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I miss her

I really, really miss her

The traffic on I-70 is horrific--must be an accident up ahead Colorado has the worst drivers They say California drivers are bad, but that’s not true California drivers knohat they’re doing They ht speed the hell down the freeway, but they can cut over six lanes of traffic, find a song on the iPod, check their teeth in the , without even blinking

Here--every day is a major fk-up on the freeway And there is really only one way to get to DIA from Denver unless I want to drive up north and cut back around on the toll road And I don’t So I sit in traffic

Back to Ronin God that guy just pissedintowith Spencer like they’re best friends since birth or so up Spence comes from money, like me My parents inherited our house and Spencer came from the same situation Our families have lived across the street from each other for close to fifty years But there was Ronin, inserting hih he wasn’t even fro Five Points The slum of Denver And he was practically the son of a pn photographer

Iat it objectively, that’s exactly what the situation was

I inch past the accident and finally the freeway opens up just past the 225 I get over in the right lane so I can get on Pena One long-ass road that only leads to one lonely-ass place The airport

But every girl at school loved Ronin theout of a s his hand through his perfectly irls drop their Trapper-Keepers and gawk at hiht hate him a little Maybe even more than a little

He’s just lucky that loyalty is my number one moral value Maybe my only moral value I do, after all, steal, cheat, lie, and lust I have most of the vices covered But for soins and ends with this absolute dedication to Spencer and Ronin I’m not even sure how it started since I hated him immediately

But it’s there I can’t not be loyal to Ronin I siether in this life whether ant to be or not I’m sure he hates me as well Maybe even more, since he knows Rook loveshe can do about it

DIA eventually shows up off in the distance They say the white peaked roof is supposed to remind people of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, but it looks like soe craving for cotton candy when I coe and then follow the road around to the ticket station Fucking Merc MakingWhy can’t he just show up like nor all paranoid and stealthy? Now security will have my plates when I leave because I have to stop at the exit and pay as they take pictures of my car If he would just stand out at Arrivals like everyone else, then I could swoop in, pick his ass up, and swoop back out No plates No pictures No payate and roll ate lifts and I drive through, trying to get s on which way is north so I can find the south elevators on level two

In California, west equals the ocean In Denver, west equals the mountains I find the mountains so I knohere south is, and then take the ramp up to level two This place is packed since it’s Christmas Eve, and there are holiday travelers everywhere Kids are crying, randparents are happy to be with theet in and out of this garage

I drive past the south elevators, looking for a station wagon and come up short So I try the old-fashioned method I roll the n and yell, "Merc!"

Every set of stressed-out eyeballs turns at my call and stares at e to say soer door opens and ano one can see hiuy, at least six foot four and two hundred pounds So hi he can duck in the seat and hide hi all over the place, checking the parking lot His hand rubs the stubble on his chin, and his cropped brown hair is covered by a trucker hat that proclai, Rutherford Just call outname in one of the busiest airports on the planet, on one of the busiest days of the year"

"You said call you"

"No, I said, do The Call, Ford Not just scream out ether was a duck Quacking out a duck call in an airport parking garage is gonna be less conspicuous than your name?"

"Whatever," he says as he turns to check behind us like the paranoid freak he is, "just drive"

"Well noe have to stop at security to get our fking pictures taken, so this is all moot anyway You should’ve stayed in Arrivals"

"Fuck that, I saw a few suspicious people back there One on the plane and one in baggage I went to baggage because it’s what people do and I was blending in, plus I wanted to see if this guy would follow me And he did"