Monochrome: 22

Kieran walked along the sidewalk in the cold, his eyes glancing over the cluster of businesses he passed by. He scanned the windows for some sort of “Help Wanted” sign. He had been down this way before -- several times, in fact (though, not all on the same day). There was never anything, but he had to try. Funds were drying up, and soon, he would have nowhere to live.

He sighed, sticking his hands in his pockets to warm them. It was too cold, and it was starting to snow. After checking a few more stores, his phone buzzed. He checked the screen; Finn.

“Hey,” Kieran said, holding the phone to his ear.

“Hi! Are you busy?” Finn chimed.

He glanced at the stores on the sidewalk.

“…no.”

“Do you want to hang out?”

“Alright.”


Kieran entered the noisy sports bar, brushing snow off of his coat and wiping his boots on the doormat. He unwound the scarf around his neck and tucked it into his pocket; then, he looked around. Finn waved at him from a table off to the left.

“Hey.”

“Kieran! Gavin’s here,” Finn said, motioning towards Gavin.

“Uhh… hi,” Kieran said to Gavin.

“Hey, I wanted to apologize,” Gavin said, sticking out his hand. Kieran awkwardly shook it.

“I was being a huge asshole last time we met. Pretty ironic, huh? Well, Finn’s explained to me pretty thoroughly how wrong I was,” he said, laughing. “So, I thought I’d try apologizing and see if we could start over.”

“Alright,” Kieran responded. That’s… not what I expected.

“Well, take a seat!” Finn said. Kieran looked around. Finn’s other friends were there, and there was an empty seat between Bianca and Finn. He sat down, and Bianca smiled at him. He directed his attention to a menu on the table.

“So, I hear you’re a painter,” one of Finn’s friends said. Kieran looked up--the voice came from the woman sitting next to Gavin.

“Yeah.”

“What do you paint?” she asked.

“…dreams. Or, whatever’s interesting.”

“Hmm… that sounds cool! You should show me, sometime!”

“Err… maybe,” Kieran muttered. That’s probably not happening.

“Kieran’s a bit private about his art,” Finn interjected.

“Ah, really? Well, if you ever wanna show me, please do. I’m an artist, too!” she beamed.

“Jenny, you just draw silly anime stuff,” Gavin said, laughing.

“Heyyy! I thought you were on my side.”

“I am, I am,” he said, hugging her and kissing her on the forehead.

“That’s more like it!” Jenny cheered. Kieran winced.

The bar grew noisy. Kieran looked across the room and noticed the hockey game on the TV.

“Looks like the Bruins aren’t doing so well, Finn,” one of Finn’s friends said with a laugh.

“They can turn it around,” Finn assured, staring at the TV.

“I still think it’s weird that Florida has an ice hockey team. Ice. Florida. The two don’t usually go hand-in-hand,” Kieran said.

“What about the Phoenix Coyotes? LA Kings? San Jose Sharks?” Finn asked.

“That’s all Western Conference, who cares? Anyways, the Sharks at least have an awesome logo,” Kieran said. “That shark fucking hates that hockey stick.”

“What’s a shark doing on the ice?”

“Waiting for it to melt?” Kieran suggested.

“Anyways, if you’re just going to talk Eastern Conference, then, Tampa Bay? Carolina? Atlanta?”

“Same thing; too damn hot for hockey.”

“Want more Canadian teams?”

“Fuck Canada,” Kieran grumbled. Finn started laughing.


“Hey, see you guys later this week!” Finn shouted as he waved to his friends. Kieran was walking down the sidewalk. Finn ran to catch up.

“That’s the most I’ve ever seen you talk!” he said, smiling.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you got along with everyone. Gavin’s been meaning to apologize for a while now,” Finn explained.

“Huh…”

“We need to hang out more often!”

“Alright,” Kieran said.

Better night than usual.