9 page)

Elsu's face shot up and he stepped forward.

“Elsu is not an ass, he's actually rather kind. He came with most of the team to the hospital today so they could meet Brandon.”

There was a pause on the line. She hated being corrected. “Well, he's probably doing it for publicity. How many reporters are there?”

“Not a one, mom.”

“Well, you have a tendency to not notice things, there is probably one hiding out writing everything down. Probably taking pictures, too. He'll write an article to stroke Elsu's already inflamed ego. This whole basketball thing is stupid and Brandon's infatuation isn't healthy. He's 12, he needs to find another hobby.”

Elsu's face blanched.

“What did you call me for, mom? I was about to go home.”

“You can't yell at Christopher. He needed the truck for a date,” she said, as if this was a common thing to do.

“You're defending him? He stole from me mom, and because of that I had to see Bart!”

There was another long pause. “Why in the world did you have to see Bart?”

“He delivered my gas to Elsu's house, he didn't know I was there, but when he found out, he made sure everyone knew his opinion of me.”

“You need to get over all that, sweetheart,” her voice oozing vile acid. “He really was a nice boy.”

Elsu took the phone from my hand and hung it up. “Enough of that. Whatever the hell
that
was.”

“That…was my mom.” I slumped down on the top of the staircase. “That is my mom protecting the snot out of my younger brother. She'd do the same if it were my sister.”

“Wow, that was messed up,” he sat down beside me, his long legs stretching nearly half way down the staircase.

“Yeah, that's my life.” I said as I put my forehead on my folded arms as they were crossed across my knees.

“Well, thank you for defending me. I definitely didn't do this for bragging rights.”

I turned to look at him while still resting my head on my arms. “I just said you did this. I know Carl did it.”

Before he could reply, a door opened and shut on the landing below. We then heard someone ascending the stairs towards us. A young woman appeared at the halfway point of the floor and turned to come up the flight we were sitting on. She wasn't watching where she was going, just down at the stairs as most people do when they climb steps. She stopped suddenly when she came upon Elsu's feet. Her eyes raked up his body and her eyes began to bulge. “Dude!” she said as she stepped around his feet and came up near his torso. “Elsu!”

Elsu nodded and held out his hand. “How do you do?”

“I can't WAIT for the first game! I've had my tickets since the day they went on sale! It's going to be so awesome having the team closer to home.”

“We're looking forward to it,” said Elsu as the woman continued to shake his hand.

She looked at me briefly, then down at her still-shaking hand and stopped suddenly. Something changed in her and she flipped her hair back off her shoulder. Her chest was now jutting out a
little more, and her body language changed. “Could I get a selfie with you?”

“Sure,” said Elsu seemingly oblivious to this woman's affections.

She pulled out her phone and held it up to take a picture of herself with him. She had put her arm around his shoulder to take the picture, but when she was done with the photo, her hand remained. She scooted closer to him and let her hair cascade over her opposite shoulder revealing a long, elegant neck. Her eyelashes began to bat and she started enunciating each word so that one couldn't help but notice her full red lips.

Watching the show, I got a strange sensation in the pit of my stomach. I wasn't sure what it was, but I didn't like it.

“You are even more handsome in person,” she said as she made sure to round her lips as the word ‘person' rolled out of her mouth. She dragged a finger down his arm and to his fingers which rested on his knee.

“He's taken, miss,” I said flatly.

She eyed me from ponytail to Converse and laughed. “You wish,” she said.

“I didn't say by me, lady. But I can guarantee his girlfriend would pummel you into the ground if she saw you hanging all over him like that,” I said.

The woman stood and looked at both of us. She flipped her hair behind her shoulder, “his loss,” she said as she continued up the steps.

Once we heard a door above us open and close, Elsu looked at me. “I guess we're even now.”

“Even?”

“I got rid of Bart for you, and you got rid of her,” he said with a smile.

