The Ties that Bind - Ch. 02

July 2020

Mike woke up as the sunlight was pouring in through the window. It was still early, but years of ROTC training got him on a regular schedule of early mornings and workouts. He refused to be in close proximity with people at the gym, so had been slowly building up a home gym with Tal. It wasn't anything crazy, just some free weights, a bench and some plates, but it was enough to be able to get in a pretty good workout. But that was always for later, early mornings were the best time to run, and the public park was a good place to hit up here. It was only a few blocks away and was about a half-mile around the perimeter.

Mike changed into his running gear and headed out. He did make sure to prep the coffee machine so that he could enjoy a cup when he got back. The smell also helped the others wake up, otherwise they would end up sleeping until noon.

The mornings were still warm but not overly hot. He hated running when it was hot. The only thing that was worse than that was if it was humid, which luckily, they generally didn't get here. They were further on the west side of the city, so it wasn't really convenient to get to the lake, but there were plenty of other options in the area. Mike would typically choose some trail or river to follow, but he really didn't feel like heading out that far today. The added benefit to staying near the park was that he could stop over at the local mom & pop donut shop on the way back. Their coffee was terrible, far too dark and over-roasted for his taste, but they always put out the fresh hot donuts at around 7:30am, which was right when he liked to finish.

It had been a bit amusing to him that early on during the pandemic so many people were getting into fitness, so he always saw a lot of people around the parks. That number started to dwindle as the months went on, and now it was just the usual handful of people that he saw running in the early mornings. Well, amusing may not have been the right term. Maybe more interesting if nothing else. He guessed that the isolation was probably getting to people, depression becoming more widespread and just a general ennui setting in. He was probably handling it better than most, still keeping active, sticking to a routine, but he also had a lot of support from Evy and Tal to keep him going.

Around lap three Mike saw a familiar face riding by on a bicycle and he waved at Andy. Andy passionately despised running but loved his bicycle. They would occasionally bump into each other here, but his usual place to ride was by the lake.

"Not heading up the coast today?"

Andy slowed down a bit to pull up beside him, "Nah, that's for long haul rides, I don't have the time today. Need to be able to get on the computer by 8 for some emergency call, so I can only do the short circuit today."

"That sucks, what could go wrong on the weekend for it to affect you?"

Andy shrugged, "I'll find out in an hour or so."

"We still on for Tuesday night with the new guy? You said he didn't have any RPG experience?"

"Yeah, just be patient with him. He's a good guy, he'll work it out."

"If you say so. Oh, any thoughts on Jenny's birthday? I've been racking my brain trying to come up with something more fun than just renting a movie theater. Maybe hit up the beach?"

"Dude, you are a genius!"

Mike looked a bit confused, "Yes, thank you. What am I a genius about?"

"The beach, man. But we can go a step further, let's get a boat on the lake. She always talks about loving to swim, but I don't think we've ever taken her out on the lake before."

"Dude, she's going to lose her mind. I know a couple of guys who might be able to lend us their boat. I'll give you a call when I figure out the details."

"Sounds good." Andy checked his watch, "Alright, I'm going to head down to the river and then back up. Catch you later." Mike waved as Andy sped off to another trail.

Somewhere around lap six Mike started slowing down and figured that was probably all he needed. He had been able to keep fairly trim with this routine of running a couple times a week and weights with Tal four or five times a week. Evy would occasionally join him on the runs, but it wasn't really something she particularly enjoyed. Tal never ran with him, but still somehow managed to stay lean, much to Evy's annoyance. The man could eat nothing but garbage for weeks and still maintain his physique.

He rounded the corner on the way to Max's Donuts and could already smell the fresh scent wafting down the street. The sign lit up just as he approached the door and Max greeted him from behind the heavy-duty plastic separator. Max had bought a bunch of the stuff early on, almost right when China went into lockdown, and had fashioned a massive cashiering box that separated the customers and staff. "My favorite customer, how you doing Mike?"

"Good man, how are you?" he said through his mask that he had put on just prior to coming in. "Still got the boys working back there?"

