The next morning, I got up at six a.m., took Jackson for a run, and then I made some fliers to find a roommate. I realized with Jenny over that it was nice to have the company and I felt like Jackson could use the company, too. He was thirteen and he had grown up with me in Ann Arbor. He was the constant recipient of my stepdad’s attention, especially my first two years in college when I couldn’t take him with me. He had grown used to having a lot of space and daily walks. It would be nice to have another person help with that responsibility. I didn’t need the money, so I could be very picky about whom I chose to rent the room to. As I left for the café, Jenny was just getting up.
“Hey, I’m going to Kell’s. I’ll see you later. Help yourself to whatever and stay as long as you want.”
“Thanks, girl!” Jenny yelled back as I headed out the door.
I approached Kell’s armed with fliers in hand. Right as I got to the door, I noticed Will. He was sitting at the wooden bar that faced out the front window. He was in the seat farthest from the door, chewing on a little plastic straw, staring out to the street, all broody. He removed the straw and from where I stood, I could see his mouth move ever so slightly. I approached him unnoticed, bent down toward his ear and whispered, “You talkin’ to God?”
He jumped up, arms stretched out to his sides, offering a hug. “Mia! You know I’m not religious. How are you?”
My mind went straight to a visual of Will kissing the rosary crucifix around his neck on the plane that day back in March and I laughed softly. I went in for the hug. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I think I felt him kiss the top of my head. We barely knew each other, but it didn’t seem like that.
“I’m really good,” I said.
“I saw you last night at The Depot with Coffee Girl and then you were gone. What’s up with that?”
“You saw me?”
He laughed. “Did you notice we were dressed almost exactly the same? You were like my little twin.” I squinted at him but didn’t respond. We stood there gazing at each other for several moments and then he poked my arm with his index finger and said, “You looked great.” An image of me grabbing his finger and sucking on it shot through my mind. Good Lord! “So what did you think of the band?” he asked.
“The band is amazing, but Pete is a total goober and he’s a terrible singer on top of it.”
“I know, right? We should have known when he wanted to name the band ‘For Pete’s Sake.’”
I laughed loudly at the idea. “No, but seriously, you guys are good. You owe it yourselves to find a decent singer.”
“Pete put the band together, that’s the thing. We can’t kick him out of his own band. It’s just for practice, anyway. At least for me. I’m always looking out for new possibilities. What’s that?” He pointed to my fliers.
“Oh. I’m looking for a roommate.”
“Perfect, I’ll take it!” He was wearing a giant grin.
“No offense, Will, but we barely know each other and I was kind of hoping to find another girl to rent to. I mean, you know, you could be like an ax murderer or something.” I smirked.
“Oh my god, Mia, didn’t you see the movie Single White Female? Have you really thought this through?” He was deadpan, but I knew he was being silly.
“You have a point, buddy. I’ll think about it. In the meantime, can I get you a coffee or something?”
“No thanks, I have somewhere be. Rain check?”
“Will, you can come back anytime during business hours and someone will serve you a coffee.”
He half smiled, then squinted his eyes and said, “But I want to have a coffee with you.”
My legs were trembling and then as if I had no control over my mouth, I said, “The room is yours if you want it. Rent is four hundred dollars, you can move in now. It’s the apartment above Sam’s. But I have to tell you, if we’re going to live together, then we have to keep it strictly friends. Got it?”
He cupped my face with both hands and I felt the calloused pads of his fingers on my cheeks. I flushed all the way down to my toes and then my knees buckled. I grabbed his waist as he planted a hard, ridiculous, closed-mouth kiss on my lips. Then he said, “Baby, that’s a great idea!”
“Will!” I shouted at him.
Still holding my face, he cocked his head to the side. “What? This is how I am with my friends.” Just then Jenny walked in the door. Will immediately stalked over to her, grabbed her face and planted the same kiss on her, then sighed, “Hey, baby.” He sped out the door, turned around, and looked at me through the glass. With his arms held out to his sides, he said, “See? I told you. I’ll be at your place at noon tomorrow.” Then he was gone.
Stunned, I turned toward Jenny, who was equally shocked.
“What the f**k was that?”
“That’s my new roommate.”
She chuckled. “Right on.”
What had I done? Friends, we were going to be friends, I told myself. That’s it. But it didn’t seem like Will made rules like that for his life. He reminded me of my father and that scared me.
I turned and began studying the many photos on the wall at Kell’s.
There were pictures of my father with Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, The Clash, Willie Nelson, and Patti Smith to name a few. I thought about the future of the café. Although the East Village was now a much safer place for a young, single girl to live, I missed the culture that used to exist. Kell’s had been the hangout, but times had changed. We still had our group of die-hard regulars along with the people sent to us from Sam’s who wanted to sit and enjoy an after-dinner creation, but the mornings were brutally slow for a coffee house. Most cafés had been reduced to a “get your coffee fast joint” where you popped in for your morning latte served up in a paper cup. My father refused to conform to that standard. No coffee was “to go” in our café. Still, back in the day, there was a seediness of the punk rock era in the East Village. The freedom and creativity was rampant, which drew people to gather in places like Kell’s. Gone were those days. I wasn’t entirely sure I would have fit in anyway.