Nadirah was pissed. Positively pissed. She normally enjoyed her days off, but this time around, Joni just wouldn’t let her enjoy much of it. Instead, she was determined to keep her frustrated as hell by invading her thoughts and distracting her from the things she wanted to do. She wasn’t sure which was worse, being attracted to someone who lived thousands of miles away or to a loony tune. Joni was normally everything she sought to avoid, no matter where such nutty, eccentric beings might reside.
Worst of all, she hated to admit to herself that she was feeling things she didn’t want to be feeling in the first place. Crazy, normal, or that imaginary Miss Perfect, she didn’t need the anguish of yet another heartache. Yet there was no denying how much happier she’d felt since Joni had come around, and even more so since telling her who she was. She had to admit that spilling the beans on Joni had been rather interesting. And fun. It brought a smile of amusement to her face whenever she thought about it. She was almost tempted to discuss the matter further as Joni had said she’d like to do, just to see what it was she had to say about it.
Was it really worth it to keep the past alive and to keep on hating Joni for what she’d done to her so long ago? Well, she wasn’t sure just yet about that one, but she did know one thing for sure, and that was that she loved to think of, imagine, and fantasize about the wild and wacky Joni Gilstein. And it was fun too, even though she knew she was spending much more time than she should be entertaining the endless slew of possibilities that ran through her mind, both intimate and not.
Late that Sunday afternoon, she was sitting outside on her back stoop with her cat when she heard her cell phone ring inside the house. She hurriedly ran in to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Nadirah?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s Giff. Joe and I are at Antonio’s Lounge. You know the place?”
“Yes. What about it?”
“It’s karaoke night.”
“So?”
“So some of the work crew is here.”
“So?”
“Including guess who?”
“I don’t want to guess.”
Gifford laughed.
“You know I’m not much of a singer, Giff, so did you really call just to tell me Joni’s there?”
“That’s part of it.”
“What’s the other part?”
“You gotta hear this bitch sing.”
“And why do I gotta do that?”
“Just come on down, and you’ll find out.”
“Don’t count on it,” Nadirah said, hanging up the phone.
Nadirah moved through the darkened interior of the lounge. Although she couldn’t see much of anyone yet, the karaoke contest had begun, judging by the sound of it. And whoever was singing at the moment was sensational, even though she didn’t know the song. Country music wasn’t really her thing.
Once she was in the main part of the lounge, she visually scanned the room until she found Gifford, Joe, Tamika, and a few others from work sitting in a center booth. Her eyes shifted next to the neighboring booth where Joni, dressed in a floral tank top and denim shorts, sat holding a microphone and singing.
Damn! Gifford hadn’t been kidding! She really was good. She had a rich, deep, and vibrant voice and had obviously had some training.
Nadirah slowly walked up and stood beside Gifford. Gifford glanced up at Nadirah with a wide smile, then turned his attention back to Joni. Since there was no room at Gifford’s booth, Nadirah remained standing until Joni finished her song, at which time a hearty round of applause erupted.
“See? What did I tell ya?” said Gifford.
“Yeah, she’s okay,” said Nadirah.
“Okay?” Joe spoke across Gifford. “She’s fantastic!”
“You two would be great together with you on the guitar and her on vocals,” Gifford said.
Instead of responding to that, she asked, “Where can I sit?”
“Not here,” said Gifford. “There’s just no room.”
“But there’s a seat next to Joni,” Joe added, an impish grin in place.
“Up yours, Joe,” Nadirah said playfully, moving ahead and letting their trail of laughter die down behind her.
Joni was announced as the winner and paid a hundred dollars in cash just as Nadirah slid in beside her, keeping as close to her edge of the seat as she possibly could.
Until Gretchen, another coworker, came and squeezed her further into the booth and practically right on top of Joni.
Joni turned to see who was suddenly pressed up against her. Her face lit up in an instant, and she smiled widely. “Well, howdy there, boss,” she said, momentarily hugging Nadirah.
Nadirah both wanted to push her away and to return the hug, though she did neither. “Boss?” she said instead.
“Well, I kind of work for you at times, don’t I?”
“Not anymore, you don’t.”
