Time Over and Again, Chapter 4

To start from the first chapter, click here.

To read the previous chapter, click here.

“We can’t keep doing this, Len,” Sasha sighed. “You can’t keep cutting me out of everything all the time.”

“I know, I just… sometimes I have trouble talking about things that scare me.”

“What is scaring you, Len? You can tell me; you know you can! I just don’t understand why you think you can’t, or—or you don’t want to. What is it?”

Len’s white terrier, Mimi, ran into the room excitedly. She was wagging her tail and she barked at Sasha, who smirked and rolled her eyes as she started to pet her. Len still sat quietly.

Sasha looked up at him. “Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“I… am sorry.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Jeez, Len. I’ve heard ‘I’m sorry’ before, what about doing better? What about actual explanations? What about…” she trailed off into silence, and then neither of them was able to talk.

She looked off for a second and stared out the window. “Remember when you moved in here?” She said. “Like, that first night?”

Len chuckled. “Yeah, there was that big storm and the power went out.”

She started to laugh a bit, too. “We lit all those Bug Be Away or whatever candles because we didn’t have any real candles left.” She turned back to Len. “The storm was beautiful to watch, though.”

He nodded. “It was.”

Suddenly Len’s phone began to ring; somebody not in his contacts, but a familiar number nonetheless.

“What do you remember, now?”

“So much…”

“Do you remember how you got here?”

“N—no. Not yet.”

“Keep searching, then. Keep following the trail.”

“What will I see?”

“I do not know.”

“Who is it?” Sasha asked.

“I think it’s… I think it might be Anthony,” Len said, a bit shocked. He stared at the phone for a couple more seconds.

Sasha stood up and started to leave. “You take that, I guess we can continue this later.”

“No, no. Like you said, we need to talk.” Len grabbed her arm and tried to stop her from leaving. “I can always call him back.”

She smiled. “Len, don’t screw this up, too. Answer the phone.”

She walked out the door and left him standing alone in his apartment, the phone still ringing in his hand.

“Too?”

It took him a few more seconds to snap back into place, and then he quickly answered the phone.

“Hello!” He said frantically, his voice cracking like he was twelve years old again. He cleared his throat and started over right away. “Hello. Thank you for calling. Um, I mean, who is calling, may I ask?”

The man on the other side of the phone chuckled. “Len, calm down. It’s Anthony. How ya doin’?”

“I am uh… I am alright.” Len took a seat on the couch again and Mimi jumped on his lap. “So, what—um, to what do I owe the honor of your call?”

“Dude, you really need to chill out, it’s just me.”

“Yeah, I know. I know. It has just been so long since we talked.”

“I know, and I’m sorry about that. But I think what I’m about to say to you will make it all worth it.”

“I am listening.”

“I’m thinking about opening up a new restaurant uptown. I don’t mean a dinky one like the one you’re at right now, either. Uhh…. No offense.”

“Only a little taken.”

“Close enough! Anyway who cares, right? You’re way too good for that place, Len! Cutting right to the chase, man. I want you in on this with me. Head chef, signing bonus so you can move out of that old apartment and closer uptown, all the works. What do you say?”

“Are you for real? This has to be some sort of a dream, right? This… what? So out of nowhere!”

“I know, I know. It’s all super fast, but things have been moving fast on my end, too! A property opened up so fast and when all the money people started pitching things, I guess we had to move quick. It’s all a bunch of financial mumbo jumbo I’m sure you’d fall asleep to anyway. Down to brass tacks, though, you in?”

“Well of co—” Len stopped himself for a second. He glanced at the door, then back down at Mimi. “Actually… can I call you back in a little bit? There’s… something I need to check on first.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure! Just try to let me know as soon as you can, ok?”

“Of course. Thank you, Ant.”

“No, we are not bringing that back.”

Len chuckled. “Sure, we aren’t.”

He hung up the phone and ran over to his apartment door, took a quick right down the hall and went for the elevator. He pressed the call button, but after waiting for about two seconds shook his head and went further down the hall, turning into the stairwell. He ran down the stairs and into the lobby as swift as he could, then shot out onto the street. Sasha, however, was already gone.

“Crap!” He yelled, startling an old woman walking into the building. “Uh, sorry, ma’am.”

Len dug his phone back out of his pocket and pulled up Sasha’s contact information.

“Do you understand, yet?”

“No.”

“Then continue.”

He pushed call and listened to the phone ring a few times before she finally picked up.

“Uh, Len?? What’s going on?” She was confused (and definitely a little bit annoyed) at Len calling her so suddenly. “I just left.”

“Sasha, I’m so sorry I missed you out the door. But listen, I have an amazing… just amazing opportunity here. Anthony wants me to be the head chef at a restaurant for him, and… well, it’s uptown, or, well, it will be. But I can’t keep doing things like this, not without talking to you first. I know I need to do better.”

“Oh, god, please tell me you didn’t turn down the job because of me…”

“No, no. I just… told him I’d call him back.”

Sasha chuckled. “Really?”

Len laughed a bit, too. “Yeah, well. I needed to talk to you first.”

“For the love of god, take the job, Len!”

Len smiled. “Ok, I will.”

“But… thanks for calling, anyway.”

