Bone Diggers - Chapter Nine

Loading... Chapter Nine

Owen rummaged through his closet looking for a helmet, swearing it should still be untouched in a box since moving in. Luckily, it was. His bike sat outside on the tiny balcony, tucked tightly against a chair from a long discarded patio set. The cover collected so much city grime that he coughed while pulling it off. God only knew how long it had been out here. But today, it had a new purpose thanks to Andreah. Even if he wasn't so sure of the details just yet.

Owen walked the bike out of his apartment, balancing the helmet precariously on the handlebars as he locked the door. Thankfully the elevator saved him from dragging it down four flights of stairs. Once on the street, he clicked on the helmet. It felt dreadfully clunky and he would have risked not having one at all if Andreah hadn't demanded he bring it. The insistence seemed out of character. She seemed the sort to boycott helmets completely outside of work.

He rode under half a mile to the address Andreah gave him. At the arched mouth of a park, Andreah stood with a few others who were perched on their bicycles. "Hey," Owen said, as he pulled up to them and dismounted. Andreah had on a black hoodie with thin gray stripes, her brown hair pooled into the hood that rested on her shoulders. "I don't think I've ever seen you on a bike without your cute little reflective vest."

Andreah leaned forward, one foot still outstretched to serve as a kickstand. "Brought my other bike too. Doesn't even have a dumb sign from work on it."

He hadn't even realized until she mentioned it, but she was right, it was nice in more ways than the missing advertisements. Actually, the lot of them had nice bicycles. Owen smiled, really as a means to hide his nerves as he glanced over the others with her.

"So uh, what did you want to show me?" Owen wrung his now free hands before steadying himself on the handles again. His guess of them riding around in Jackson Park, while cute in an old retired person way, now seemed weird with two other guys joining them.

"Have you heard of alleycat races?" asked one of her friends who sported an undercut.

Owen shook his head, glancing to Andreah for help. The fact that he didn't even know the names of her friends made him nervous. Any second he felt like they'd comment that his Walmart bike wasn't good enough to ride with them.

"We race around, passing various checkpoints and using, or doing, anything we can to get there faster," she said. Owen gave a half nod, not fully getting it still. "It's like parkour, except on a bike, and instead of flips you break traffic laws."

"Alright." Owen grinned. "I'm game."

"Yeah?" asked her other friend. He had strayed a little from the group doing small hops as he rode a few feet and back.

"Totally."

Andreah's piercings caught the last of the evening sunlight as she smiled with pride in her choice to invite him. "The first checkpoint is Madison Square Park. You have to reach there before you can finish at Manhattan Mall. Skipping the checkpoint is a no-no."

Owen nodded along as his eyes drifted to see who all was participating. There was more than just the four of them. This was far more organized than the random outing he expected.

"Don't worry," Andreah interjected, causing Owen's attention to snap back to her. "This is all for fun. And you're not the only newbie, so you probably won't come in dead last." She winked.

"Least you don't have any foam pits to get stuck in this time."

Andreah let out something reminiscent of a giggle. It sounded so out of place coming from her. Owen grinned back, enjoying a small slice of the night that was just theirs before the racers joined in around the starting line.

Everyone had to place their bikes against the fence before entering the gate. The race would start off inside and they'd have to sprint back to their bikes. Procedure he guessed, since lining up in the middle of the road wasn't going to happen. Manhattan was never empty. When the whistle was blown, Andreah jogged backwards for a second making sure Owen followed before feeling confident enough to bolt along with everyone else to her own bike.

From his bike, Owen searched for where Andreah was, but he didn't spot her. So he rode with the crowd for most of the way. 8th Ave was the major route everyone took, using the bike lanes between the two parks. He rounded the corner at 23rd to take the straight shot to Madison Square. Something from DOT's Don't Be A Jerk campaign must have stuck, since he made sure to be extra careful of each pedestrian, even if it was adding extra seconds onto his time. He wiggled his way past any mishaps, making it far enough to get a stamp as he stopped at the first checkpoint.

Strangers started pedaling towards Broadway, but before he rejoined them a bike sharply cut him off. Andreah appeared as everyone else pushed on past, going around them like a river would around a rock.

"Nuh-uh. I'm not going to let the person I invited make a newbie mistake," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Owen wasn't sure which details he was more confused about his near "mistake" or how she showed up out of nowhere.

"That way is a minefield. You'll never make it out of there alive. Come on, follow me."

She sat up on the bike to get a strong restart as she headed towards Madison, and Owen followed. Andreah ventured a glance over her shoulder whenever she got the chance, making sure he was still there. They both wove between cars, but Owen let her lead the way, trusting her judgment would keep both of them from ending up under someone's tires.

