coyote pt 3

She jerked awake and leaned over her bed to pat at her phone. The sound cut off. She didn’t know if she’d hit ‘off’ or ‘snooze’, but it didn’t matter much. She had a backup alarm.  

Reina stared miserably up at the ceiling, wondering why it had to have that weird pokey texture. It didn’t look good, and it was going to be a nightmare to repaint. She didn’t want to think about the fact that her day needed to start, and soon. Her alarm had been scheduled to go off at 9:30. That was both cutting it kind of close for getting ready for the day, and felt way too early for a Saturday.   

She groaned and readjusted her grip on her pillow. She felt a little stuck, and she couldn’t get comfortable enough. She wasn’t even enjoying lingering in bed, letting the clock tick down the minutes that would have given her a chance to get ready at a more relaxed pace.  

She was awake, but didn’t want to get out of bed. She was tired, but not enough to get those last few minutes of sleep.   

…shit, her work shirt was still dirty, getting wrinkled on the floor. She didn’t have time to wash that.  

‘Oh my god, I’m not ready to be a human today.’ 

Someone knocked on her door. Either that or something fell over. Reina went stiff, listening intently for further movement. She hoped that something had fallen over. Just in case, she should answer.  “Yeah?” She called, but not too loudly. Minh, at least, was probably still sleeping.   

“You up?” Shanisha asked, from outside the door. She was probably already dressed and had eaten breakfast, and maybe started reading a book. Shanisha was just so intimidating. Were they even the same species?   

She loosened her grip on her pillow guiltily. “I’m awake,” Reina alleged.  

“I want to go get breakfast this morning. If you wanna come, be ready in ten minutes.”   

The squeaking of the floorboards told Reina that Shanisha was walking away from her door. 

Breakfast. Oh my god, she was awake early enough for breakfast. 

Suddenly, she was vertical and moving. She dressed in a minute flat, throwing on some decent clothes. Her work uniform was… well. It was mustier than she’d like. But there hadn’t really been time to wash it last night.  Or rather, she should have started it last night, woken up earlier, and moved it to the dryer.   

Instead, she settled for spritzing it with a fabric freshener she had by her bed, and vowed she would become a better adult regarding laundry tonight. 

Probably tonight. Maybe tomorrow. She had the whole day off to do a load or two of laundry. Even she could handle doing that within 12 hours.   

Reina shoved the work uniform into a loose bag and grabbed her purse. It felt silly, but she literally looked down to check herself over. She was wearing socks, she hadn’t forgotten her real pants… good to go.   

Just to be sure, she checked that Shanisha’s car keys were still in her purse. They were, so she grabbed her phone and shuffled out her door. The chance for a hot breakfast she didn’t have to cook was too appealing to pass up, but she was hardly ever awake or motivated enough to make that happen by herself.   

The diner by campus was mostly empty when they got there- it was too late for the Early Bird crowd and far too early for the rest of their age cohort.   

The best deal was actually the really big trucker breakfast, so Reina didn’t feel bad about eating pancakes, toast, hashbrowns, bacon, and eggs. It was basically two meals and it was glorious. She wasn’t going to want to eat anything at lunch, so she was saving by getting a big breakfast instead of a small one and then a small dinner. Frugality tasted good.    

“It’s 10:35.” Shanisha said, sounding sad. “We should pay and get to work, since we both have to get changed.”  

“Right.” Reina glanced over to the single cash register, which had a surprisingly long line.  The waitresses tended to take their sweet time ringing you up.  They might be in trouble if they didn't save every minute that they could. She winced, but offered, “I’ll get it today, so we don’t have to wait so long to split it.”   

“Sounds good.” Shanisha checked her purse. Something crinkled inside. “I’ll get dinner tonight, or something. I’m going to go to the restroom, and I’ll meet you at the car.” 

The air conditioning was a welcome respite and a breath of stale (but cool) air. The coyote was parked by the door. Its ears were cocked hopefully. She had the impression that it was waiting for her.  

