A Loner Mentalist Pt. 02

Jack shifted into higher gear and gave it more gas. The SUV responded and they were barreling down the freeway towards the city.

"Dude! Don't be a jackass, Jack! Turn the fucking car around! If I'm not back by six, I'm out on my ass! Take me back!"

"Your curfew is seven p.m.," Jack wearily said, "and I promise you you'll be there long before it comes around. I'll drive you all the way to the front door, ok? Just relax. I want to show you some things, buy you dinner, and then I'll drive you back there."

She settled in her seat and the next twenty minutes passed in silence. He drove them into the city and turned off the main roads to began navigating the wide, but empty streets. "See this residential area we're driving through," he asked her.

She looked out her window and said, "Yeah? What about it?"

"I'm going to rent a house here this fall, when I start college here, in the city."

Her face fell for a moment and then she leaned back in her seat and huffed. "Bully for you," she sarcastically said. "Is this what you wanted me to show me? Your bright and lovely future? Was I kidnapped so you could tell me how all this could be mine, if I just applied myself some more in school?"

Jack smiled bitterly and said, "First of all, stop saying that I've kidnapped you! You kidnapped me the other day and you don't get to complain, even if I really do kidnap you some day. Secondly, no, this is definitely not what I brought you here to show you. We're just coming up on those things. Also, we both know no college worth attending would even dream of accepting you as their student."

She shot him a venomous look that he failed to notice while he was taking a turn and leaving the residential area behind them. They drove in silence for five minutes.

"This is the first thing that I wanted to show you," he said and pointed at a large complex of buildings to his left. "That's City College, a community college that offers educational opportunities for a wide variety of careers. They educate paralegals, administrators, web designers, stylists... I don't even know what else, but they have over eighty programs available and they cater to an already employed demographic. Their students want to change careers, or start them in the first place, so they're pretty flexible as far as hours are concerned."

"Are they also flexible as far as money is concerned," she bitterly asked him. "Or is that what you mean when you say 'already employed'? That I should work my way, not through college, but through community college?"

"You don't have to worry about money," he said. She barked out a disbelieving laugh. "I'll pay for your education."

When he stopped at the next red light, he looked at her. She was glaring at him with a murderous scowl. "Is this your idea of getting even, Dog Boy? Dangle some opportunities in front of me and then yank them away when I reach for them? Is that it? Cause you kinda failed, fuckface! How could you think that I would fall for this drivel? Why on Earth would your parents pay for me to attend community college?"

"My parents aren't paying for anyone's education," he said. "I'm paying my own tuition with my own money and I'm offering to pay yours, too."

"Oh, wow," she sarcastically said, "I had no idea you were rich."

"I am, actually," he said. "I've gotten a very big inheritance this week and that's how I'm going to pay for my education. As well as yours, if you'll have it."

She stared at him mutely, not knowing what to make of his words, until a car honked behind them to indicate the light had changed. Jack put the car in gear and drove on. She frowned and shook her head, as if to clear it. "Are you serious," she asked in a small voice.

"Yes."

"And what would you want in return?"

"Your best effort," he said. "And your word that you would not waste your opportunity."

"Listen, Jack, seriously," she quietly said, "if you're just trying to get in my pants and then brag about it to enhance your status, you just gotta pay me. That's all. I don't get why you're going through all this... hoopla."

"You deserve a break, Mia," he said. "The universe owes you one. The people of the United States of America owe you a fucking chance. They abandoned you in the hands of monsters who robbed you of a childhood and for that they owe you big time. Since I'm an American, I've decided to take it upon myself to give you your chance."

They drove in silence for a few more seconds and then she said, "Up until now, I didn't really believe all the rumors about you, Jack." She barked out a brief laugh. "I mean, yes, you go through school without a care in the world, totally ignoring the hierarchy and social standings, which is the behavior of, like, serial killers and stuff... but, this is too loony tunes to not be true! You're dead serious, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am," he said, sparing her an earnest look. He briefly considered correcting her claim of him going through school without a care in the world, but thought better of it. She looked away from him and shook her head to herself. He pulled up in front of a restaurant.

"What's this," she asked in confusion.

