Eric sat in his car staring at the wheel. His thoughts raced around him as he tried to brace himself for the confrontation he was about to walk into. He could do this, he thought, biting his lip. He had to.
He opened the car door and stepped out into the dark parking lot. Locking his car behind him he began walking towards the building. Loose asphalt crunched with every forced step. He was beginning to sweat now, his hands were beginning to shake. When he got to the door he took one last longing look back towards his car. He indulged in a fantasy were he simply left all this trouble behind him, went back home, and never had to deal with what was to come. The fantasy was fleeting. He had gotten himself in too deep to be allowed to walk away. He didn't know what he was going to say when he got in there but whatever it was he would have to say it. Eric sighed, then pried open the door.
"Welcome to T.G.I. Friday's. We're a little busy right now so there might be a little bit of a wait," the hostess said. Compared to the silence he had been sitting in for the last fifteen minutes the restaurant was deafening. Cutlery clashed on plates, patrons at the bar shouted at their sports teams to put up more points or their bartender to put out more drinks, families laughed as they shared their stories, and Eric found it all a little more than he could handle.
"No, its fine," he told her. "I'm actually meeting someone here." She might have said something along with the nod she gave him but Eric didn't hear it. He scanned the building and didn't see his man, so he walked back further. The booth he was looking for was tucked back in a corner of the restaurant. Of course.
Eric sat down and looked at the man across the table from him. Arthur, at 6'4", was taller than Eric. He kept his black hair buzzed to around half an inch in length. That incredibly dark hair made his blue eyes seem piercing and Eric guessed that Arthur knew it well. While Arthur was in very good shape the most intimidating thing about him by far were those eyes. When Arthur leveled his gaze at you it felt like you were being singled out and taken in. It was like having a spotlight on you.
Arthur was giving Eric that look right now. "You're late," he said. "I'd say I was surprised but honestly I suppose it makes sense. Another ten minutes though and we would have had a problem."
"I'm sorry, you know how northbound traffic gets on Sunday nights." Eric hadn't been stuck in traffic of course. He had been sitting in his car. Arthur probably knew this but it was important for Eric to keep up appearances. On that note he made a conscious effort to steady himself.
Arthur waved the waitress over to their booth. "Could I trouble you for another?" he asked, handing her his drink. She nodded then asked if Eric wanted anything. Eric was about to tell her he was fine when Arthur said "He'll have another of mine. Thank you dear." When the waiter had gone Arthur turned to Eric and said "Don't worry, its on me. Its the least I can do." Eric didn't offer his thanks.
The two sat in silence until the waitress returned with their drinks. Arthur began nursing his but when he noticed that Eric wasn't drinking, he asked "I bought you a drink and you don't even touch it? That's just rude Eric."
"I don't really feel like drinking." Eric said, staring hard at Arthur.
Arthur ignored the look and replied "I would have figured differently. That's why I bought it after all. I thought it would make it easier for you to tell me you don't have my money."
They'd finally gotten down to business. Eric ran his hand across his face then looked back to Arthur. "You're not wrong. I don't have your money. Not all of it at least. I didn't come empty handed though. I have a small payment now. I thought that maybe we could set up a payment plan of sorts. If we could keep the payments at this," Eric slid an envelope across the table, "with payments coming once a month, I could get you paid back by the end of the year."
Arthur peeked inside the envelope, then put it in his pocket. "No. I'm not a fucking bank, Eric. You're not paying back a loan. There are no payment plans. You owe me ten grand. I'll be nice and count what you just handed over towards the principle, since it was technically on time, but from now on you have one month to get me my money. Each week you don't I'm charging five percent interest. If by the end of the month you haven't handed over the cash then I'm going to start seizing assets."
"Ok, maybe the payment plan was on too long of a time frame for you. I could maybe double it,"
"No. What did I just say Eric. I'm not a fucking bank." Arthur was staring straight at Eric and that gaze made it quite clear that this was not a negotiation. Eric was lost. He had known his original offer was never going to fly but had thought that maybe he could get an extension of some kind. Arthur clearly was not in the bargaining mood.
"Arthur, I can't get you the money in that time frame. You know that. Taking the hard line stance isn't good for either of us. If you just give me some leeway you'll make your money back and that's the point, isn't it?"
"You seem to be deliberately hard of hearing so I'll say it again. I'm not a bank." Arthur's composure had gone from civil to threatening; his eyes had widened in anger, his mouth grown taught, his hand clenched on his glass. "I didn't make you a loan. I'm not looking for a return on an investment Eric. You bought a service and are refusing payment. Those are two very different types of transactions. If you didn't have the money, you shouldn't have made the bet. I'm not going to save you if you weren't even willing to save yourself."