Max laughed, "Yeah, they finally convinced me to try some of their new flavors. Between you and me, if I didn't let them start having some say in the business, they probably would have tried opening their own, and I don't need the competition."

"Oh yeah, what did they pitch you? I've only ever seen you serving three kinds."

"All I've ever needed was those three, but apparently, I've fallen behind the times and need to branch out. They picked up these fancy injectors over here so that you can now fill it with crème, various custards and two kinds of jelly." He patted the new set of appliances next to the register, "They even made up their own custards. I'm partial to the banana myself, but they're all good." He leaned in a bit and whispered in a voice that could fairly easily be overheard, "If I might suggest, avoid the green donuts on the bottom. They wanted to try something savory and spicy, and, well, it's not great." There were some jokingly outraged voiced that rang out in the back and Max just shooshed them up before turning back to Mike.

"Well, can't say that's really my thing, but I'll definitely grab one of those."

"That girl of yours will kill you if you give that to her," Max chuckled as he grabbed the tongues.

"Well, she can try," he grinned back at him. "I'll placate her with a banana crème donut. Make that two and throw in two old fashioneds."

"Yeah, you want a coffee with that?"

"Oof, Max I love you, but your taste in coffee and mine are miles apart." This was met by some agreement in the back before Max shushed them again.

"You sound like them. They can switch to that bland stuff when I'm dead and buried."

"Well, here's hoping that that's a long way down the road." Mike swiped his card and dropped a fiver in the tip jar before heading out.

By the time he made it back to the condo he could already smell the coffee and guessed that the others were probably just waking up. After pouring himself a cup he saw Evy shuffle out of the bedroom in her oversized shirt. Her short blonde hair was still frazzled, but she looked adorable as she always did. "Donuts. Max said his boys strong-armed him into making new flavors, so I grabbed a few. Green one is good."

She rubbed her eyes, gave an exaggerated stretch and wandered to the bag, lightly bumping into him as if she wasn't fully awake yet with only a "mweh" noise as she passed. She grabbed the donut and was about to bite into it when she caught his eyes and stopped herself. "Dafuq is wrong with you today?" He just looked innocently at her and shook his head.

"You were staring at me."

"Nuh-uh."

"Is there something on me?" she asked, wiping her hand across her face.

"No, just admiring the dazzlingly lovely young woman you have become."

Now she knew something was up. "What did you do to this donut?" she asked in horror, slowly moving the donut further from her face.

"Nothing! It has been completely unmolested since I bought it."

"Is it something weird? I never trusted those boys. What is it? Lime? No, what is this?!"

He was trying not to laugh and failing miserably at this point. "Apparently it was their attempt at spicy and savory. I can only imagine it's something like a chili or jalapeno donut."

"Oh god, but it clearly has a sugar glaze," she slowly put it back down wrinkling her nose. She suddenly perked up. "I have an idea." She put it on a plate, grabbed scrap paper and a pen and proceeded to scribble on it while humming happily. Mike sipped his coffee while looking over her shoulder.

"That seems mean."

"No, it's not. Look, there are hearts." She grabbed a cup of coffee, added in some milk and skipped over to Tal's door. She balanced the plate on the cup, knocked on the door and swung it open.

Tal was sitting up in bed reading something on his phone as he looked up.

"Good morning sleepy, I brought you some breakfast in bed. Mike said he picked up a new Lime Coconut donut for you, since at least one of those is your favorite." She plopped the plate and mug on the stand, sat on the edge of the bed and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks for letting me stay here, I really love being here with you." She gave him a quick hug and then she was off before he could even respond.

"So mean," Mike shook his head, clearly not making any effort to stop what was about to happen.

"I gave him a kiss, it's not mean." This was immediately followed by what can only be described as a retching yell of disgust.

"One of these days he's going to paddle you over the couch for being such a brat."

"Promises, promises."

Anna and Evy continued to meet up regularly for morning yoga, even having Jenny join them on occasion. It was a bit weird going from the outgoing and confident Anna who talked as much shit as she took, to the shy and reserved one when Jenny was there. Evy didn't press her on it and figured this could be their little secret while they worked on her social anxiety.

