boys

He and the other guy look for a mop closet or a closet that at least has a utility sink. He stands in the hallway while the other guys walks through the boys’ shower to the other hallway and looks there as well.

“Yeah, I found one,” the other guy says.

“Okay, I guess we wait until this dude finishes showering and then we can load up a mop and get to work,” he says.

“Sounds good,” the other guy says.

They stand around in the hallway. A boy walks through the wall and he nods at them and they each nod back.

The boy who was showering, still wet, walks back to his dorm room wearing nothing but a towel.

“Okay,” the other guy says. “I think I can start.”

He steps into the shower with his bucket and sets his bucket on the floor and starts towards the hallway with the utility closet.

“Oh wait,” the other guy says.

“What?” he asks, still standing in the first hallway.

“Someone else, I guess, has just started showering.”

“Oh. Wow. Okay fuck this. Let’s just go,” he says.

He and the other guy grab their buckets and walk back up the stairs towards the building’s exit.

“I’ll email Joe tomorrow and let him know he needs to talk to the RA or something,” he says.

“Yeah. Sounds good,” the other guy says.

groundhog day

 “Agh. Lights are still on in the student building,” he says.

“Yeah. Fuck,” the other guy says.

“No biggie. We’ll do it tomorrow,” he says. They start to drive off.

“This shit is like groundhog day. We see our shadow and six more weeks of not doing our jobs.”

roads

 He is vacuuming when he discovers a text from Joe that says, “Call me when you can.” He calls Joe.

“Hey, can you do me a favor and call me when you’re finished tonight to let me know what the roads are like?”

“Sure,” he says. “I mean, we aren’t done until like two in the morning usually.”

“That’s fine,” Joe says. “I’m getting up at four anyway.

At the end of the night, he calls Joe from the campus and tells him about the roads. “Oh, and there is a lot of ice in front of the coffee shop and the academic center. Might want to have someone throw some salt down there as well.”

“Gotcha,” Joe says. “Are you home now?”

“No,” he says. “Still on campus.”

“Oh. I want to know what the roads in town are like.”

“Oh. My bad,” he says.

He and the other guy drive home and he drops the other guy off at his house and drives to his house and parks on the side yard and turns off the music in his car.

“Hey Joe, me again,” he says when he calls.

“Hey,” Joe says.

“Roads are pretty good. I mean, I have all wheel drive, but overall they aren’t really slick or anything. Pretty easy going.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“Yep,” he says.

“Have a good night,” Joe says.

“Yep. You too, boss.”

vegan

 He orders two triple cheeseburgers, a Big Mac, fries, and a Diet Coke. He drives home with the food and unpacks it on the coffee table in the living room. He eats a cheeseburger.

“Perfect timing,” he says when she walks through the door. “I just got back.”

She sits down and opens her Big Mac and takes a bite.

“I don’t want to eat like this anymore,” she says.

“What do you mean?”

“I think I hate meat,” she says.

“Seriously?” he asks. He takes another bite of his cheeseburger.

“Yeah. I want to go vegan. All I’m eating this for is like the special sauce and the pickle and stuff.”

“I love meat,” he says. He takes another bite.

“I don’t. I feel like shit because of it.”

“Yeah. I mean, I get that. It’s like really funny to me, though,” he says. “Like, I just love that we’re eating all these burgers while talking about going vegan.”

He finishes his cheeseburger and starts the next one.