Mr. Mouthful

1. Josh-2

I was buttoning my shirt when there was a knock at the door. I was greeted by a very chipper Sneaky, who’s dark eyeliner and bright red lips were painted on heavier than usual.

"Good morning, you little ray of sunshine!"

She breezed by me into the apartment and perched on the edge of the sofa. Sneaky was practically bouncing up and down on the cushion, filled with energy I hadn’t felt in weeks. Then she took a good look at me and grew still.

"Sweetie, I don't mean this to sound bad, but you look like you could use a three day nap." She fumbled in her backpack and pulled out a small tube. "You and I are about the same color. Let me put a little of this on you.”

“I look that bad?” I muttered, drawing my eyebrows together. She shrugged her shoulders and patted the cushion next to her.

"Hell, I'm not sure even that will work, but if you can make me look halfway human, I'll be grateful.” I plopped down next to her and sighed.

She squeezed a little bit of flesh-colored makeup onto her ring finger and patted it under my eyes. "There! That looks, um, well, a little better.” I raced to the bathroom to check myself in the mirror. Despite her good intentions, a hint of purple seeped through the concealer. Still, I looked slightly more presentable than before. When I turned to go back to the living room Sneaky was standing at the door.

“The grand opening will be fantastic, I promise. You know all of our friends will show up at least, plus most of the neighbors. This is the only coffee shop in Oregon Hill, and everyone is sick of having to travel all the way over to Franklin Street to get their caffeine fix.” She rubbed my shoulder and glanced at her watch. “Let’s get going. We open in five minutes. Luke has done a fabulous job of getting everything ready, so all we have to do is show up.”

“Thank God for that.”

My hair was still a mess despite putting gel in it, so I grabbed a blue baseball hat off of my dresser and jammed it on my head. As we were heading out the door, my phone buzzed in my pocket. When I saw who it was hope filled my chest.

“I’ve got to take this. It’s the symphony office.” Sneaky leaned against the wall and waited.

“Hello.” I said as evenly as I could.

“Josh, this is Angela Shiflett with the Symphony. I bet you were wondering if we would ever find a replacement for poor Creighton. But I have good news! We’ve hired a new musical director, Sergei Mikhailovich Kuznetsov, formerly of the Cleveland Orchestra. You’ve been very patient while we conducted our search and we appreciate it. Would you be able to start rehearsals on Monday?”

“Yes.” I didn’t even have to think of my calendar. Whatever was on it could be rearranged.

“Wonderful. I will email you the schedule for the month, plus the pieces we’ll be rehearsing. See you next week!”