“Good morning, my son!” Reina said, walking past the robot and giving it an air kiss. “Did you get charged enough?”  

Shanisha looked at her dubiously over her shoulder. “Why's it gotta be a boy? It doesn't actually say one way or the other.”

Reina tossed her hair. “Sometimes a mother just knows these things,” she said.

Shanisha delicately patted one of the robot’s lumpy ears. “Be good, don't let the kids be too mean to you.”  

“Ah, you love Buddy too,” Reina said wisely. She couldn't tamp down a grin. “The longer you look, the cuter he is, right? And he's so helpful. I'm glad you're getting attached.”

“Well. I don’t want to have to carry pizzas out to the madhouse.” She shrugged. “It does the worst part of this job for us, and besides, I have a tendency to root for underdogs. Undercoyotes? Coyotes are dogs, right?”  

They both stared at the animatronic. Which was ridiculous, because it wasn’t like they’d be able to tell whether coyotes were technically dogs from such an, uh, artistic rendering of the animal.   

“I think they’re technically canines, so yes?” Reina hedged, knowing nothing about taxonomy, but relatively certain they at least weren’t related to cats, which had been her other guess. Foxes were related to cats, right?   

“Aren’t coyotes the same thing as wolves?” Shanisha pondered, as she plucked a bit of dried cheese off Buddy.   

She really did not think so. But she also did not feel willing to risk disagreeing with Shanisha. So she hedged, “Does it matter?” 

They walked back into the bathrooms to change for their shifts, before clocking in. “I might Google it later.” Shanisha said, “because now I can’t stop thinking about it.”  

Reina quickly changed into her work pants and shirt, even though she felt gross doing it. She pulled her black tennis shoes back on, and left the stall.  

“Well,” Shanisha emerged from the next stall over, buttoning the last collar button, “you ready for this?”  

“Never.” Reina laughed. “But I’m glad you’re here, so you can be miserable with me.”  

Shanisha blew her a raspberry as she checked her hair in the mirror.  

“How’s going natural going?” Reina asked, curiously. She felt that it was slightly awkward territory, but it was probably better to try than avoid it? Hopefully it wasn’t offensive somehow.  

“Better, but my hair is still fried.” Shanisha picked at her hair with her fingers. “It’s probably going to take a long time for my hair to be healthy again.”  

“How long you do you want it to be, anyway?” Reina examined her own hair in the mirror. It was thick, and very straight. Also, it was getting really long, so she should probably start putting it up again.   

Shanisha made a noncommittal sound. “We’ll see how it looks first, to be honest. I don’t even know how tight my hair is, since my mom had been straightening it for forever. I think I’m 4a, but… I feel like I have to wait and see.”  

She made a noncommittal hum. 4a. She needed to remember that and look it up later.

“They are, boo.” Shanisha said lightly. “Let’s go serve the hell outta some pizza and get paid.”  

When the doors opened to the public at 11:30, the steady and unrelenting stream of children began. There was always a vastly overwhelmed chaperone or two, but with children that young and excitable you needed something like a 2:1 ratio of adults to children, not the current 1:6.   

It was a bloodbath, or at least it looked like one. Reina watched as a small child stuck their chubby hand into marinara dipping sauce and flung it around, dabbling it on the walls and the rest of the booth. That was going to be dried and sticky by the time she was sent to wipe up the booth. A harried-looking man grabbed napkins to wipe up the baby’s hand and some of the mess, but neglected to remove the root of the problem.   

She cringed, watching the child put their hand right back into the cup of sauce. The instant the parent had smeared most of the mess away, the toddler was armed and ready to fling again. Oh. Oh, no. Coyote was wheeling out to their vicinity. Her poor baby. For the sake of her nerves, she looked away.  

In the games area, an army of preteens were crowded around the machines. They bobbed up and down and ran from game to game, fighting over turns. 

