“All of that may not be necessary,” I told her firmly.
Tracey narrowed her eyes at me. “I’ll be back tomorrow.” It sounded like a threat.
“I’ll call you in the morning to let you know if that works.” I smiled at her. A mean smile. She rose to her feet and shoved the paperwork into her bag.
“Fine. It was nice to meet you Yoss. I hope to hear from you soon,” Tracey said stuffily before breezing out of the room.
“That lady really needs to work on her social cues,” Yoss muttered after she had left.
I snickered and then covered it with a cough. “She was just trying to help. We all are.”
Yoss rolled his eyes and that simple gesture made me smile. It was so much like the old Yoss. The one I remembered. The one that was nothing like this hardened, unhappy man beside me.
“I would have thought you had figured it out by now that you can’t help everyone.” His words were clipped. His tone frustrated.
I had come to his room hoping to get some answers from him, but I could tell it was useless. Yoss wasn’t going to talk to me. Not now.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.
“Like shit, but I’ll live. For now. They gave me more medicine and I’m supposed to sleep. But I think I’ve slept enough for a lifetime.”
“So you’re up to some company then?” I asked him.
“Are you offering?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I am,” I said.
“Then by all means.” He waved his bandaged hand. “You look tired,” he observed, looking at me closely.
I pushed my less than tidy hair out of my face and gave him a small smile. “Well you look like someone used your face as a punching bag.”
Yoss barked out a laugh. “Touché.”
Yoss’s eyes twinkled for just a moment before the light fizzled out and died.
We sat in silence. One minute.
Two minutes.
Three…
“What happened, Yoss?” I asked him again. “Did one of your…” I swallowed, not sure how to say the words. Yoss narrowed his eyes and waited as I fumbled and stuttered. “Did one of your cust—um—johns—do this to you?”
Yoss stared at me long and hard and I felt myself withering under his gaze. It wasn’t a friendly look. Nor was it an openly communicative one either.
He didn’t answer me. He was locked up tight and I no longer had the key. His eyes drifted up to the television mounted on the wall. An old movie was playing silently. I didn’t recognize what it was, but it reminded me of other things.
Things that I knew Yoss would remember as well. Things that if mentioned, may make him open up to me again.
“Do you remember that time we snuck in the back door of the old Meyers movie theater? They were playing Fiddler on the Roof and you snagged us some popcorn and we hid out in the back for both showings?” I grinned, remembering the two of us huddled down in our seats, hoping we wouldn’t get caught. Yoss’s hand holding mine as we kissed quietly in the dark.
It had been our first “date.”
The best I had ever had. Even to this day.
Things had been innocent. Simple. For those few hours we could be kids lost in each other. In a movie. And forget everything else.
Yoss’s jaw tensed. “Don’t do that, Imi.”
