Paige's Old Boyfriend

There was a man, about my same height, standing there. He was wearing faded blue jeans and a ragged, illegible t-shirt and he was smoking a cigarette. His hair was short and uncombed. I'd only seen his picture a couple times, but I was pretty sure this was Paige's old boyfriend, Ray. He leaned over and patted me on the shoulder a couple times.

"Hey, can I come in? I'm in a real jam right now."

I blocked the way so he couldn't slip past. "Okay, One: Who are you?"

"I'm Ray, Paige's owner. Well former owner, kind of. Thing is, my landlord gives me a pretty long leash... look, I'm totally dying for a cup of coffee. Can I bum a-"

"Two: There's no smoking in my home."

"Oh. Yeah, that's cool." He threw his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out.

"Three: What do you want?"

"Yeah, see, I was getting to that. For one thing, I'd really appreciate a cup of coffee. Paige makes really great coffee-"

"Yes, I know. What I meant was, Why are you here?"

"Well, see... my landlord pretty much let me do what I wanted to with the place I live - can I come in? It's really cold out here-"

"Get. To. The. Point," I said, gritting my teeth impatiently.

"Okay, okay, that's cool. It's just... I put out my cigarette and everything, I'd like to be able to come inside. Alright, so here it is. I'm taking Paige back. My apartment is a mess and I got my landlord coming by in a couple days to look at the place. I know you're letting her stay here as a favor and I appreciate it, really, but I need to get the place cleaned up or I'll be out in the street. C'mon, I know she still misses me."

Ray twisted himself around a bit, tried to squeeze and/or look past me, but I closed the door almost all the way. "It's six o'clock in the morning. GO. AWAY."

"Ah shit, I didn't realize it was that early. Yeah, that's cool. I'll stop by about nine, then? And tell Paige I want her back, okay?"

"No, it's not okay," I said, but I don't think he heard me

I closed the door without agreeing. This was a dilemma. It had been almost a year, but Paige was still a bit... fragile... from the breakup. It's possible that she would go back to Ray if given the choice, especially since I hadn't been giving Paige much sexual attention. Damn, but Ray turned into a slimeball fast; only two years...

I went back to bed, but couldn't get back to sleep. We'd be at the cafe at nine, and Ray would probably be late... I decided to consult with Sandra about this before making any decisions. I really didn't want to have to drag her into my problems this early, but I didn't see any way around it without being dishonest.

Paige got up, consulted her nutrition chart, and made breakfast for us. At 8:25, we left for the cafe.