What he hadn't judged was how close he was getting to her at some points. His front tire caught her back tire. The opposite motions caused his front tire to stutter while her's kept going. The friction acted a lot like abruptly hitting only the front brakes, and ruined the once smooth ride. The crash into the pavement was shit, but thankfully they had cut over to what counted as the shoulder so he didn't have to worry about any oncoming cars. He tucked his arms in to protect them from serious damage. The skid scratched exposed skin and left his shoulder tight and sore.

"Fuck," Andreah called over her shoulder before hitting her brakes. He was sitting up by time she jogged back to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Owen winced as he tested his shoulder. "I see the purpose of the helmet now. Just wish I knew what to look out for."

"I'm sorry, I should have made sure you weren't too tight on my tail." Andreah knelt down to help him, mentally checking off injures he had or didn't have. Her careful expression made him wonder if she had seen this a number of times before.

Owen couldn't help but laugh it off. "It's okay, I'm fine. Maybe I was just distracted by the view."

A cab honked before swerving around them, and Owen realized his bike was still sticking out into traffic. He hooked the tire with his foot and dragged it back.

"Come on, you nerd. Get up." Andreah smirked softly before bonking him softly on the helmet. "Does your shoulder hurt?"

"It's not bad."

"Well good." Andreah smiled to herself like her next comment already pleased her before she even said it. "I can help with that later, if you want."

Lacing almost anything with an innuendo seemed to be her hidden talent, making Owen glance away sheepishly like he had been the bold one. "Shouldn't we keep going?"

"Eh, I was thinking we could skip to the after-party early instead."

"After-party? Instead of finishing?"

"Yeah, nothing too big. It's just at a bar on 34th. And it doesn't matter. This is more about fun and donations than who wins." She gave him a gentle tap on the arm before going back to retrieve her bike.

Owen moved to lift his bike from the ground and walked it towards her. "Lead the way, then."

Andreah smiled and tossed her leg over her bike. The good thing was that now barely anyone would be on their route, so the gaps in traffic wouldn't be filled with an influx of racers.

Once at the bar, they chained their bikes together around a No Parking sign outside and headed in. Owen recognized one person from the start of the race, making it clear they weren't the only deserters. The bar was a relative hole in the wall, but a warm and friendly atmosphere keep it alive. On the blackboard was a list of bike-inspired cocktails, giving the place up as a frequent hangout for cyclists.

Andreah turned on her heel to face him abruptly. "Whatchya want? I'll treat first round," she asked, stripping off her jacket.

Owen caught the hint of more piercings, barely peeking out from under the strap of her tank top along her collarbone. For just a moment, his mind wandered to what else she had hidden. "Just a beer, thanks," he said a beat off and looked up at her face again.

A flirty smile shined through before she trotted off to the bartender. He watched her pull her hair free, the bleached golden ends dancing along her shoulders, before glancing around the room. More people came in that looked like her crowd, even though not all looked like participants in the race. He pulled out his phone to check if anyone had sent him anything interesting, and by the time Andreah came back with drinks she had a friend in tow.

"Owen, this is Drew. Drew, Owen," she said before handing off the beer bottle to Owen with a small clink against the neck of hers. Owen lit up simply because he had finally caught a name. Drew had dark, rich features with neat, skinny dreads pulled back into a lazy bun that suggested he'd been hanging out here for a while.

Drew offered to shake, which Owen quickly did once he switched his drink over to the other hand. "I heard you took a bit of a scuff."

"Ah, yeah. Beginner's mistake, I guess?" Owen turned his left hand over enough to look at the small gash on his hand. He couldn't see it all, because doing so would risk spilling his drink. "Let's just say I'm better on my feet."

"To be fair, I kind of didn't tell him it was a race," Andreah said, "So at least he didn't start pedaling the opposite direction when I told him."

"So you were testing him on how he'd handle your frequent lack of details?" Drew smiled.

Andreah shrugged, and checked her phone. It was close enough to the truth, so why fight it? Plus, she was having a bigger battle clearing the low battery messages that popped up every time she did anything. "I wish this thing didn't have such a shit lifespan," she grumbled to herself.

Drew ignored the comment for the sake of conversation. "So, what do you do, Owen?"

"I work at NYC Today. Well, I intern as a research specialist. I hope to do investigative reporting someday. Or maybe report on specialized media, like video games, since that's ever so popular lately."

Drew nodded. "I remember a TV station when I was growing up shutting down because no one was watching shows about video games when they could just play them. But here we are. The new American pastime. I'm assuming you're big into games?"

"Age of Shadows, mostly," Owen shrugged.

Drew glanced over at Andreah. "Isn't that the game you had me—?"

