“So have you caught up with PT at all since you’ve been in town?” Georgie asked
“No.. I don’t really know what to say to him over text. To be honest I expected you to just invite him along.”
“I haven’t seen him in awhile. We kind of got in fight the while back.”
“Oh..? Well spill the gossip Georgie Boy.”
“Haha stop. Well, it wasn’t really a fight. I think he just got sick of me and started blaming me for things going wrong in his life.”
“Yeah, sounds like you guys just grew apart.” Sammie said.
“Yeah true. And he was unemployed and just sitting around the house all day. We did have a period where we got super into sports gambling. I think he lost over $7000.”
“Holy shit! That’s crazy. How much did you lose?”
“Like less than $1000. He was doing most of the bets himself and after he lost all that money he expected me to pay him back for half.”
“Wow, you’re a terrible friend.”
“Hey I’m a good friend. I was advising him the whole time. There’s no way I would have made those bets if it were my own money though. I may seem all over the place, but I am way less impulsive than PT.”
“Yeah, I’m kidding. You are a good friend. It’s actually really fun to hang out with you again. It’s like we are 19 again. You actually look and act exactly the same.”
“Haha yeah, I’m a slow ager. When I was a kid it sucked, but now it’s great.” Georgie said.
“You do seem different to me though. I mean talking to you is the same as ever, but you’re a lot more mature than me now haha. You look good too. Look, I’m starting to get a belly.” Georgie said as he lifted his shirt a little bit revealing a doughy hairy stomach.”
Sammy laughed at Georgie’s antics then burped after taking a sip of her pop.
“Yep so mature” she joked.
“So what exactly do you do for your work, Aren’t you in real estate?” Georgie asked.
“Yeah, you could say that. I work on building up cases files for prospective properties. Kind of boring, right?”
“Sounds better than slinging midnight meats at the Kransz Mart. You like it at least?”
“Yeah I guess. I like working. And there’s always projects and assignments for me to do. I hate boring jobs where you’re always sitting down.”
“I love those jobs. I gotta find me one of those.”
“No, you don’t Georgie. You love doing things. Especially with your friends.”
“Yeah I like friends. Life would be pointless without them. So why did you get sent here to Oakwood? It’s not classified information is it.”
“Hmm. Not really… I guess I can show you a bit.” Sammy reached in her bag and pulled out the Mr. Gardner’s case. She showed Georgie some of the photos without showing him any of the actual written information. Together they weaved together a fantastical tale of Sammy the Private eye. In their story Jasmine was being abducted by Trevor’s mom, a notorious crime boss in town. Jasmine was the wife of the rival crime boss who lived in a lavish estate. But as Sammy investigated more and more, she discovered that Jasmine and the mom were madly in love.
“I wanna help with the investigation. Can I be the lone driver, like the guy from Drive?”
“You want to be Ryan Gosling?
“Yeah and I have a sweet racecar.”
“Haha. So ryan gosling drives Jasmine’s mom around and she helps him kill the dad and take over the family.”
“So I’m her dad now?” Georgie said as he looked at the photo of Jasmine.
“Like my house?” Sammy said as she tossed him a photo of the Maccomb residence.
“Wow, that’s actually a lot nicer than I thought it’d be… Is that in Avalon woods?”
“Yeah it is! How did you know?”
“Oh just the style of the houses I guess. Wait didn’t Trevor grow up there?”
Sammy thought Georgie had seen his name on one of the papers and was still joking around.
“Yes.” She said gravely “and his soul still haunts the garage to this day.”
“Don’t you believe in ghosts?” Georgie asked
“I don’t, Why do you think that.”
“Oh, I thought I remember you talking about ghosts once.”
“Yeah maybe when I was a dumb freshman… I do believe there are some things that just can’t be explained.”
“You two seem to be having fun.” A lanky brown haired waiter said slyly as he approached Georgie with a slight smile.
“Hey it’s the Chocolate boy! What’s up Seany?” Georgie said as he gave Sean a fist bump.
“Oh, just starting to clean up around here. Hey I’m Sean?”
“Sammy. Nice to meet you.”
“Sammy’s in town on a top secret investigation.” Gerogie said whimsically. “The disappearance of Jasmine something...” He said pointing to one of the photos.
“Are you a PI or something?” Sean asked impressed while taking in all the visible photos.
“Not really, just real estate.” Sammy said as she gathered up the case info. She was starting to get paranoid she was revealing to much information. But she hadn’t really said anything at all.
“Looks mysterious. I bet Georgie is the main suspect.”
“What! Nah. I’m Batman and she’s commissioner Gordon. Gotta give her the right information. The information you can only get from the streets.”
“I think I’m batman.” Said Sammy.
“Alright, looks like Sean’s kicking us out.” Georgie said as he realized they were the last ones in the Diner.
“I thought you worked nights Georgie?” Sean asked.
“It’s my weekend tonight. A Wednesday weekend. Seeya man.” Georgie said as he and Sammy walked to the parking lot while Sean waved to them from the window. He noticed there was a piece of paper left behind at Georgie’s table. He grabbed it, folded it, and placed it into his back pocket.
“Hey wanna come over to my place Georgie asked?”
“Uh, sure I guess. What do you want to do?” Sammy wondered at first if Georgie was making an attempt to sleep with her, but it seemed like he just wanted to hang out with his old friend and catch up some more. Sammy too desired this. Being with Georgie unlocked a part of her that had been dormant for awhile. At one point she deliberately hid this side to her, but now that it was free again she remembered just how wonderful it was.
“I don’t know.. We could play Settlers of Catan or watch a movie. My friend Marquis is coming over. I think you’d like him.”
“Okay sounds fun. I guess I could start working at 11 tomorrow.”
“Sweet, just follow my car.” Georgie said and then drove off.