Reina just tried to zone out and focus on her job at the register, distributing prizes and ringing up the customers. She gave glow in the dark teeth to two 8-year-olds who were definitely going to get bored and regret the exchange in about 10 minutes.   

“Good afternoon, sweetheart.” The next man in line said.   

What? Ew.  All her attention focused on him- an older, dignified looking man in a suit. On a Saturday? He wore wire-rimmed glasses, and was obviously fighting off male pattern balding.   

But the look on his face wasn’t creepy, so she decided he probably wasn’t a threat. Maybe he was just some grandpa who didn’t realize that that was a completely unacceptable thing to say to young women.  

Just to play it safe, she decided not to engage with the prior comment. “Your table number?”   

“11.” He produced the ticket and placed in on the counter. “I wasn’t sure whether to leave your robot a tip or not.” He laughed at his own joke, and Reina forced out a small laugh as well.   

‘Coyote deserves hazard pay.’  

“You can tip me,” she said, partly out of sheer monetary desperation and partly out of the need to finish the transaction sounding friendly and playful, so she wouldn’t get fired. She instantly regretted it anyway, because he seemed to read into it. She pretended to be very absorbed in ringing up the order.  

He just laughed and leaned in far too close. “For you? Of course.” And, oh god, he winked and put a 10 in the tipjar.   

Her fight or flight instinct was starting to kick in.   “Well, that’ll be $26.90!” She said brightly, with a smile that was far too wide. It hurt her cheeks.   

He gave her his credit card, and she swiped it as fast as possible. When she held out his card and receipt, he touched her hand for way too long. That was not an accidental bump. Reina felt like her smile was glued on. Fine. This was fine. As he herded two children out the door, he winked and smiled back at her.   

She nodded in response. She was still smiling, because it was her job. Her stomach was in tiny knots. She wanted to go wash her hands and collect herself.  Reina turned back to the next customer, a mother with two sticky-looking toddlers and a baby carrier.   

“Thank you for tumbling in, what was your table number?”  

After their long shifts, they fled into the bright daylight like their lives depended on it. It felt slightly wrong to abandon Jaclyn and Eric with Dave and the sauce-covered masses, but not wrong enough to stop Shanisha and Reina from barely stopping to change just their shirts and running out the door and into Shanisha’s car.   

Once out into the daylight and into the perceived safety of the van, they relaxed for a minute.   

“How was the kitchen?” Reina asked, suddenly unsure whether the stickiness she was feeling was humidity from the outside, her own sweat, or pizza grease. In any case, disgusting. She was definitely actually going to do all her laundry tonight. And maybe scrub off her outer layer of skin.  

Shanisha flung herself back into the seat and flopped her head over to make eye contact. The desperation and sadness in her eyes made Reina feel a little scared.   

“I had to make more than a hundred Hawaiian pizzas.” She said. Then sighed, long and defeated. “I may never look at a pineapple the same way again. It's just wrong, Reina. Sweets belong with sweets, savory with savory.”  

They sat in companionable silence.   

Finally, Shanisha sat up and turned the keys in the ignition. “Home?” She asked.   

“Yaas.” Reina groaned. “For showers and clean clothes.”  

“And some tv binge watching?” Shanisha suggested, throwing the gear into reverse. She checked the mirrors and backed out of the tiny parking lot. “This lot is a nightmare, Rei. I don’t know who would design something like that. It just doesn’t make any sense.” 

Reina snorted. “Or maybe your van is a poorly-disguised boat? The parking lot is made for cars, you see.”   

Shanisha made serious eye contact, as she stopped at the parking lot exit. “You want this ride, or not?” Her implication was clear.  

She wouldn’t, would she?  ...Reina wasn’t sure enough about that. She swallowed.  

“Your van is a delicate princess chariot, and is as maneuverable as a racecar.” Reina corrected, quickly. It was disrespectfully hot outside. “Also your hair looks great with cheese grease in it.”  