"Drew's a total computer nerd," Andreah interrupted. "But he says he has no time to actually play games."

Owen nodded before taking a sip of his beer. "What do you do with computers?"

"I'm a developer at a software company. Coding isn't too exciting for the average person, but it pays the bills well enough."

A girl who was in the middle of unwrapping her scarf approached the group, bumping softly into Andreah with a friendly grin as she curled her arm around Andreah's hips. "Hey there, cutie."

"Hey," Andreah said, with a smile that reached towards her ears. Her eyes lit up with a new joy at the arrival of this fair and petite girl. The genuine interaction between the two suggested they were family, maybe sisters, even, despite them not looking the part. "Owen, this is Abigail." She gestured between the two of them with the mouth of her beer.

"Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Owen," Abigail said with delight, but still kept snugly next to Andreah. "It's so damn cold outside."

She tried to neatly keep her scarf tucked into her arm but it wasn't cooperating.

"Calm down, Ms. Florida. It's like, fifty."

"It feels like it's freezing!" She bounced on her feet for a moment before Andreah rubbed her back, a slight attempt at warming her friend. "Hey Drew," Abigail said, as if she had just noticed he was there. "You agree with me, right?"

Drew went rigid suddenly, like the cold outside had crept up his neck and made him uncomfortable. "Sort of," he said, "Uh, I'm gonna go get another beer, be right back."

The fact that Drew's current beer was still half-full didn't go unnoticed as the group exchanged looks.

Once he was out of earshot, Andreah slowly released Abigail before giving her a sigh. "He's going to act like that till you let him take you out." She glanced over at Owen, hoping that he'd excuse the hiccup.

"Yeah, yeah, but he needs to stop acting like we're twelve. It's like he's scared of me."

"Abby, he probably is. You're a tornado of energy."

Abigail shrugged lightly. "What about you, Owen? Were you scared of Andreah with the whole..." She stopped to gesture over her friend like she was the subject of a "Real Life Aliens" documentary. Andreah punched her arm lightly, smiling despite however annoying Abby was being.

"Uh," Owen stalled, trying to quickly catch himself up after tuning out at what seemed to be a personal conversation. "Not really? But, that might say more about me than her."

Andreah smiled, wanting to make a comment about his possible poor judgment, but refrained. "Didn't you say you wanted to call Jerry? About a source for your story or something?" she asked Abby, looking for an excuse to be alone again.

"Oh shit, yeah. I need to get that for tomorrow's meeting," Abigail said, and stuffed her scarf into her jacket pocket before extending her hand to Owen. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"You too," Owen said, grabbing her hand for a light shake. Wait, finally? He realized that was the second time she said that. Andreah hadn't spoken about any of her friends while on their first date. The most he'd gotten out of her then was where she was from and where she liked to order pizza. He watched Abigail break off from their group, leaving them alone again. "So, how do you know those two?"

"Drew is a buddy I made through Keith, the race organizer. Abigail and I go back a long ways." She glanced over at Owen and fell silent for a moment. "What about you? Any friends?"

"Do I have any friends?" he repeated with a laugh. "Most days?"

Andreah stuck out her tongue. "Do you want another?" she said, swishing her mostly empty beer in the air. "Or, we could go...somewhere not here."

Owen tried to make a face that was both coy and friendly. "We just got here."

"Well, I don't like staying in one place for too long."

With the cock of his head, he set his drink down and they headed for the door. He spotted their bikes still locked up, and glanced towards Andreah. "Maybe I should lead the way, it seems dangerous when you do."

The ride over was fast, and wasn't until the elevator ride up to Owen's place that he started feeling twitchy about inviting her over. Andreah decided to leave her bike locked up on the street as Owen wordlessly brought his upstairs. His hand tightened around the handrails, hoping the unease in his stomach would go away.

Owen and Andreah shuffled into his one bedroom apartment. She took a few full strides into his small living room as he slid his bike up against the first clear bit of wall he found. Owen dropped his keys on a fiberboard side table near the door before flipping the switch. Andreah hadn't ventured too far when the evening was flooded with light. He was about to shrug off his jacket when she walked towards him, leaving him breathless as he stared at her in this new setting.

Andreah's hand looked like it might move to touch him, but instead it fell on the light switch. Her deep brown eyes traced over his face for just a moment before she turned the lights back off.

He made out the smile she had as her hands grasped at the front zipper of his jacket. Her breath was steady. She wasn't at all nervous. Owen, on the other hand, was wondering what led up to this exact moment. Andreah's lips found his before he figured it out and he pulled her closer. He had admired her lips from time to time; the pucker they created before she'd smile, the damage she caused to them when she was nervous at the gym. He could even picture the shade of lipstick under the dim bar lights. Having her lips against his was far better than the passing thought earlier that night.

