Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance by Bryan W. Alaspa Read Free Book Online Page B

to murder you on
Monday?   Don’t you feel, like I do, as if you were drinking all night when you
know good and well that neither of us touched a drop?  Jesus, Jimmy, nothing
about last night made any sense from the moment we saw her on the side of the
road, and you act like this is the same thing that happens to you every
weekend!”
    With that, George
crumpled up what was left of his lunch and threw it in a garbage can near the
picnic table.  He grabbed his can of soda, guzzled it all, and threw that into
the garbage, belched angrily, and got up.  Without looking back at Jimmy, who
still sat in his spot with his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish, he
stormed back into the Shop Smart.  Jimmy watched the door close slowly on
hinges that prevented the door from slamming.  Had those hinges not been
designed that way, he was certain George would have slammed the door.
    Jimmy suddenly did
not feel like eating.  He alternated between being outrageously angry at George
and wondering if his best friend could be that jealous, and then feeling waves
of uncertainty and fear.  When he paused to really look at the situation, he
knew that George was right, the night with Sapphire was odd in the extreme.  At
the same time, whenever anyone met anyone, what did they really know about
them? In his gut, she was good. And surely there was some kind of rational
explanation for why Sapphire had been at that spot beside the road and then
asked to be dropped off there when they had come back later. What was a little
less understandable was how no one, not even George and Jimmy, could have not
heard of or seen Sapphire before.  He planned to ask Sapphire about that later
when he saw her.
    That was another
thing that caused a stab of fear to enter his gut. What if it had all been a
joke?  Maybe one of the jocks or someone else who enjoyed making Jimmy’s life
miserable had brought a friend or relative in from another town just to play a
horrible trick on him.  Maybe Sapphire had been in on the joke all along. 
Maybe, if she was legit, she was having second thoughts in the clear light of
day and just wouldn’t show.  Jimmy could end up spending a long and cold
evening standing beside a dangerous road near a bridge over a cold and dark
river.  What if she just didn’t show?  Jimmy had never had a girlfriend. He had
never been on a date in his life, and he certainly had never been on a second
date.  What if he screwed things up?  She could end up being real, with a real
explanation for everything, only to end up running away from him anyway.
    Jimmy managed to
finish his sandwich and potato chips.  He drank his soda and tossed the
remnants into the garbage. Somehow, he thought, he had to get through the rest
of the workday and then try to figure out what the hell he was going to do
about tonight.  He would probably have to walk or ride his bike, and that did
not appeal to him.  Before he got to that, however, he had to deal with George.
    Jimmy had known
George for most of his life.  They had met in grade school on Jimmy’s first day
as the new kid in school. George had arrived wearing pants that looked like they
had been painted by a spastic psychotic.  They ate their first lunch together
that day and became fast friends.  George had very strong opinions and could be
obnoxious, but he was loyal, and had always been there when Jimmy needed a
friend.  They had been tormented together and been through so much; the last
thing Jimmy needed or wanted was to lose that because of a girl he had met. 
    “There has to be
an easier way to do this,” he muttered as he went back into the store.  Exactly
what that way was, however, he had no idea.
     
    The
rest of the afternoon crawled by.  Jimmy found a spot at the far end of the
store to stack shelves and he and George tried the best they could not to stand
anywhere near each other.  It made for a particularly frustrating day.  When
the day was done, Jimmy got on his bike