“I love you.”

“Love ya too, dummy. Now go call him back or I swear I will—”

“Ok, ok! I do not think I want to know how that sentence ends.”

“Probably not.”

They said goodbye to one another and Len hung up the phone before calling Anthony back once again.

“Uh, hey. Calling back already?” He answered.

“Yeah, I just needed to take care of some stuff. I am in.”

“Well, that was quick! Sweet. I’ll get the papers pushed through to you soon, you should see a check in the mail soon. Or I could just give it to you over a cup of coffee, if you’d like.”

Len smirked. “Yeah, man. I would like that.”

“It is becoming… a bit clearer. But, uh…”

“But what?”

“Not yet. I need to keep digging.”

“Good, do not let up.”

A couple of days passed. Len had met Anthony for coffee, where he got a nice check as a signing bonus with the restaurant. After cashing it, he called Sasha as he walked back to his car.

“Hey, how’d the date go?” She said.

“It was not a date!”

Sasha laughed. “Sure it wasn’t.”

“Sasha!”

“Kidding, kidding! Really, though. I’m glad you two are talking again. It’s been too long!”

“Yeah, I think this… sort of fresh start will be great for us.” Len arrived at his car and leaned on the door.

“You and him or you and me?”

“Umm… both.”

“Yeah.”

“I know it will be harder for us to see each other, but—”

“Oh, stop! You’ll just be on the UES, fancy man.”

“Yeah, I know, but—”

“But nothing! Stop acting like you’re moving a hundred miles away. You’re just moving from Greenwich, that’s, like, noting, man.”

“It is not nothing.”

“Len, don’t worry. At least now there’s a good reason why we won’t see each other all the time. But we will see each other, ok?”

Len breathed a sigh of relief. “Ok. Sounds great. I love you,” he said.

“Love ya, too.”

After hanging up the phone, he walked around to the driver’s side door of his car to get in, but stopped when he got a notification for an email on his phone.

THE WHISPER ROCKETS! FAREWELL TOUR!! TICKETS ON SALE NOW!!!

“Oh, god.”

“Yes?”

“Nothing…”

“It cannot be nothing.”

“Sorry, I just… I need to keep looking.”

Len stared at the notification, then immediately called Sasha back again.

“Uh, hi?” She said.

“The Whisper Rockets are having a farewell tour!” Len blurted out.

“Oh, wow, they’re breaking up?”

“Apparently? I never heard anything about it until now!”

“Well, get on it, man!”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve always wanted to see them, right? Do it!”

“What about Mimi? And what about the job? And my car. Oh, man, my car sucks!”

“I’m sure they’ll play a show somewhere in the city, just check the dates. Don’t worry about Mimi, she’ll be fine! I can watch her while you’re gone for the night.”

“Are you sure you are ok with that?”

“Yes, of course! I love Mimi, and she totally loves me.”

“Well, uh, ok! Alright, I will buy the tickets.”

Len hung up the phone, pulled up the email, and he bought tickets for one of the shows. Finally taking a seat in his car, he smiled and breathed a small sigh of relief. He turned the key in the ignition, but his car would not start. The engine chugged and spurted, but the car remained parked.

“No, no. Are you kidding me right now?” He tried again to start the car, but he had no luck. He sat there for nearly half an hour staring at the dash of the car. After a long stretch of thinking, he called a nearby autoshop.

About an hour or two later, Len was standing on the sidewalk outside of the shop, mulling over the news that it would cost almost as much to repair the car as it would to simply replace it entirely with a better model. He thought hard on the matter. He’d had the car for years, since before he ever moved to the city.

“I do not know what to do,” he sighed aloud.

He pulled out his phone, scrolling through social media feeds. He stopped on a picture of Sasha, then closed the app and made a phone call.

“Hey, Len, how’s it going?” Anthony answered.

“I need a little more money.” Len answered very frankly.

“Uh, well. I mean… that was a lot of money, Len. I assure you it’ll be enough to move up here and—”

“No, no. Not that. This is… more of a personal favor.”

“What for?”

“I, uh, kind of need to get a new car.”

“No, no. I do not want to do this, anymore.”

“Do you understand, yet?”

“Yes. Well, no. Not yet. I… I think I am close, but I am not quite sure yet. But… it is too much. I cannot do this. I just cannot.”

“Go deeper. You must continue.”

“But what if I can’t?”

“You can.”

Len stared at the brand-new car for a solid five minutes. He just stared, never moving toward it. It was a beautiful, deep, dark red. Len had already test-driven it twice, but he still just stared at it.

“Sir, if you’d like, we have other options on the lot,” the dealer said.

“No, I will take it.”

Later that night, Len was driving through the Upper East Side. ‘Taking in the sights at Anthony’s suggestion. Truly, however, he simply wanted to see how greatly his life would soon be changed.

As Len sat in traffic, staring off in the distance at the red light at the end of the block, he could do nothing but think about how fast things were moving.

“No. Not here.”

“You must.”

“I cannot.”

“Continue.”

Len sat in traffic for minutes on end. Just staring off in the distance, thinking about his future.

There was a blinding, fiery flash… and then everything was dark.

Click here to read Time Over and Again, Chapter 5: definite