Andreah's hands moved up to his collar, pushing the jacket apart, encouraging him to take it off. While she helped, Owen felt a tight pain pull at his arm and caused him to twist back and wince. Andreah instantly stopped moving her hands, the whites of her eyes catching the dim light in the room as she looked up at him. "Does that still hurt?"

"Forget about it."

"Let me help. It'll feel a lot better."

"It's fine," he whispered, leaning forward to find her lips again.

She chuckled under her breath and dodged his kiss. "I'll give you a massage. Even dead-fucking-last deserves a prize." Owen let out a breath as he pulled off the jacket. "The bedroom would probably be better," Andreah continued. "Also, shirt off."

"So demanding. Would you like some oils? Or I can go get some stones from outside and we can heat those up." Owen joked, and adjusted his steps to head to the bedroom now.

"Shush."

He took off his shirt, and noticed the hint of a smile on Andreah's face as she looked him over before bouncing onto his bed and tapping on the open space. He had expected Andreah to inspect his room. Comment on his taste in design and cleaning habits, or silently judge his movie collection. Instead he held her sole focus, a feeling that was far more intoxicating than anything they might have had in the bar.

He expected her to sit on the bed and move around back to work at his shoulder from the side, but instead she wiggled her finger around. Without a word, Owen tried to figure out what she wanted. Slowly he pulled himself further on the bed and rolled onto his stomach.

Laying like this still allowed Andreah to sit next to him, but instead she straddled across his lower back and ran her hands over his shoulder, gently kneading into it.

He melted at the pleasure, despite the rare half second twinge of pain as her hands rolled over a sore muscle.

"How are you so comfortable with anything?" He shifted his head up from against the pillows in an effort to look back at her.

"I'm not always. But it's no secret now that we're attracted to each other, and I enjoy giving massages. Are you not enjoying it?" Owen sighed with contentment as she put pressure under his shoulder blades. "I don't like wasting time. But if that makes you uncomfortable—"

"No," he breathed out sharply. "I'm fine. It's just, weird."

"Thanks," She chuckled and re-focused on giving a massage. The activities of the day made him feel worn out and he closed his eyes as it all caught up to him. "Owen?"

"Hm?"

"What is that?"

From the corner of his eye he could see she was pointing at something, but couldn't tell what. He started to roll over, and Andreah moved onto the bed not to impede him. He chuckled, and flipped over to his back. On the wall in front of the bed was a series of hexagonal mirrors arranged to make a creature with eyes where two mirrors weren't placed. "A Space Invader."

"Yeah, but why is it there?" Andreah said, and stared at the fellow.

Owen's brow pulled tight. His bathroom was annoyingly small for anything, and thus, he had ended up with a mirrored Space Invader hanging out in his bedroom. But he decided not to explain that. "Where should it be? The ceiling?"

She didn't say anything else and Owen couldn't tell what she was focusing on. "Andreah," he said, forcing her gaze back to him. "You see, at Ikea. There is this package of mirrors." Owen placed a hand over hers. "You can make all sorts of things with them." He lifted a hand to tilt her chin up towards his mouth. "Beehives, abstract shapes, checkered patterns." The words were meaningless, Owen glanced down at her lips, forgetting their use, or forgetting that words came from them as he kissed her again.

The first was tender, like slowly dipping your toe into a pool of water. It built like a tide until he wanted Andreah to crash down against him again. When she didn't lean into his pull, his hands fell free. He searched for words to bridge the gap again, the effort clear on his face. "Maybe you should tell me what we are doing."

Andreah's mouth slacked as if she was going to say something, but then locked whatever the comment was away. She got up from the bed, and smoothed her shirt out. Which had been untouched, despite the direction things had been heading. "I'm going to go home."

Owen didn't object, he just stared trying to understand.

"Maybe next time, Romeo."

He smiled. At least that sounded more like her. Andreah got up, and Owen followed her out to the living room. She made quick work for the door, but Owen placed his hand on it first. "Does this mean it's my turn to get you into trouble again?" Owen could have played this off as nothing, but if she wanted to leave, he'd at very least let her know she was wanted.

Her quick solemn mood brightened a bit. "Maybe nothing that involves falling this time," Andreah said. "For either of us."

"Nix the bikes and foam pits." Owen pulled away from the door with a grin. "Noted. I'll try to think of something good."

"I'm sure you will." Andreah opened the door and paused. She looked from the hall, to the floor, then back to him as if she wanted to steal a kiss before she left.

Owen smiled, but didn't push. She was telegraphing a bashfulness that just wasn't usually her. "I'll see you later."