“Your flattery needs some work if you’re ever going to get a girlfriend.” Shanisha critiqued. “Maybe we need to get you lessons.”

“Maybe you should just marry me, so we can go on to become the first queer couple in the White House. I would make a great First Lady.” Reina bantered. “I’m smart, good at standing around in heels, I look good in front of banners…”  

Shanisha huffed, and turned the corner to their street. “I think there’s more to being a First Lady than that. Plus, I don’t think I should marry you just because I feel bad for your lack of ability to flatter people.”  

Reina made a rude sound. “I met Matthew.” At Shanisha’s uncomprehending, ‘yeah, so?’ expression, she clarified, “I thought pitiable people were your thing, after I met your last boyfriend. I don’t know how else to explain that.”   

Shanisha cackled. That terrible boyfriend choice was funny, in retrospect. She nodded, allowing the point. “Yeah okay, sometimes my judgment is not so good.”  

They turned into the empty driveway. Once they were parked, Reina made a break for the house.   

“Hey, wait!” Shanisha called, laughing.   

“Nope nope nope! You had the first shower last time.” It was a pretty good argument, even though Shanisha had snagged the first shower because Reina had been slow, not generous.  

She bounded inside and up the stairs, into the bathroom. Reina stripped as fast as she could, and chucked all her sweaty clothes into the corner of the room. She turned the lever to the showerhead and turned on the cold water. It was too hot outside for a warm shower.  

She delicately toed her way in, because they’d forgotten to buy a bath mat. Her mother had always warned her about slipping and breaking her neck. Reina did not want to die in this bathroom. Or probably any bathroom.  

The cool water felt so good that she just stood in it for a minute, before washing herself and her hair. After she was done, she wrapped herself in a clean towel (thank you Ameera, you glorious goddess of Doing Things) and grabbed her pile of laundry from the floor.   

When she opened the door, Shanisha was waiting outside on the floor, with clean clothes for herself.  

“Took you long enough,” Shanisha said. Her expression was completely straight, but her eyes were glittering. “Did you wash every hair individually?” 

Reina just huffed and went into her room, clearing the way for Shanisha to use the bathroom.   

She dropped her new dirty clothes in the basket and got changed. So, tonight she’d start a load of laundry and put it away. If nobody else was already using the washer. And what for dinner?   

She tried to remember who had picked dinner last weekend. They hadn't lived together long enough for it to be, like, a set thing. But they were getting into the habit of hanging out together on Saturday nights. Reina just hoped the Minh and Ameera wouldn’t want anything tomato-based.   

Reina emerged victorious from her room with a basket full of dirty laundry. She felt on top of the world as she put them into the washer, especially because she'd sort of sorted them. No bleeding dyes on her white shirts, thank you!

The washer started filling itself with water and she beamed. She did it. She was accomplishing The Thing. Her parents would be so proud were they here. And knew about it at all. 

Or maybe not, seeing as it was something they would expect any adult to be able to do. 

She missed them anyway.

Reina left the laundry room feeling sad. The highs and lows of self-sufficiency were really getting to her. But at least it would be nice to spend time with her roommates. 

Minh was standing by the couch in a nice dress, staring down at her phone. 

"Hey," Reina said, eyeing the relative lack of accessories. Probably not a date, then. Did she just want to dress up for movie night? "You going somewhere special, or did you just dress up for me?"

Minh looked up and laughed a little. "Oh, yes. This." She gestured to her dress and wiggled a bit. "Unfortunately, not for you- Ameera's parents invited me to join them for dinner tonight."

"Ah." She didn't know what else to say to that. It was an unpleasant surprise. She thought they'd kind of had an unstated plan. And after spending all week at work, she'd kind of been looking forward to spending more than an hour with some friends. It would be really good to get closer to her housemates.

Honestly, she was pretty disappointed.  

"That should be nice." Reina said pleasantly, feeling a little  jealous that she wasn't also invited. Then again, she barely knew Ameera. Why would her parents even know she existed? She felt small. 