“Can I buy you a drink?”
Nadirah hesitated.
“You did buy me lunch once upon a time, and it would be my pleasure to return the favor, even if it’s just a drink or two.”
“Well…”
“Don’t worry, I won’t poison it.”
Nadirah rolled her eyes and gave a slight laugh as the others at the table laughed even louder. “See?” Nadirah said to the others. “Just as crazy as she is smart and talented.” Then she turned back to Joni. “Sure, Joni. I’ll have a Diet Coke.”
Joni returned with Nadirah’s Coke and her Sprite a few minutes later. Gretchen had left, leaving Nadirah almost disappointed that she would no longer have to sit so close to Joni.
The two people who sat opposite them, whom Joni had never met before, were caught up in talking to the people who sat behind them in the adjacent booth, leaving Joni and Nadirah to a little more privacy.
Nadirah gave a nod of thanks as she sipped her Coke.
“So, you still play the guitar?” Joni asked.
“Sometimes.”
They sipped their drinks in silence. Nadirah sensed that Joni hoped she would say more, but for some reason, and quite unlike herself, she found herself tongue-tied and self-conscious. A few minutes later, Nadirah slipped out of the booth.
Joni was quick to follow.
They ended up talking to a guy Nadirah apparently knew from the music scene, though Joni did very little talking and only spoke when spoken to.
Next, Nadirah moved on to speak to a young couple.
Once again, Joni followed.
“Is she the one from California?” the guy asked Nadirah after a few minutes of small talk with Joni standing quietly alongside Nadirah.
“Yeah,” Nadirah muttered, not looking in Joni’s direction.
“Weather’s nice there, huh?” the woman asked Joni.
“Well, it sure beats this place, but the winters are still a bit cold for my tastes,” Joni said. “I’m up in NorCal, just east of the capital.”
“Is the rent expensive there?”
“It is, but fortunately, I don’t pay rent. The old lady who owns the house I have a room in lets me stay there in exchange for helping to care for her and the house.”
“Oh, that’s a nice arrangement.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty old, and she has no kids or other family to help her. So I cook, clean, walk the dog, run errands, and do whatever I can to help out and earn my keep.”
“Well, that’s nice,” said the lady, eyes now darting back and forth between her and Nadirah. “So, how do you two know each other?”
Joni laughed, and Nadirah, annoyance present in her voice, said, “It’s a long story.”
“Oh,” the woman said with a nod, realizing that Nadirah didn’t want to discuss it.
“Well, guys,” said Nadirah. “Maybe I’ll catch you here next weekend.”
“Definitely,” said the guy. “We’ll be around for sure.”
Nadirah headed off.
And Joni followed.
Nadirah approached Gretchen, who laughed and said, “She’s following you like a little puppy.”
“Yes, I know,” sighed a more annoyed Nadirah as she turned to face Joni. “And while some may find it cute and funny, it’s getting on my nerves. So why don’t you just…”
The sound of a man shouting caused everyone’s talking to come to an abrupt stop. People looked around for the source of the shouting and eventually spotted a guy, both drunk and enraged, close to the entrance. A few people managed to run out of the building as he raised his gun in the air, much to people’s horror. Some people screamed, but everyone ran. Those who couldn’t get outside the building ran for cover anywhere they could find it, while others seemed to simply freeze in fear.
Nadirah darted for cover under a table, Joni close by her side. This booth was against an exterior wall, and so they pressed up against the wall as much as they could, bodies jammed tightly against each other in the cramped enclosure. They listened to the frenzy around them, and Nadirah hoped to hell no one came to join them. She felt suffocated enough as it was in the confined space underneath the table. Besides, the more people who hid under the same table, the more obvious the hiding place would be to whoever this psycho was.
Joni began to whimper.
“Be quiet!” Nadirah hissed.
The man was so intoxicated that Nadirah couldn’t make out his slurred words. Between that and the terrified shouts of others, she had no clue as to what set the guy off or how dangerous he might be. Maybe he was just having fun terrorizing people as some form of a sick joke. Or maybe he wanted to kill everyone he possibly could because he was either pissed at the world or he believed that God and the little voices inside his head were telling him to do so.
