FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

~ Chapter 32 ~

The best view of the city is, hands down, the Cliffside Promenade on Mt. Adams just East of the city. Mt. Adams was more of a giant, steep hill than it was a proper mountain. Despite the steep geography surrounding the city, there weren't any actual mountains. The city its self fanned out from the river like a patchwork spiderweb. Barges floated down the river like fallen leaves catching an unseen current. Train tracks crossed the river through arched briges. And it was at this overlook where I took in the view.

I looked through coin-operated observation binoculars at the city. I was more interested in the confluence of the port, the trains, and the warehouses on the southern end than the gestalten skyline. A lazy barge drifted past the port and a cargo train was currently stationed by the warehouses.

I swung the binoculars northwards, calculating the distance in my head, until I figured I was looking at the rough position of the college campus and Infinitá. It was about two miles. Could there really be a tunnel that stretched that far? Infinitá was also at a higher elevation so there had to be some grade of incline taken into consideration. There were so many buildings the tunnel had to have been dug under.

The binoculars clicked black. I stretched and fished in my pockets for more quarters. Of course I didn't have enough for another round but at least I saw what I wanted to.

"Nice view," a hesitant, familiar masculine voice spoke from behind me.

I turned and Aaron looked at me, sheepishly. His ears stuck out of the band of his visor and his eyes hid behind sunglasses. He seemed uncomfortable. His ears were slightly droopy and he kept his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"Yeah," I answered, "There's a reason why they make postcards of the vista from up here."

"Did you take the tram?"

"Naw, I drove. Did you?"

"Yeah. It's free with a bus pass."

"Cool."

I peered over the cement barrier and saw one of the black and red cars make its way upward along a set of train tracks. Another car was approaching from the top and they were meeting at ovular split so they could pass one another. Wild sunflowers grew in sporadic clusters along the hillside.

I motioned him over and we sat around a round concrete picnic table with matching cement benches. A giant umbrella with a profile of the cable car and skyline rested in a hole in the middle of the table and shaded, well, nothing at this time of day.

"Come here often?" Aaron shifted and pulled out a cigarette. He was really at a loss of conversation.

"Not really," I shrugged. "Summer's almost over so I figured I'd come up here before it closes. You?"

Aaron shrugged back, "Bo and I came up here a couple times to watch the boats and trains."

I nodded. This was a pretty popular tourist spot and the view defined the city's outline. It also helped that the museum-slash-gift shop sold home-made ice cream.

"I, um..." Aaron continued, "Sorry about Ezio. I didn't realize what a dick he was."

I fought back the sour taste in my mouth, "Don't apologize for him."

"Well what am I supposed to do?" his voice edged on confrontational. He pulled on his cigarette in twitchy breaths.

"Do you like him?" I decided to hedge.

"Ezio?" Aaron sat back, "He's a friend. He's like a brother to me."

"You fuck your brother?" I dug.

"Cade..."

"Let's see who you can have sex with next!" I chirped in mockery.

"You're an asshole."

Wow, I really was. I had been an asshole to him for a long time, now. Aaron was taking the effort to talk to me, the least I could do was return the favor and listen to him.

"I'm sorry." My apology felt it came up short. It hung like an elephant between us. It wasn't enough by far for any treatment I had given him but I wasn't sure what else to say.

"After I was out of high school," I heard myself beginning.

Oh god, why am I talking about this?

"I met a guy through some mutual friends."

Aaron shifted, uncomfortably.

"Please," I interjected, "hear me out?"

Aaron settled back down, "Okay. And?"

"And we hit it off pretty good," I recalled. My stomach threatened to explode in a million tiny butterflies. "We started hanging out more and more together. He came over to my house, I went over to his, all that stuff. After a few months I moved in with him. We had our jobs, could afford a place, and it just seemed natural.

There were little things that seemed off about him that I brushed aside. He was ambivalent and left me to make decisions such as what to eat, where to go, all that stuff. It was probably the same stuff that happened when we were dating, but I don't remember. I figured it was something I just needed to get over.

He would start making small comments. Nothing mean, per say, but it was tone, I guess. He would say something that, when I thought about it, made me question what he meant. I felt like I was being paranoid and decided to try harder to be better. He'd smile and flirt most of the other times, so it was okay, right?

I can't remember anymore how long into us living together where things were noticeably worse, but he insisted on going everywhere with me and knowing what I was doing. I chalked it up to him being lonely, caring about me, or whatever I could think of to justify his behavior."

A small family walked out of the gift shop and wandered to the tables nearby. Their kids screamed playfully and ran around the binocular stations. A third adult followed and handed out giant ice cream cones to everyone.

"Wanna move?" Aaron motioned with his head to the other side of the parking lot.

"Yeah," I agreed and we got up, stretched, and walked.

"So what happened?" Aaron encouraged me to continue.

"He almost broke my jaw."

Aaron jerked his head to me, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

I forced a small laugh to ease his nerves; or mine. "We got into a fight one night and he punched me. We were standing and he hit me so hard I actually blacked out, slightly, and I fell. He slammed the door and stormed out of the house. When I was done shaking and throwing up I called Becky and she came and picked me up. We grabbed as much as we could and wrote the rest off as a loss."

"Wow, I'm sorry," Aaron offered sympathy. He kicked at the ground and offered little eye contact.

"I moved in with my parents and he tried calling them. Dad, being an attorney, told him off more than once. One morning we found my bike that I had left there, mangled on our lawn. After that we haven't heard from him since."

"At least your parents were supportive," Aaron put forward.

"Yeah. They're awesome that way."

A cool breeze blew and suspired along the hillside grasses. Cotton clouds floated, fat, in the sky.

"I think I should stop going to Infinitá." I said. It felt like the right conclusion after everything that had been happening.

"Is it because I'm working there?" a tone of consternation murmured from Aaron.

"No, it's not that," I reassured him. "I think the guy who hurt Becky goes there."

"I thought they had the guy?"

"I thought so, too," I wanted to tread conscientiously. "But I don't think so anymore. I saw a guy manhandle Tiffany a while back and I think it's the same person. Kat banned the guy's friends but I think she still lets him in, I don't know."

"Why would she do that? That doesn't make sense."

"I stopped by Kat's place yesterday and she was freaking out about running out of her medication. The guy gives her stuff if she lets him use the old tunnel under the club."

Aaron shook his head. It was a lot to digest, I knew that. "Shit. Damn. Is she okay?"

"She said she should be able to hold out until Thursday. I kind of want her to go to a clinic, you know? She needs help but I don't know what to do."

"Yeah," Aaron's voice was solemn.

"Don't go there anymore," I turned to Aaron, "Please?"

"It's my job," he vindicated, "I gotta eat."

"Well can you search for something else?"

"I can try."

It wasn't much, but I could tell he was being truthful. I didn't think he expected to run into me up here nor did I expect to tell him pretty much my life story. We both needed time to work out what was going on at this moment.

"So," I asked, "What are we, now?"

"I don't know," Aaron sighed. It hung in the air, a non-answer to an unanswered question. He thought and formulated an answer, "Friends?"

My heart sank at this idea. Despite what had been happening around us I didn't want to let go of him. I wanted everything to be back to what it used to be. But if that was what he wanted and thought we should be, then I would accept it.

"Yeah," I conceded.