Micah Jennings

1.15.05 Saturday [Ben]

Ben came into my room today munching on some Doritos. It irritates me how messy these guys are—I’m often cleaning up after them, straightening their messes. I need things neat, clean, and organized.

“Do you have the Yamakasi DVD in here?” Ben asked, sucking on orange fingers.
“No, please don’t eat in here,” I said.
“Oh, I’m not. Just finished.” He launched the crumpled bag into my garbage can, sending a shower of crumbs into the air.
“You sure it’s not in here?”
“Positive. I know where everything is in this room, and that’s not here.”
“Yeah, it’s a little freaky how organized you are.” With that he traipsed about the room, poking around my shelves. Then he saw it. At the bottom of the shelf, far to the left, lay a rectangular cardboard box.
“Are those…” he trailed off, reaching for the shoebox and flinging it apart. “Puma Cells! I’ve heard about these, supposed to be real good for precisions and what not!”
“Ben, do you mind? This is my room!” I snapped. Slowly his gaze returned to me.
“You’re still practicing, aren’t you?” He surmised, ignoring my complaints.
“That’s ridiculous. You know how I feel about parkour.”
“I thought I did, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Why would I possibly take it up again?”
“I don’t know, there’s a lot of things I don’t know about you. You’re so secretive!”
“Right.”
“Look at you, Micah, you sit in your room all day with the door closed. You sleep into the afternoon and leave at night, to who knows where. You’re an absolute mystery!”
“I leave at night because I work at night, Ben.”
“No you don’t.”
“What?”
“You say you work at Giaranno’s, right?”
“Of course.”
”You’re full of crap. I went down there last week and talked to the manager. He said you quit over a year ago.”

It was all coming apart. I knew it would, sooner or later, but I hadn’t expected such suddenness.

“What is it that you want, Ben?”
“The truth,” he said simply, with remarkable sincerity in his eyes. “I don’t care if you’ve given up parkour or not, really. That could matter less to me right now. But I’m worried about you, Micah. It just doesn’t add up. There’s something you’re keeping from us, and it’s hurting you. Can’t you see it?”
“I’m sorry Ben,” I said. “But I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

And that was that. He nodded with a frown etched into his face and left the room solemnly. I wonder how much longer I can keep this up.

-M.J.

posted by Mr. Linty @ 1:15 AM