Nadirah began to fidget. At first, Joni couldn’t tell what she was doing, but then she could see the metallic gleam of the gun she’d pulled from a holster around her ankle.
The man’s shouts were now more distinguishable. He was coming closer, close enough to hear him complain that society owed him a break after all he’d done in life for so little in return.
Heart pounding in her chest, body trembling, Nadirah tried to assess the mental state of the raging lunatic who had seized the night. Would they have a likelier chance of surviving one who felt that society owed him? Or would they have been better off with some religious nut who felt he had a “duty” to the so-called lord above?
The agonizing suspense wore on, and the minutes seemed like hours. Joni’s hand started to reach for the edge of the tablecloth as she dared a quick peek out from underneath it, but Nadirah quickly pulled her hand back and held it in her own, keeping her pistol secure in her other hand. At this point, she wasn’t about to care about the fact that holding Joni’s hand had a very soothing effect on her, which she greatly needed in the perilous situation they were now in. If she were destined to die that night holding Joni Gilstein’s hand of all people’s, then so be it.
Then their worst fears came to life when they heard a shot being fired, which was followed by a round of horrified screams.
Oh, God, please don’t let anyone be killed, Nadirah silently prayed, hoping that those who’d escaped had enough sense to call the police.
The sound of running feet added to the screams and shouts, but as soon as the shooter promised to shoot someone else if everyone didn’t shut up and remain still, a deadly silence fell over the place.
“I’m the one playing God now!” the evil man roared from what seemed like the other side of the room. “Understand? If everyone does as I say, no one gets hurt. But if anyone makes the slightest move, you’re all dead. Every single one of you! Hear me, you greedy, selfish, spoiled little bastards? You’ll all be dead! And I want to see every single one of your sorry little faces right now, too. Right now!”
Nadirah’s terror turned up a notch or two as the crazy man’s voice grew closer.
“You can run, but you can’t hide!” the monster boomed, even closer.
Someone’s terrified breathing could be heard from beneath the table next to them.
“You may not know it, but I can see inside each and every one of your sick and twisted minds!”
Closer.
“I don’t need a degree in psychology to know what you sick fuckers are thinking and plotting.”
Closer still.
“I lose my son to drugs, I lose my wife to cancer, I lose my job to the economy, but does anyone give a damn? No, of course not!”
Just then, the man started yanking tablecloths off of tables one by one, causing a new round of screams and terror as glasses went crashing to the floor.
Joni covered her ears, and Nadirah was ready just as soon as the madman exposed their own hiding spot. She fired right into the guy’s kneecap. She would’ve aimed higher, but the underside of the table prevented her from doing so.
The man howled in pain as he hit the floor in front of them, gun still in hand. Much to Nadirah and Joni’s horror, he had landed right in front of the table, leaving them with no escape route. “You—you sorry piece of shit!” the bleeding man muttered, shakily struggling to raise his gun upward.
He took aim at Joni and began to squeeze the trigger just as Nadirah went to fire her own gun once again before she dropped it, unable to get off another round. Instead, she kicked the psycho’s own gun out of his hand before he had a chance to shoot Joni. Had she been a split second slower, Joni would now be seriously wounded, if not dead. While the madman was temporarily unarmed, a few people began to tackle him from the other direction just as Nadirah and Joni managed to finally slip out from underneath the table.
They ran outside, Joni hot on Nadirah’s heels. The police had just arrived on the scene. Officers were running in nearly every direction, it seemed, and one who recognized Nadirah started to approach them.
“The gun. Oh, my God, the gun!” Nadirah suddenly breathed, both relieved and hysterical.
“I got it,” Joni said.
Nadirah spun around to face Joni.
Joni handed the gun to Nadirah, who took it gratefully.
They gazed into one another’s eyes, and Joni said, “Thanks for saving my ass.”
Nadirah simply nodded, still a bit dazed.
“Hey, Nadirah?”
“Yeah, Joni,” she said.
“Next time, I wouldn’t be so quick to complain when someone follows you around like a little puppy,” Joni told her. Then she stepped up to her cheek and returned the kiss she’d given her almost twenty years ago before walking off into the night.
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