"I said I'd buy you dinner," he said as he got out of the driver's seat to be replaced by the valet attendant wearing an orange jacket with a logo she couldn't quite make out. She got over her confusion and got out of the car to follow Jack into the restaurant. The place was done up like a fifties' diner, all shiny chrome fixtures and powder blue plastic surfaces. The booths had orange seats and ran along every wall, as well as in two additional rows that ran down the middle of the space.

Half the booths were full and waitresses glided to and from the booths, ferrying loaded plates one way and relaying orders the other. All the waitresses were attractive, young women. Their uniforms caught Mia's eyes. They consisted of tube tops and hot pants in the diner's colors.

Jack led them towards an empty booth in the center and she noticed the waitresses were on roller skates. She shook her head as she admired their skill. They didn't look to be on the verge of dropping anything. Jack stood next to the empty booth and held his arm out to indicate she should take her seat first.

She sat down and said, "Well, this is different."

"Oh, it doesn't look like much," Jack said, "but it's got the best steaks for a hundred miles in every direction, hands down."

"Well, they must have," she said and swept her hands over the empty table, "since they don't even bother to leave menus for their customers."

He smiled and pointed above the very long bar. "There's your menu! You've got a burger dinner, cheeseburger optional, a steak dinner and a fish sticks dinner for kids. There's a selection of pies for dessert and that's it."

She stared at the very large, lighted signs proclaiming what he just said to be true. "Wow," she deadpanned, "so many options."

Jack chuckled. "You might be suitably impressed after I tell you that it's impossible to get a reservation here."

She looked back at him and quirked an eyebrow. After a long look around at the half-full eatery, she said, "But you managed to get one?"

Jack adopted a serious expression. "No. Haven't you been listening? That's impossible!" He laughed softly and said, "They don't take reservations. It's first come, first served."

"Ah," she said and nodded, not really in the mood to laugh at his joke.

A waitress rolled over to them. "Good afternoon, folks! What're ya havin'?"

"We'll have a pair of steak dinners," Jack said. "The lady will enjoy a New York strip and I'll have mine au poivre."

"What'll you drink?"

"I'll have a blueberry milkshake," he said. "What flavor milkshake do you want?"

"Um, chocolate," Mia said.

"Gotcha," the waitress said. "Be right back with your shakes!"

Mia watched her skate away and twirl around a colleague that was delivering food to a booth nearby. As the girl twirled, Mia admired her grace and technique. She shook herself mentally and faced front. Jack's eyes were on her and he wore a slight smirk, as if he had just caught her checking out the waitress' ass. She gave him an indignant look and said, "So, about this community college?"

Jack got serious and said, "Yeah?"

"Are you for real?"

"Yes."

"Why," she asked. "Why on Earth would you spend your inheritance on me?"

Jack sighed and relaxed in his seat before saying, "Because I want to."

"That's not good enough!"

Jack shrugged and said, "My money, my reasons. I'm free to do what I want with it and I want to give you a shot at a life."

"That's not good enough for me. I'm not getting in bed with you, figuratively, or literally, until you give me a satisfactory explanation for why you would choose to spend your money on me. And exactly what you expect from me in return."

"I already told you what I want from you in return."

"Yeah," she curtly said, "and I already said that I'm not buying that crap. Nobody ever gives anyone anything without wanting something in return. While I do believe that you'll pay for my education, I don't believe you won't ask for anything in return. Now, spill! What is it?"

Jack tapped a finger against the table and considered his situation. He hadn't really put a lot of thought into this part of his plan. He had honestly expected her to jump at the chance without too many questions. He couldn't tell her the truth for fear of being locked up inside Area 51 for study. She wouldn't believe him anyway.

He briefly considered telling her a story about how his inheritance was contingent on him using part of it for charity, or something, but he didn't like the thought of playing her like that. He wanted them to be honest with each other. At the very least, he needed to be honest with her, if he was to help her.

"I'm not saying I won't agree to whatever it is that you want from me," she said. "I just want to know, up front, exactly what I'm getting into."

The waitress rolled over and deposited two tall glasses on their table with a cheerful, "Here ya go!" She also left them two sets of cutlery, wrapped up in serviettes.

