Right Now Or Never Again

Chapter 1 There must be more deplorable sights than a healthy man in his early thirties, even if the said man was standing in the rain, contemplating the wreckage that was his life. Eeli tried to imagine starving children and other significant things, but as the downpour hammered his head with its watery fists, he felt only his own misery. “s**t,” Patrik sighed. “That didn’t go well then.” Eeli’s best friend was squatting down. At least he was doing something by hastily searching for the lid of the black cardboard box. Eeli was still standing frozen beside Patrik’s car. He stared at his amplifier. Maybe he was hoping it had somehow gained the power of the ancient Oracle, to answer the questions, and soothe the confusion occupying his head. Eeli had bought the device just four months ago, and there it lay as a broken mess on the paving among his other earthly belongings. The fractured TV near the front door stairs had a 75” screen. It didn’t weigh more than a fourth-grader, but it was huge. Eeli’s first thought had, curiously, been about how in hell did his little Moona manage to move that thing. Why didn’t she…? He swallowed and slammed the car door. It had been about money for weeks now. And then she went and destroyed electronics worth of thousands of euros. Where was the logic in that? Maybe she hated him so much now, that throwing things from the balcony gave her as much pleasure as harming him more directly would. He could understand her anger if he had cheated on her, or if he was a total d**k while drunk, or a violent jerk. And it wasn’t even about money per se, or the lack of it. It was about this one thing Eeli refused to do what Moona wanted. “You were quite loud last night.” Patrik flashed him a mollifying smile that made Eeli blush with shame. His friend didn’t mean loud in a good way. There hadn’t been anything that kind of nice for months. “She asked you to work in the family business again, didn’t she?” Eeli shrugged his shoulders. Patrik and Mia, Moona’s big sister, lived in the other half of their semi-detached house, and the apartments shared the living room wall. They sometimes had a better idea of Eeli’s relationship and life than he had. This time…Moona just couldn’t get it. Her solution to Eeli’s problems was simple, and yet complicated. Eeli was out of his job. Daddy’s firm was hiring. End of discussion. Let’s not forget that only a few months ago, Eeli had had a successful business of his own. It wasn’t anything flashy. He had two employees, and they manufactured custom-made seals. He had also imported some of the best bearing brands available. He worked twelve hours a day to keep his company running, and Moona wasn’t doing any worse as manager of her dad’s three furniture stores. Eeli hadn’t had time to realize what a control freak his fiancée really was, or how petty he himself could be. Eeli had wanted to clear the argument like a gentleman. Being co-workers would be taking an unnecessary chance. There would soon be gossip about favoritism. And how about being alongside each other all the time? Wouldn’t Moona want some space? All those normal domestic quarrels, which now cooled down during the workday, would continue and escalate. By turning down her offer, he was trying to protect their relationship. That psycho-jargon had been a mistake. Moona soon threw his tall tale back in his face, or in this case, from the balcony. He was a hypocritical asshole, she had yelled at him. Eeli had to admit Moona was right. They both knew the real reason behind his refusal. Sad to say, that would be Moona’s dad. Henri regarded the stores as his favorite stomping ground, sometimes literally. Patrik could handle the old man’s presence and his snotty e-mails with an easy grace, but Eeli wasn’t like Patrik. Maybe it was simpler for Patrik because he and Mia had nothing to do with furniture or managing a firm of any kind. Mia was a teacher and Patrik worked as a project engineer at a materials technology company. Adding to that, Eeli wasn’t a people’s person, not really. It had certainly been showing during his time with Moona and Mia’s parents. “If I may say…” Patrik began. “Don’t say it.” “Mia and I were wondering how you guys lasted this long.” “Now you said it,” Eeli snorted. “Did you make a bet? You shouldn’t have. She knows her sister. You lost a fifty again, didn’t you?” Patrik looked sheepish, and continued collecting Eeli’s clothes. They were mostly intact, only dirty after lying on the wet ground for an hour. Moona had given him until four P.M. to remove his stuff from her house, and it was 5:15 P.M. She wouldn’t excel in her management job if she weren’t anything but punctual. “I’m so sorry,” Patrik sighed. “I really thought the meeting would end earlier.” “Don’t. She could have given me some slack. But then she would’ve had to invent another way to ventilate her anger. Better this than my face.” “You keep saying things like that, man. At least she didn’t toss anything on you this time.” Eeli didn’t like Patrik’s tone of voice. It was way too serious. That incident during the birthday party. It hadn’t been…Besides, they both had been quite drunk. “You know how Henri is getting in your hair,” Eeli explained. “He is no different with Moona, especially now that he is transferring his business to her. They’re both frustrated, and Moona is scared, too. Remember how her mother got a heart attack, and died after she retired. The mess I made of things didn’t help her nerves.” “It wasn’t your fault.” “It was my firm. I should’ve been paying more attention. I should’ve noticed that cunt of an accountant was embezzling my money.” “I remember there was a time, long, long ago in our youth, when being messed up by the ladies was actually a nice thing.” Patrik’s insinuations started to get annoying. “Yeah, you remember that,” Eeli snapped. “What the hell do you want me to do about it? Make a scene and bathe her in beer like she did to me at her uncle’s birthday party? Like Henri didn’t have a low opinion of me to begin with, and then not even his favorite daughter shows me any respect. If I slapped Moona back…Would you hit your wife? Of course you wouldn’t. Even if she hit you first, you would be the villain.” “Mia doesn’t mind me spanking her cheeks,” Patrik tried a joke, smacking his own bottom with his hand and giving Eeli a lecherous smirk. There was one big difference, though. Patrik’s level-headed wife was as easygoing as her husband. Then again, Eeli was well aware that his fiancé was seriously lacking in relationship skills. “Look, man. My sister-in-law doesn’t rule our side of the house. You can still sleep in the guest room.” Like Eeli had done for a week now. Suddenly this all was a bit too close, and after this mess, and those awful, hurtful words last night…Everything was raw. “I wasn’t idling at the mall. You picked me up at the railway station ‘cause I was checking out an apartment.” Now Patrik was starting to look a different kind of worried. It would be an understatement to say downtown studios weren’t cheap. Maybe Eeli should be frustrated at Patrik not knowing him any better; they had been friends since high school. “Don’t you f*****g give me that face,” Eeli growled. “I used a commuter train to get to our lovely neighbor town. The place isn’t exactly a luxury resort, but it’s manageable.” Patrik’s relief was embarrassingly obvious. “We can print the paperwork tonight,” Eeli continued. “If you’re still…” His credit had sunken to the bottom of the Mariana Trench with his firm. He was asking for Patrik’s trust; he would pay the rent money back. He was not only a shitty fiancé, but also a shitty friend. Everyone would be nervous in Patrik’s situation. “We should draw up a proper contract,” Eeli said, as he had said ten times before. “No, we shouldn’t. If it doesn’t work out, I’m carting you back to our place, let’s say…after three months? I’m only hoping you’ll make no harsh decisions, ‘cause you feel you owe me money. You’re too old and too overeducated to be stuck with some janitor job. If you and Moona…If you guys really don’t…you could move further, you know? I mean, like to the other side of the country, or even abroad. Easier to find a good deal that way.” Yes, he could leave. But this was his home. He was born here, in the city. It wasn’t fair Moona could drive him off as if she were a sheriff and he just some cattle-thieving, damsel-ravishing scoundrel. Of course the rain stopped the minute they had hauled all his things inside. “If I could use your washing machine,” Eeli sighed. “There is a laundry room in that house, but these clothes will start to stink before I get there.” “Sure, man. Whatever you need.”