Evy started calling Anna up after work and chatting with her on the balcony, usually with a glass of wine. It turned out that Anna was a bit of an amateur writer herself and was giddy with the idea of reading Evy's samplings. After some back and forth, they both shared their stories and would spend hours dissecting, analyzing, and revising their works.

"Alright, did you think the twist for Midnight Soiree was too telegraphed? I felt like the only other options were too obvious and boring." Evy had poured a glass of white wine for herself and was pacing the balcony while taking little sips.

"I think that having a twist can be a bit of a trap at times. I mean, everything has already been written in one way shape or form, so some reader will always figure it out. I think the trick is to think through if you even need it and plant red herrings along the way. Now, don't take that as gospel because everybody loves a good twist. Like Shyamalan. Well, early Shyamalan before everyone expected the twist, and then it stopped being nearly as fun." Anna was lounging on her bed looking at the story on her laptop with a glass of pink zinfandel. They had agreed that they didn't want to get into editing territory with each other, but rather focus on what worked and what didn't.

"Yeah. You know, he could have just blown people's minds by the end there if he just put out a movie with nothing else to it. Like, trick the audience into looking for every twist along the way and convince themselves that they solved it, only for it to have been what everyone kept saying it was."

"Maybe," Anna hesitated as she thought about it. "But then you might just end up with audiences who hated it because their idea was so much better." Evy grunted something in agreement.

"Alight, but did you think the twist worked in the story?"

"It was a good idea and I liked it, but I think too much was hinted at in the first few sections. I'd maybe go through again and look for areas where you are telling the audience too much about how to feel as opposed to letting them figure it out. But overall, yeah, it was a satisfying end."

Evy heaved a sigh of relief. This was the first time she was really showing her work to someone and wanting to get feedback. Sure, she posted things online, but she didn't really care too much about what anonymous people online thought. Now though, now she was showing it to someone whose opinion mattered, and it tied her up inside a bit. "Thanks, I kind of get hard on myself with some of this."

Anna laughed, "Yeah, I get the same feeling. I am kind of dreading slash looking forward to tomorrow where you tell me how bad mine was."

"Oh my god, shut up. I'm dreading reading it because then I'm suddenly going to feel like crap cause my stuff sucks in comparison."

"Oh please, you wrote an entire steamy section where the baroness seduced the night guard where my mouth was dry from panting." They both rang out in peals of laughter. "Oh my god, I'm still all hot and bothered. Maybe I should try writing stuff like that."

"Maybe that's my calling, writing smut for drunk and desperate horny ladies."

"Hey, I'm not drunk yet!"

Evy giggled as she finished her glass. She let the laughter fade before asking again, "You really thought it was good though?"

"Very good. Very, very good. You should be more confident, girl. And I know that's weird coming from me, but I mean it."

"Thanks. I'll give you a call tomorrow, same time?"

"You got it. Bye love."

Jenny knocked on the door again and didn't get a response. She had come over to hang out since Anna was doing her own thing and she didn't want to crowd her, but no one seemed to be in, which was really weird. She fished her phone out of her jeans and gave Mike a call.

Mike answered after a few rings, seemingly having just woken up, "Hey Jenny, what's up?"

"Can you let me in? I've been knocking but no one is answering."

"Yeah, Give me a sec."

A moment later the door opened, and she was greeted by a partially awake Mike. He was wearing his white tank that did little to hide his well-defined muscles. "Sorry about that. E is talking with her folks and Tal went for a walk."

Jenny ogled him appreciatively for a bit before stepping in. "You alright sweety? It's not like you to take power naps."

Mike yawned again, "Yeah, it's my fault, I lost track of time again last night and didn't get to sleep until 3 or so. Just needed to close my eyes for a bit after work, but I'm good to hang."

She sat down at the table, still partially covered with laptops and various work notes. "What were you doing up so late anyway? I didn't see you on discord."

He sat down next to her, slightly more awake now, brushing the bangs from his eyes. "Okay, you're going to laugh, but I was watching videos on painting on YouTube." Jenny's face scrunched up in confusion. "Well, it wasn't all painting videos. It started with a Bob Ross video, which I figured would be a nice calming video. Then the next video was about how paint is made, and it was kind of interesting. The next one was about how blood could be used to paint, that was weird. Then it was an analysis of mass murders in Europe, and then it was 3 am."

