HEIR from the STREET

CHAPTER 6

"NOW WHERE THE fuck are you, Nic?" The voice asked again.

The lady took a sharp breath in before she said, "I was at a bar… and I took one glass. Just one, I swear." Her voice started sounding uncertain. "... but then I got drunk. Very drunk."

"I didn't ask for all of these…" The voice snapped on the phone. "Where the fuck are you?"

"Some hotel… I guess." She glanced at Jon who stood near the door. He nodded at her to affirm what she said.

"You guess?" The man on the other end gave a dry laugh. "So you're not sure. How did you get there?"

"I don't know." The lady shrugged. "I woke up here… on a fluffy bed and pillow."

"So maybe you were not so drunk after all." The manager snorted. "Get back home, Nic. Now!"

And the dial tone came on. The line went dead.

The lady scoffed. "Typical. He hangs up the phone."

Jon cleared his throat softly and that caught her attention.

She pinned him with her clear grey eyes. "What happened here yesterday?"

Jom shook his head. "Nothing. I can assure you."

She did not believe him, and wrapped the bathrobe tightly around her, "I would call the police if you don't tell me the truth now!"

"I am being truthful here, lady," Jon said, walking towards the bed slowly.

She stood up and backed away, watching him with wary eyes. Jon sighed and stopped, raising his hands slightly in a surrendering gesture.

"I was just about passing a bar with my bike when you literally fell on me, the scent of whiskey was all over you and you were drunk to stupor."

"Yeah, that sounds like me." The lady said to herself. "I don't drink anything but whiskey. What then happened?"

"You said something like 'help me'," Jon said, he rubbed his chin and continued, "although now that I think of it, you were so drunk you might have said something else."

She remained quiet, then like a flash bulb went on in her head, her eyes lit up and then she snarled, "I DID have only one glass of drink! The man that was talking with me must have spiked my drink with something when I was not looking! The bastard!"

"The fat man?" Jon asked, remembering the man that had come out to confront him to leave the lady alone.

"Yes. I remember you…" The lady said, "You punched him."

Jon nodded and she giggled.

"I did punch him. I was having a rough night, last night. And then I proceeded to put you in a taxi."

"I think I feel alright." She said, feeling her belly, "If I was assaulted, I think I would know. Thank you."

Jon smiled, "It's nothing. It was no problem."

"But I think it was…" The lady said, "I do think – or was it a dream? – I think I vomited. It must have been a dream."

"Oh, it was not." Jon replied, "You actually did. I cleaned you up."

"Oh, dear." She put her hands up to cover her mouth in horror.

Just then a shrill noise came from the bathroom. "It's my phone. An incoming message. I must go." She hurried up and headed to the bathroom.

After a moment of swearing and cursing, she came out looking disorganised but dressed.

Reaching up to pin her hair up, she said, "I saw the keycard, we are at the continental Hotel and I figured it was what I must I told the driver to go…"

"Oh no no…" Jon started to say but she cut him off.

She yawned. "And from the gold keycard, I could tell that this is the presidential suite too…" She eyed Jon's shirt which he had laid on the couch. It was his food delivery shirt. "Oh well, it's fine. I'll take care of the bill."

"Oh no, it's not like that…"

"Here, call me," She dropped a business card from her purse. "And my name is Nicole, by the way." She rushed to the door.

"My name is…" Jon called after her but she was out already and the door closed. "... Jonathan."

Jon sighed. "Fucking food delivery shirt." He cussed. And sat on the bed.

Just then, a vibration came from his pant pocket. He reached in and brought out his phone. It was all from Richards, his roommate.

"Hey, Rick…" Jon said when he picked. "What's up?"

"What's up… is a huge birthday party tonight!" Rick said. There was cheering on the side of the phone and Jon knew that he was with their group of friends.

"Birthday party?" Jon's mind skipped a beat as he thought maybe they were organising a party for him.

"Yes, fool!" Someone called from Rick's end. "Amanda's birthday party!" There was even louder cheering.

Disappointment tugged at Jon's chest. He then remembered that He and Amanda, the richest girl in school shared the same birthday date and that no one in the school even knew that his birthday was today too.

"Oh, crap. I forgot." Jon said.

"Hey, listen to this dude, guys," Rick yelled. "He forgot Amanda's fucking birthday was today."

There were groans from different voices in the background "What should we do with him, guys?"

"Throw him in the river!" Someone yelled and everyone laughed, including Jon who replied, "Fuck you, man."

"Hey, but seriously man, how could you forget? Besides, you had the night shift last night. You should be home now. Where are you?"

"A hotel?" Jon said.

All the guys in the background cheered again.

"You and Kim having sports for fun, yeah?" Rick jeered, "Hey you can tell her I said hi and bring her to the party, okay?"

"Kim and I… are not together anymore," Jon said in a sober tone. "We ended things last night."

Everyone got very quiet. There were quiet "We're sorry, man." randomly being said.

"It's alright," Jon said, trying to cheer everyone up again. "I'm on my way back. I'll see y'all soon."

"Soon man," Rick said. "Take care."

And they hung up.

Jon fell back heavily on the bed, rubbed his eyes with the heels of his wrists and sighed deeply.

"Shit! I should get something for Amanda. As a birthday gift."

Amanda was one of the few people, apart from his circle of male friends that were nice to him even though she came from a rich and wealthy family.

He washed up, pulled his shirt over his head and headed out for the city's commerce centre where all the big designer stores were located.

He kept on browsing through, oblivious to the fact that he cast an unlikely figure with that food delivery shirt.

He whistled on and looked through the big stores; Louis Vuitton, Fendy, Channel and many more that had big glass window showcases and life-sized mannequins.

An LV bag hung on the window of a bug shop caught his attention and he decided to get it for Amanda, as he reached for the door, it opened and a couple came out. He stopped short in his track when he saw it was Kim and her burly new boyfriend, Rico.

Rico gave a hearty laugh, "Well well, look who it is. You been working all night to make all ends meet, haven't you?" Rico sneered. "Don't that job of yours give paupers some time off? Are you here to deliver some food, boy?"