We're Crazy

Chapter 21

Jess stood leant on the counter in the diner, staring at the man who was sat on the other side of the room. He was still there, and still only ordering coffee, as he had done for the past 4 hours.

The man began to turn, and Jess stood up straight abruptly, and busied himself with tidying the donut stand. The man called Luke over, and they had an awkward exchange, with Luke frustratedly filling up the cup for the 50th time, before storming away.

The day continued like that, before the man finally left at 5pm.

"Hey, who was that guy?" Jess asked.

Luke tensed, and shrugged, "no idea. Just passing through I think."

"Passing through to spend 10 hours drinking a billion cups of coffee?" Jess laughed.

"Apparently so," Luke said.

"Hey, he left his wallet. Maybe it'll have some ID in," Jess suggested, beginning to walk around to get it. Luke, however, practically ran to the table, and snatched the wallet before Jess could grab it, "what's your deal?"

"Well, it could have some private information in here," Luke almost shouted, folding his arms.

"Who was he Luke?"

"I don't know," Luke said, "I think I know, but I don't know for certain, so just drop it because it's not your business."

"Jeez, whatever," Jess scowled, walking up to the apartment.

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It was 11 o'clock, and Jess was alone in the closed diner, cleaning the counter for Luke while he was out taking care of something. He heard the door open and muttered, "we're closed."

"I think I left my wallet in here earlier," Jess looked up to see the man, and blinked at him. Jess wordlessly grabbed the wallet and passed it to him.

"I haven't seen you around before. Is this just you passing through?" Jess asked, awkwardly.

"Yeah. I'm from Florida, I just have some, ah, business here," the man said.

"Right," Jess nodded, "well, as I said, were closed now."

"Sure. Of course. Sorry to bother you," he nodded, turning.

"Hey, wait a second," Jess said, regretting it immediately, "did you ever live in New York?"

The two men looked at each other for a minute, before the man looked away, "yeah. I left 15/16 years ago."

"Thought so," Jess muttered. They looked at each other again, before the man smiled and left. Jess put his head in his hands, and looked up as the door opened again to see Liv.

"Wasn't that the guy from earlier?" Liv asked.

"Yes," Jess sighed.

"Who is he?"

"I...have my suspicions," Jess said, beginning to aggressively wipe the counter again.

"Which are...?" Liv tried, grabbing his hand, but he pulled away quickly.

"Doesn't matter," he snapped, turning away, "I need you to go so that I can lock up."

Liv folded her arms, "fine, I'll go, but don't take your problems out on me. I'm not an emotional punching bag."

She walked out, and Jess threw a salt pot across the room in frustration once she'd gone, then groaned realising it had split and he'd have to clean it up.

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Luke stood by a door in a motel, outside an empty room. It was dark, but he needed to be here. He saw a car pull up, and a figure walk towards where he was. As the man stopped to unlock his door, Luke turned to him.