"Yeah, they're nice people." Minh turned around. "Can you check the back of my dress? I'm a little paranoid that I didn't zip it up all the way, and I cannot be assured of my clothedness enough."

Reina dutifully checked.

"You're good, and fully zipped up. And yes, you look great."

Minh turned around and beamed at her. "Thank you for checking. You have any plans for tonight? I know we've been hanging out, but I didn't think I could invite two more people to a house that isn't mine."

"It's fine." Reina half-lied. It wasn't like it was anyone's fault. She didn't even feel bitter, she just felt... a little empty and sad. "Shanisha and I might order something in, and I can work on one of my projects. It'll be relaxing."

"Orrrr you could just do something together without us?" Minh suggested. 

Ameera walked into the room with her keys out. "Sorry for taking so long." She jingled her keys. "I temporarily lost these in my bag of wonders."

"Okay." Minh picked up her purse from the couch and walked with Ameera to the door. Reina followed them into the entryway, and watched as they put on their shoes and walked to the car. 

"See you later!" She called, and Minh waved back. 

They drove away, and Reina lingered in the doorway for a moment before closing it. 

What to do now?

"Shanisha?" She called upstairs. The shower had stopped a bit ago, so she was probably already out of the bathroom. And she'd promised to get dinner. 

"Yeah?" was the response. A moment later, Shanisha flounced down the stairs, hair already dry. 

"Minh and Ameera went to Ameera's parents' house for dinner, what do you want to do?" Reina asked, before diving onto the couch. Oh, couch. Very soft and comforting. 

Shanisha made a contemplative sound. "Well, we could get go out and get something, or cook... both of which are hot and sound gross. Or, we could order delivery to share and make someone else brave the outside."

"The second one?" Reina asked hopefully. During the week she'd be living off of canned refried beans (not nearly as good as her mother's, but cheap) and whatever she could afford to cook. Honestly, it would be cheaper to cook the beans, too. 

The effort, though. 

"All right, let's do that then." Shanisha pulled her phone out of her sweatpants pocket and pulled up the internet. "Chinese? Something else? Just no pizza."

Pizza was usually the cheapest option, though, so this was unfortunate. 

"Any Mexican food?" Reina asked. 

Shanisha checked. "Not delivery, but we could do pickup."

"Ugh. Outside."

Shanisha made an executive decision, apparently. "Chinese it is, then. You liked the garlic chicken with white rice, right?"

That she remembered made Reina feel a little warm and fuzzy. "Yep."

Shanisha called and placed their order. 

"They said forty minutes." She put the phone back in her pocket. "I believe you paid for breakfast, so I'll go get my purse from upstairs."

"Sounds good. Want to watch anything?" Reina asked, and sat up to look for the remote. 

"Sure. But I have to call my mom tonight, she's coming up tomorrow to see me for the day." Shanisha walked back up the stairs.

It just made Reina feel a little worse. She could call her mother, too- but it was unlikely they could really visit. Florida was pretty far away. 

Their order arrived and Shanisha paid for it all. Reina could smell all that goodness from the couch. 

Luckily, it was a generous portion. She could eat a third of it tonight and save the rest for tomorrow. Reina did the math in her head and decided it wasn't half bad, value wise. That was today and tomorrow taken care of on her limited budget. She still had another twenty bucks for groceries for the next week. As long as she only cooked, she was fine. And her first payday was on Friday, which was so close.

She dug in, and chatted with Shanisha amiably until Shanisha's phone rang. When she disappeared upstairs, Reina closed up her delivery containers and put them in the fridge. 

As she washed her fork, she thought about her coyote. If she had the time free, maybe she could work on something else for it? Or at least a sketch of its working parts. It had been pretty interesting to get a look at them up close last night. 

She placed her clean fork in the dish drainer and went upstairs to her desk. There was a notebook in the drawer and some sketching pencils on the desktop, so she got to work. 

She didn't even notice when Shanisha finished her phone call.