River: A Bad Boy Romance (12 page)

M
addy stares at the menu without reading it. She turns it over, stares at the other-side, puts it down and looks around the room. A young child smiles, her two front teeth missing, while she holds a burger in her greasy hands, the same size as her angelic face. Maddy looks around to see if the child is directing the smile at someone else, and then looks back at the girl, when it's clear she's not. Maddy forces a smile, which looks exactly like it's being forced, and then quickly looks away.

“She's got the same hair as you”, River says.

“This isn't my hair”, Maddy reminds him.

“It is for today”, River says. “Maybe tomorrow too.”

Maddy gives him a look, but before she can say anything, a waitress comes over to the table. She's a young girl, not yet worn down by the tedious, thankless nature of her job.

“Have we decided yet then, folks?” she asks the two of them in a chirpy, nothing can get me down kind of way.

“The table is sticky”, Maddy says, pressing her finger down into a patch of spilt fizzy drink that hasn't been cleaned up properly.

“Whoops”, the waitress says, “let me just take care of that for you now.”

She runs her cloth over it, and Maddy tests the surface again when she's done. It's still sticky but marginally less so. When Maddy looks up, she sees River looking at her with a face that says, “what the hell are you doing?”

“Hey, I like your hair”, the waitress says. “I wish mine was that color.”

“It's not real”, Maddy says.

“Oh”, the waitress says, as though Maddy has caught her doing something she shouldn't. Unperturbed, she continues, “well it sure does look like it to me. It suits you.”

“That's what I've been telling her”, River says. “She's a pretty girl isn't she?”

Maddy runs her fingers through her hair, conscious of being the centre of attention.

“So”, the waitress says, without answering the question. “What'll it all be?”

“Maddy, have you chosen?” River asks her.

“No”, Maddy says.

“I can give you folks a little bit more time if you'd like?”

“Do you have anything that isn't a burger?” Maddy asks, already knowing what the answer is likely to be.

“Erm, not really, no”, the bubble-gum chewing waitress says. “It's kind of our speciality.”

“Just bring two specials, both of those doubled up”, River says, putting the menu back down on the table. “With dirty fries, onion rings, salsa and guacamole.”

“What is that?” Maddy asks, catching him up. “I can't eat that. Take that off.”

The waitress is about to scratch the order off, but hesitates, her pencil hovering over the paper.

“Shall I take it off?” she asks River.

“Just bring it”, River says to the waitress.

“Ok, great”, the waitress says. “Anything to drink?”

“Two very cold beers”, River says.

“Wait, water for me. And salad, have you got any salad?” Maddy says, as though it's a matter of life or death.

“The burgers come with the salads already inside”, the waitress says, the answer to the question so obvious she wonders whether Maddy is having her on. “So, two specials, both of those doubled up, dirty fries, onion rings, salsa and guacamole.”

“That's right”, River says.

“Do you want blue cheese or cheddar on the dirty fries?”

“Put on both.”

“And jalapeños?”

“And jalapeños. I want you to stack everything into it you can.”

“Ok, coming right up”, the waitress says, smiles and turns on her heels to rush the order to the kitchen, in case Maddy changes her mind and complicates it.

“I don't drink beer”, Maddy says, “and I don't eat this kind of food.”

“What do you mean you don't drink beer and you don't eat this kind of food?” River says.

“Fast food”, Maddy says. “Unhealthy food.”

“This is The Burger Joint”, River says, as though that phrase is universally understood. “Don't tell me you've never been in a The Burger Joint before?” He emphasises the 'The' part of the title to give it more gravitas.

Maddy shakes her head.

“This is like the Ferrari of burger restaurants”, he says. “This is about as far away from fast food as America is from China.”

“The Ferrari of burger restaurants”, Maddy repeats. “Do you even know how ridiculous that sounds? A burger is processed bread and even more processed meat.”

“You wait until it comes”, River says, confidently.

“I told you, I can't eat it.”

“Well then you're going to go hungry.”

“Why couldn't we go elsewhere?” Maddy says. “Why couldn't we have gone to somewhere we both want to eat.”