Jenny cupped his cheek gently and sighed, "So smart, yet so easily led astray. A slippery slope, the dark side of YouTube is."

"Alright Yoda, I get it. I'll stick to porn from now on." He stood up and went over to the liquor cabinet, kneeling to look through the bottles. "Are you feeling like an old-fashioned or a negroni? I'm kind of waffling between the two, but I can make anything."

Jenny had hopped after him, placing her elbows on his shoulders, chin resting in her hands, as she looked over the options too. She was putting most of her weight on his shoulders but was pretty sure Mike wouldn't budge even if she sat on him. "I like your old-fashioneds, they're better than Tal's."

"I can do that. Are you going to let me up, or do I have to carry you while I make these." Jenny pondered before slumping her body against his, wrapping her arms around his neck. She was 5'6" and maybe 110 pounds soaking wet, but Mike easily stood up and walked to the kitchen with her hanging off him giggling. He wasn't making it easy for her though, standing as straight as he could while she would try to reposition and keep herself up there. She eventually settled for a koala style hug, legs wrapped around his hips and arms holding his shoulders because she couldn't reach them all the way around his chest.

Mike had finished mixing the drinks, but decided to take a shot of whiskey, so he leaned back as far as he could, a giggling and furiously clutching Jenny trying to stay on, as he emptied the glass into his mouth. He straightened up and boosted Jenny up with his hands as she was slipping off. She murmured happily as she settled into his palms.

Evy had finished up her call and popped out of the room to see what all the giggling was about. Seeing Mike vulnerable with his hands cupped behind him providing a seat for Jenny, a slow smile spread her face as she cracked her knuckles and spread her fingers like spiders. Mike spotted her before she got to him but couldn't navigate around her with the squealing Jenny on his back. Evy's hand lashed out at his side, causing him to laugh and run to the table, trying to keep it between them. Jenny was hanging on for dear life as Evy chased after them, sometimes tickling her and making her squeal or getting Mike, causing him to suddenly jump in another direction.

Mike suddenly stopped; he was cornered, panting, with nowhere to go. Evy approached him slowly, cackling evilly. Then he spotted his exit. "Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Good enough!" He ran at full speed directly at the back of the couch, launching himself over it, spinning once with a frantically screaming Jenny still somehow holding on before landing face down on the couch cushions. Jenny could barely breathe from laughing so hard. She was still on the unmoving form of Mike when Evy poked her head over the back of the couch.

"That was epic! Did you just Free Willy the couch?" She poked Mike in the side. No response. She poked harder. She heard him make a "mweh" sound. He still hadn't moved from his face down position on the cushions. "He's still alive, we're good."

"Good morning," Jenny chimed over the stove as Anna came out of her room. "I'm in a comfort food mood, so I'm making pancakes, want some?" She had just poured four dollops of batter onto the skillet and was getting the chocolate chips set up on the counter.

"Mmmm, that sounds good. I can help set the table". Anna brought out the silverware but paused to look through the pantry. "Do we have any maple syrup left? I only see the one shaped like a woman."

"That'd be Mrs. Butterworth sweety. I think you used up the last of your real stuff last time." Anna smacked herself for forgetting to tell her dad to send another bottle. It wasn't that she didn't like the "fake" stuff as she called it, they were plenty tasty, but she had grown up on the real Vermont syrups and just couldn't imagine a real comfort breakfast without it.

"Ah, I need to get my folks to send another care package. I'm also out of the maple sugars."

"Remind me again that you aren't actually Canadian," Jenny chuckled as she sprinkled the chips onto the pancakes before flipping them over. Anna just snorted and started setting the dining table. It wasn't nearly as big as the one at Mike and Tal's place, but it was homey and had enough room to accommodate 4 people if they squeezed in a bit. Their entire apartment was generally a bit warmer and more inviting. There were more colors on the walls and couches, throw rugs here and there, lamps with draped fabrics to make the light less harsh, just generally more lived-in than the more modern style Mike and Tal had at their place.

"Got any plans for today?"