Eric started drinking. "Arthur," he said weakly. "I'm just a teacher. I don't have that money. I have a wife and a daughter I need to support and I'm the only income. Please, just work with me here. I'm trying to find a way to get you your money."
"You're a teacher? Then you should know that your 'the dog ate my homework' is my 'please I have a family'. I hear it all the time, it changes nothing, and honestly its almost always a lie."
Eric fumbled in his pocket and took out the picture he had brought with him. "This isn't one of those times." He sat the picture down on the table for Arthur to see. "That's my wife Sharon and my daughter Carolyn. Carolyn is taking real estate classes and Sharon was a stay at home mom until Carolyn moved out. I just can't fork over ten thousand dollars right now."
Arthur reached for the picture and stared at it silently for a moment. Eric realized he was holding his breath but let it out with relief when he saw Arthur start to relax. Arthur handed him back the picture after a few more seconds. "Look, Eric," his tone was now remorseful rather than aggressive. "I just can't work with the schedule you want me to. Truth be told, I was giving you a lot of room to begin with when I said you had until the end of the month. That money needs to be somewhere else by the end of the week. I was essentially fronting you the ten grand for three weeks. Your payment plan just isn't going to happen."
To Eric's credit he stayed well composed. Inside though he was reeling. If he had to get that ten grand now his wife would notice. It would destroy their budget. If he had to stop paying for his daughter's expenses...this could destroy his family.
"But..." What? Had Arthur just said 'but'? That was what Eric needed. His whole body tensed up. "I might have a solution for us. I was going to pay someone with that money. If you do the job for me I'll wipe your debt. I'll even give you an extra five grand for it."
This wasn't what Eric had wanted but did he have another choice? He was basically being offered fifteen thousand dollars for a job. Suddenly instead of worrying about devastating his family budget Eric was thinking about supplementing it. There was risk though. What would he be getting himself into?
"I need to know what you want me to do before I say yes. It's not worth it if it only gets me further in debt to you."
Arthur laughed at that. "You're right to be concerned. Even I have to admit that. You don't need to worry though. This is a walk away job, literally. I can't tell you anything specific unless you commit because once I do I can't risk you not going through with it. I will tell you that its completely non-violent though, if that was a concern for you."
Eric was worried but really what choice did he have? If he said no, if he lost his his family over this, he would never be able to live with himself.
"Ok," Eric said, "I'm in."
* * * *
Was that him? That had to be him. Dark red jacket, Packer's cap, white shoes...there certainly wasn't anyone else wearing all three. Eric steadied himself, then walked over and sat down on the bench next to the man. The two of them sat there on their phones for a few minutes.
After what seemed an interminably long time to Eric the other man collected his stuff, stood up, and began to walk away. Eric looked over at where the other man had been just a moment ago and sure enough there were two credit cards left behind. Eric palmed them and slipped them into his jacket pocket before going back to aimlessly staring at his phone. He waited another five or so minutes before he stood up, grabbed the carry on he had packed, and left the bench behind.
Eric followed the signs for baggage claim and made his way out of the airport. When he walked by the guards at the security checkpoint his heart skipped a beat but they gave him no trouble. Why should they?
After Eric was outside he made his way over to the parking structure where he had left his car. He had parked on the basement level where it was empty. His footsteps echoed around him, muffled by the dark concrete. Arthur was leaning against his car, waiting for him.
"How you doing Eric."
"Could be worse." Eric reached into his jacket and handed Arthur the two cards he had picked up.
"I told you it would be a walk in the park," Arthur said. "Easiest money of your life I'd wager."
That had been bothering Eric actually. All he had had to do was pick up a few cards from a drop in the airport. Was that really worth fifteen thousand dollars? What had he actually just done? "I've worked harder for money, we'll see if that means it was easier."
That got a laugh out of Arthur as he handed Eric back one of the cards. "It's a pre-paid. Your payment is loaded onto it and ready to use." Eric took the card from Arthur with a curt nod.
Arthur stood up off of the car and began to walk away but turned around to say "Eric...I did this because I could tell how much your family meant to you. Remember that."
Eric's face drew into shame, and while it hurt him to say it, he replied "Thank you. It's not going to come to this again. I'm done making bets I can't see through."
If Eric hadn't known better he would have thought the look Arthur shot him was one of pity. Without saying anything further Arthur left Eric alone in the garage.
Eric managed to get into his car before he broke down. It was over. All the tension he had had bottled up inside him came streaming out and he just at there shaking, his head in his hands. It was over. Somehow he had made it out. Now he could put all this behind him. This chapter of his life was closed.