“Because I'm in charge, I want a doubled up special burger, with a plate of dirty fries, and I think you should experience new things. Besides which, I think it'll do you good not being in control for a while. I think you've got a problem with that.”

“A problem with what?” Maddy says.

“A problem with being in control”, River says.

“I really haven't”, Maddy says, feeling offended again.

“If you were starving, you'd eat whatever was put in front of you. Sometimes you need to be a bit more flexible. And anyway, have you seen how full this place is? Have you seen the smiles on the people inside here. This isn't just bread and meat, this is heaven on a goddamn plate, and as soon as you dare yourself to take that first juicy bite, you'll understand exactly what you've been missing out on.”

Maddy isn't convinced, but she is starving. Just watching the other people salivating over their food is making her stomach grumble. The waitress comes back with two beers, and a glass of water for Maddy. The glass has thumb prints on it, and before Maddy has time to complain, the waitress has buzzed off again to another table.

“Just drink the beer, Madeleine”, River says. “What have you got to do tomorrow anyway?”

“I'm supposed to be working”, Maddy says.

“Yeah, well, think of it as an unexpected holiday. Isn't that nice?”

“Is that what you think of it as?” Maddy says.

“It is what it is. I'm the one who has to figure out what we do next, not you. You can relax and take it easy, I know I would if I was you. A free beer and a free meal.”

“Paid with by my company's money”, Maddy says.

“Paid with by money from America. You'll get it back through insurance”, River says.

“You think the insurance company is going to look favourably on the fact that I'm sat here having dinner with you? The man that's holding me hostage. The man that took the money in the first place.”

“I've coerced you, remember”, River says.

“I could scream”, Maddy says. “I could get up and walk out and you wouldn't be able to stop me.”

“Well, why don't you then?” River says.

“Maybe I will”, Maddy says.

“I don't think you will, Madeleine”, River says.

“Oh, and why's that?”

“Where are you going to go if you do?”

“Home”, Maddy says.

“And what is that? What does that mean to you? I think it's precisely that that's keeping you sat in that seat, with someone else's hair on your head, clothes on that you'd never buy in a million years, and a beer going warm in front of you. I reckon this is the most excitement you've had in years.”

“You know you'd almost be tolerable if you weren't so cocky”, Maddy says. “Sat there with that smirk on your face like you rule the world.”

“I'm just telling it like it is”, River says, easing back into his chair. “Tell me I'm not right.”

“I thought I was going to die this morning. I've been handcuffed to a radiator, I've taken a four hour ride in the trunk of a car and had a gun constantly pointed at me. I've been pushed around, insulted and ridiculed, and you think that's exciting for me? You're disillusional.”

“Disillusioned”, River says, correcting her.

Maddy's mouth drops open in shock.

“And anyway, I'm not”, River goes on, before Maddy has a chance to explode. “I'm thirsty and my beer is getting warm. That's all.”

“So drink it”, Maddy barks at him. “I'm not stopping you.”

“I don't like to drink alone”, River says.

“And you think I'm difficult?” Maddy says, leaning back in her chair now.

“I'm being sociable and well mannered. I want to share this experience with you”, River says. “It's good to share things.”

“Like someone else's money?”

“I've already told you how I feel about that”, River says.

“So why did you take it in the first place? You don't think that's hypocritical?”

“I'm not going to bear a grudge if someone takes it from me, but I'm not going to give it to them either. Just because I reckon money doesn't have an owner, it doesn't mean I'm going to toss it away like a pile of trash. Think of it like a cat, you don't own a cat, a cat owns itself, but that doesn't mean you don't feed it, look after it and take pleasure from it. And if you do all those things, why the hell would you throw it away?”

'”And what happens if someone steals it?” Maddy says.

“Then maybe I'd try and steal it back.”

“You're full of bullshit”, Maddy says. “Money is nothing like a cat at all. I reckon if you'd worked hard all of your life and saved money and then someone came in and stole it all from you, you'd be pretty pissed off.”

“What would they be stealing though? My money, or the work I'd done to get it?” River says, philosophically.