“Yeah, I guess we are.” I stood up and straightened out my jeans and shirt.

“I'll have to tell Saraya you had her back, she'll get a kick out of that.”

“Yeah, she doesn't like me much. I don't think she'll be as entertained as you think,” I said, as I took a few steps down the staircase.

“She has her moments,” said Elsu as he stood beside me.

“Well, thanks for everything, I'll maybe talk to you later.”

“I'll walk you to your truck,” said Elsu as he followed behind me.

“You don't have to do that, I'm a big girl.”

“I know you are, but I'm going to walk you to your truck, anyway.”

I wasn't in the mood to argue, so we walked silently down the rest of the steps and through the hospital towards the parking garage.

“Elsu!” A man's voice yelled from behind us. We both turned around to find a man in a suit and tie approaching. “Kevin. Kevin Hart. Public Relations Coordinator for the hospital. Thanks for calling last night! We're always glad to have you here. How is everything going up there? I haven't had a chance to come up and check on you.”

Elsu shook the tall, middle aged man's hand and smiled. “Not a problem. Everything seems to be going well. I've not been here very long. But I'm going to go back up once I walk my friend to her car.”

“No problem, I'll be going up there myself in a few. I got a phone call from the team's PR guy this morning.”

“Carl?” asked Elsu.

“Yeah, he was not very thrilled that you set this up without him, but you're always more than welcome to come. You and the team, of course. These kids love guests like this.”

“I honestly didn't want to get the team's PR involved but with Carl, once he gets wind of an opportunity to promote the team, he is on it quick.”

“You're a good guy, Elsu. Glad you're here! I'll see you later.” Kevin turned and walked away.

I looked at Elsu and then to where Kevin had exited our line of sight. “
You
did this? But Carl said
he
set this up.”

Elsu nodded wordlessly and shrugged his shoulders. “Come on, let's get you out of here.”

Once Little José was in sight I stopped and looked at Elsu. “I know why you wanted to walk me to my truck,” I said looking at him with a grin.

“You do?”

“You wanted to look at Little José some more,” I said, as I unlocked the truck door.

“Oh, yeah, you got me! He's a beaut. Ok, I have to admit that comes out weird. I've never met a male vehicle before.”

“Neither had I until I bought this one. The name fits,” I said as I patted the steering wheel.

“Does he look like a José to you?”

“I don't know about all that, but the name just seems to work. He was owned by one of my brother's high school buddies. It was Little José before he bought it.” I started the engine and caught the pink thong out of the corner of my eye. I looked at Elsu and saw that he was looking at it too. “Oh my God, I can't believe this, I won't be happy until I explain those,” I said as I buried my head in my hand.

Elsu raised his hands and stepped back from the door feigning innocence. “To each his, or her, own,” he said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes. “They're my brother's.”

Elsu looked at me strangely and we both burst into a fit of giggles. “Like I said, to each his own,” he said, as he continued laughing.

“His girlfriend's,” I said correcting myself as I wiped a tear of laughter from my eye.

“I guess that makes a little more sense. Well, have a good one, you've made for a very entertaining weekend,” he said, as he tapped on the door.

“Glad I could help,” I said as I put the truck into gear.

Elsu turned to leave, but turned back just as quickly. “I forgot something!” He said, reaching into his pocket and fishing out a folded envelope.

“What's that?” I asked, applying my foot to the brake.

“Brandon's prize package included tickets in the owner's section to the first game. I'd like you to come. Bring him if he's feeling better, otherwise bring a friend.”

I felt my jaw lose slack and I took the envelope from Elsu. “These are for Brandon,” I said.

“I know, but I want you to have them. You seem like you could use a day of fun,” he said, as he stepped back away from the truck as if fearing I'd return the tickets.

“Well, I…um, ok. Thanks!” I didn't want to tell him an arena full of people to me was like a room full of giant spiders to an arachnophobe.

“I'll see you Saturday then!” he waved to me as he walked back towards the hospital entrance.