The two of them stared into each other's eyes as they drew their glasses closer and put the straws in their mouths. Mia was the first to break contact as she moaned in appreciation of the taste of the milkshake. "Goddamn, this is a good milkshake!"

"I have already told you my reasons and what I expect from you in return," he said. "I'm not saying anything else on the matter. It's up to you to choose if you're going to pass on this opportunity because you're afraid I'll screw you over like everyone else did, or if you'll find the strength inside of you to trust me and seize this chance. We both know that you'll never get another. Not from anyone else. Not ever."

Her face fell during his little speech and she was staring at the floor. "Look," she quietly said, "I'm not... You can't just..." She cleared her throat and blinked back her tears. She took a few moments to compose herself and then looked him in the eye. He could see fire in her beautiful, blue peepers. "Whyme?"

He leaned forward and put both elbows on the table. In a serious and deliberate tone of voice, he asked, "Why not you?"

She stared at him for a few seconds, her emotions struggling to get out onto her face and then she gasped in a big breath. She looked around, grabbed her purse, got up and ran.

Her reaction surprised Jack, so he barely managed to get out of his seat before he realized she wasn't running away. She was running towards the restrooms. He looked at the seat on her side of the booth and saw that she had left her schoolbag. That told him she probably wouldn't try to escape through a window, so he sat back down and waited. He passed the time watching the waitresses skate around and hummed along with the soft swing music that was piped in through speakers bolted to the ceiling.

He lost track of time as he waited. When the waitress skated towards his booth with the stakes, he guessed it had been over twenty minutes since Mia had run off to the washroom and he started to get worried. He twisted in his seat and looked at the door to the ladies' room. He watched a woman exit and then another after her and tried to see in their faces if they had seen anything unusual in there.

He was just about to flag down a waitress and ask her to go check on Mia, when he finally saw her emerge from the restroom. She calmly walked over and took her seat. "Smells good," she commented on the food. She unwrapped her cutlery and sliced off a piece of her steak. She put it in her mouth and moaned as she chewed. "Tastes good, too."

Jack was tempted to ask her what she had been doing in the restroom for so long, but he decided to play it cool and let it go. "I'm glad you approve," he said and dug into his own plate.

They ate slowly, partly to savor each tasty bite and partly so they'd have an excuse to not talk. They glanced all around themselves, at the decor, the other customers, the waitresses and even the traffic outside the huge windows; everywhere but at each other. They exchanged polite, little smiles whenever their eyes did meet, though.

"Who's Jamie Jacobs," Mia asked at one point, unable to endure the silence.

"Who?"

Mia pointed at the huge billboard across the street with a smiling, square jawed face adorned by a full head of blonde hair. The name Jamie Jacobs was printed in huge letters, along with venue locations where he was going to be in the summer. "I heard the name someplace before, but I don't know where. Is he a singer, or something?"

"Oh, uh, no," Jack said. "He's some kind of faith healer. He's been on TV a lot lately, cause a bunch of doctors think he's the real deal."

"Really? Do you think this guy can actually heal people with his touch?"

Jack snorted. "Of course not. He merely came up with a new gimmick that people are falling for."

"You sound awful sure of that."

"My dad taught me that the one thing that never changed in the whole of human history was people bullshitting each other. People have always bullshitted each other and they always will. The only cure for bullshit, he used to say, was joining the Service and getting the bullshit removed from you with some good, old PT and discipline."

Jack smiled and looked into Mia's eyes, but she was looking down. He realized his happy talk of his dad was probably bringing her down, so he shut up. It wasn't like he had a stellar relationship with his own dad anymore.

When they finished their meal, they sat looking at one another. Mia smiled warmly. "That was very tasty. Thank you."

"My pleasure," he said. "So, have you decided?"

She shrugged. "What's there to decide? I can't do what you want me to."

"Why not?"

She snorted. "Where do I even being? First of all, I don't have the grades to graduate, so-"

"I'll tutor you," he said.

She looked at him for a few seconds, as if trying to tell if he was mocking her, or if he was on the level. "Even if you did tutor me, I don't have the time or place to study, since I'm either at the home, where I can't study without some jacked up bitch interrupting me and starting some shit, or I'm on the fucking bus."