“Both”, Maddy says.

“So what does that tell you?” River says.

“It tells me that you'd deserve it”, Maddy says, without thinking.

“Yeah, well, maybe you're right”, River says. “Look, can we drink now? We can talk about what I do and don't deserve afterwards.”

Maddy looks from the beer up to River and then back to the beer.

“One beer”, she says, “and you'll leave me alone?”

“One beer”, River agrees.

He lifts up the bottle so they can clink them together, but Maddy doesn't respond.

“Oh come on”, River says, “something you can tell your grandchildren. The day you shared a beer with a famous bank robber.”

Finally Maddy lifts up her bottle and they clink them together. River drains half of his in one gulp, and Maddy sips hers gently.

“Damn, that's good”, River says. “Isn't that good? The first beer always tastes the finest. Goddamn.”

“It's nothing to be proud of”, Maddy says after a while.

“What isn't?”

“Being a bank robber.”

“Why not be proud of something that you're good at?” River says, twisting his bottle around on the table.

“Because you're hurting people. What you're doing is wrong”, Maddy says without looking at him.

“People get hurt everyday, Maddy, I can't control that.”

“Someone died this morning. Someone got killed.”

“I didn't pull the trigger.”

“You shot the gun out of his hand. You virtually signed his death warrant. He'd still be alive if you weren't there in the first place”, Maddy says, now looking directly at him.

“He'd still be alive if he didn't try and stop us. I can control my decisions, I can't control his”, River says.

“That's not an excuse”, Maddy says.

“Yeah, well, it's an explanation.”

“It's not a justification for what you do.”

“You make it sound like I put the bullet there myself”, River says.

“You might as well have done”, Maddy says.

“I rob banks, Madeleine, I don't kill people. I take money that's insured, so the only people who lose out are the insurance companies. I then put that money back into the economy as quickly as I can.”

“While insurance premiums go up, and people happen to get killed around you. You make yourself sound like a modern day Robin Hood, when you're nothing better than a two-bit criminal, on the run from the police. Soon enough your time will run out.”

“At least I like what I do”, River says.

“You like it, or you don't know how to do anything else?”

“You don't know anything about me, Madeleine Parker”, River says.

Maddy has been angrily guzzling her beer and now she's surprised to see she's almost finished it.

“And what do you know about me?” she says.

“I know that the people that you work with don't like you, I know your family have pretty much disinherited you, giving you money where they can't give you love, and I know that you're worth a goddamn fortune. I also know that you look beautiful, both with black hair and blonde, and that you're sexually frustrated.”

“I'm sorry, what?” Maddy says.

“Tearing a label off a beer bottle is a sure fire sign of sexual frustration”, River says, “and you've practically turned yours into dust.”

Maddy looks embarrassingly at the pile of torn paper in front of her.

“It's a habit”, Maddy says.

“I don't reckon it is when you don't regularly drink beer.”

“It's because I'm hungry”, Maddy says.

“You want to know what else I know about you?” River says, leaning forward now.

“What?”

“I think you're enjoying yourself.”

“You have got to be kidding me”, Maddy says, shocked.

“I ain't kidding you”, River says. “I reckon you're enjoying yourself, and you're too scared to admit it.”

“You know what I know about you?” Maddy says, switching the conversation around.

“What do you know about me?”

“I know you're lonely”, Maddy says.

“And how do you figure that?”

“It's written all over you. You act like you don't care, but it's a defense mechanism. I reckon you're doing this because you need a friend.”

“Taking you hostage?”

“Yes”, Maddy says. Now her beer
is
empty, and with no label to peel off either, and desperate to do something with her hands, she begins to twist the bottle around like River has been doing, making patterns on the table top.

“What else have you figured out?” River asks, watching her closely.

“That you've got problems.”

“Problems?” River says, almost laughing.

“Yes, problems”, Maddy reiterates. “You don't know what you're doing with your life.”

“That's a problem?” River asks.

“It is if you don't admit it”, Maddy says.

“Why would you need a destination, if the fun happens on the journey?” River reasons.