“What was that about?”
I asked myself as I slumped into my seat.

Just as Elsu was about to open the door to go back into the hospital, the door opened and Carl stepped out. “THERE you are! Where have you been?”

“Just taking Mae to her truck,” said Elsu as he pointed toward me.

Carl looked at me, then back to Elsu, then back to me. He seemed to snarl a bit but held the door for Elsu and they both went back into the hospital.

Back at Rogers Apartments, I noticed that my neighbor across the hall hadn't picked up his newspaper yet. It was Sunday, coupon day! I grabbed his, and mine, and headed upstairs. Once in my hallway, I knocked on Arnold's door. There was no answer. Arnold was my 95-year old neighbor who refused professional help from anyone. A few months earlier, Colette and I had pooled our money and hired a housekeeper to come in every couple weeks. He only let her come in twice before telling her where she could go. It wasn't a pleasant place he had in mind, either. I knocked again and listened through the door. In one of his more pleasant moments, Colette and I had convinced him to give us spare keys, so I went to my apartment to retrieve it. I looked at the floor and found Little José's key and a note had been pushed under the door. I picked up the crinkled paper and unfolded it.

“
You are so selfish, sis. He had tickets to a show in Cleveland. –Candice
”

I balled the note up and threw it at nothing in particular. Those two were so infuriating! Christopher couldn't even be bothered to drop it off himself. I grabbed my personal copy of Arnold's key and went back to his door just as Colette appeared walking down the hall with a basket of laundry tucked under her arm.

“Have you seen Arnold lately?” I asked her.

Colette sat her basket by her door and walked to stand beside me. She pounded on the door with her open palm. “Arnold!” She yelled into the door.

We could hear movement through the door. “Can't an old man get a nap around here?” I let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank God!” I said, as we heard the lock disengage and the door opened.

Arnold stood in his boxers and a yellowed undershirt. The gray hair that remained on his head was sticking out in every direction except for the one that would have indicated he owned a comb.

“You two are lucky I like you,” he barked. “What do you want?”

I laughed thinking about how he must treat his enemies. “Arnold, I saw your paper downstairs and I got worried. You usually bring mine to me, so I was just checking to see if you were ok.”

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Get your coupons out and leave it on the table. I just got a call from my great-great niece, my great-nephew passed away. Wanna know what he died from?”

I looked at Colette nervously. “Umm, sure?”

“Old age! I'm 95-years old and I'm outliving my greats.” He walked back into his apartment, leaving the door open as a silent invitation for us to follow.

We walked into the familiar kitchen. The three of us spent a lot of time together there. Arnold was a grumpy old man, but he was
our
grumpy old man. Colette and I watched after him, since he had no immediate family left. I picked up the dirty plates that sat on the table and ran them under the water before opening his dishwasher. It was full from when I had loaded it the last time so Colette and I started unloading it before starting to load the dirty stuff in.

“I don't know what I'd do without you girls,” said Arnold, as he put on his robe and slowly sat down at his table.

“So Mae,” said Colette. “Tell Arnold about your day yesterday!”

Arnold's opinion of the basketball team was anything but secret. He didn't like it one bit. For every promised pro, he had a list a mile long of cons. I gave him the short version. I looked at Colette with a smile. “There's more to add to the story.”

Arnold interrupted. “So let me get this straight, that asshole brought your gas?”

We both swung our heads back to him, amazed that from all the information he had just heard, the most important to him was that Bart had been there.

“Yes, Arnold.”

“And this Elsu kid, he kicked him off his property for being an asshole to you?”

“Yes, Arnold.”

“Hmmmph.” He sat back in his chair pondering this information. “Maybe I had him pegged wrong. Might not be a bad guy after all.”

Colette and I both started laughing. “Remember that one night when Bart was standing in the hallway yelling at you through your door and Arnold came out and started beating him over the head with his cane?” asked Colette.