"You'll study at my place. I'll drive you wherever you need to go."

Her face fell as she looked at him and saw that he was, in fact, not kidding in the slightest. "You would do that for me?"

"Again, why not you?"

"Because I had you fucking kidnapped," she yelled and then caught herself. She glanced around guiltily and then continued in a normal tone of voice. "Because I planted enough weed in your locker for you to be arrested for possession with the intent to distribute and then called it in to the vice principal. You could have gone to jail for that. Serious jail! For a long time! How the fuck did you manage to get out of that mess? Ah, don't tell me, I don't even wanna know."

She wiped her face with her hands in frustration. "Look, Jack! I get it. I really do. I was a cunt and I did you wrong. I'm really sorry for all that I did. I truly am. It was stupid, it was evil, it was thoughtless. I deserve to be punished for it. I don't know what your plan with me is, but I'm guessing it's both illegal and immoral. I want you to give it up and go on with your life. You have a life. A future ahead of you. I'm... I'm a nobody. Nothing at all."

She shrugged and smiled a sad smile. Her eyes were misting up again. "You can go on to become anyone and then you'll just have to pay my pimp and you'll be able to fuck me all you want, whenever you want. Whatever this revenge plan of yours is, please, give it up and just call the cops on me! Don't ruin your life! I'll fess up and go to jail and you won't have to do anything illegal yourself."

The waitress rolled over and collected their empty plates. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes, very much," Jack said. "Thank you."

"What can I get you folks for dessert?"

"I'll have a slice of the apple and pear," he said.

"And you, Miss?"

Mia cleared her throat and said, "Banana cream, a la Mode."

"What flavor ice cream?"

"Chocolate," Mia said.

"Gotcha," the waitress said with a smile and rolled away.

They looked into each other's eyes for a while and then Jack said, "Are you done insulting me?"

"What?"

"It's insulting. Suggesting that I'm putting together some kind of nefarious plot against you and all that. I'd like you to stop it, please, especially since you know it's not true!" He leaned forward in his seat. "You can tell that I mean you no harm, can't you?"

She swallowed and looked away for a moment. Then she looked back into his eyes. "I've been wrong before. Plenty of times."

He sat back and sighed. "It's up to you. My offer is on the level. If you let your fear stop you from taking it, then so be it. I'll be genuinely sad, but..."

Mia looked away and seemed to be considering things. The waitress skated over and delivered their pies and fresh cutlery. Jack thanked her and she skated away with a smile. He took a big bite of the tasty pie and watched Mia pick at hers. After a while, she raised her head and said, "I mean, even if I were to accept your offer and..." She sighed. "It's not that simple, Jack. Where would I live while I went to community college? What would I live off? They don't have student housing at City College, do they?"

"I can find you a place to live and help with the rent."

Mia barked out a quiet, bitter laugh and shook her head. "I knew it. You want to be my sugar daddy. Put me up somewhere so you can stumble in whenever and fuck me."

"Didn't I already ask you to stop insulting me?" Jack calmly said. She shut up and ate her pie. "Look, I'll help you find a job. There's plenty of work for a hot, charming, young woman like yourself here, in the city."

"I thought the whole point of you helping me is so I didn't have to strip," she curtly said.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Good grief, Mia! We are going to have to work on your self-esteem! I meant jobs like this." He gestured at a nearby waitress. "You could skate here, no sweat."

She snorted in derision. "I'd fall flat on my nose five times in my first five minutes here and then I'd wash dishes in the back to pay for the meals I dropped before they'd toss me out on my rear at the end of the night."

"If this isn't your speed, there are other options," Jack said.

Mia let out a small, offended gasp. "Like what? What could I possibly be qualified to do?"

"Event promotion," he said.

"What?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "There are plenty of clubs here in the city and they all hire pretty girls to promote their events."

"The fuck do I know about promoting events and shit?"

"Calm down! It's a simple gig and it pays well. You go around and you meet people that the club wants to attract and you talk to them for a few minutes about the event in question and you give them a flier that gets them, I don't know, a free drink at the bar, or something. For every flier that someone uses at the bar, you get a few bucks for bringing in the customer."