Not a Good Start (HH)
#8 of The Hockey Hunk Season 7
NOT A GOOD START (HH)
THE HOCKEY HUNK HHS07E05
by
Gruffy
2017
*
Hello, folks, and welcome to The Hockey Hunk!
I hope you're eager to get started in this new chapter, I sure am! It's been a week since the previous one, and it's fun to be presenting this latest installment in the story for you. Do remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
Next chapter will be posted on Monday next week, as per the usual schedule!
Cheers!
*
The day was not on to a good start.
Knock, knock, knock.
Damn it.
"You okay in there, Tate?"
Was I fucking alright? My stomach still felt like someone was pulling my intestines out of my asshole like a goddamn fire hose even after depositing most of its former contents down the stinking drain.
"Just fine!" I lied through the door. "Just a sec!"
"Uh, okay. I heard you scrambling for it and thought it's one of those bad days again."
Of course Marker knew all about it by now, after living with me. There wasn't really a way to act coy around him when we lived together, and of course we shared the single tiny bathroom and with the kind of fumes I was putting out, the neighbors were probably gonna smell it too.
My ears went flat at the thought. I'd obviously failed to fool Marker with my assurances so far.
"How'd you guess that?" I muttered. I didn't really even mean for him to hear it, but he did.
"You knocked over the beer bottles from the table when you went to the toilet," Marker said.
Oh, right. I must've made an even worse a mess of the living room than it was before. Neither of us had felt like cleaning in the past couple of days.
"Sorry about that!" I grumbled. "Did you want to use the bathroom?"
"Well I need to, but not right now, if you're still busy. I can wait!"
My stomach churned threateningly and removed any optimism about how this was turning out.
"I might be for a bit yet," I said. I must've sounded very low.
"Okay! Do you want to eat anything? I can make something while you're at it!"
God no. I felt like I never wanted to eat anything ever again.
"Not now!" I said. "Thanks!"
"Okay, gotcha. Do you need anything else?"
Maybe he could borrow me a few feet of his colon or something. I would gladly accept a donation.
"I'm good for now!" I replied instead.
"Oh, okay, sure. Hope you're good!"
"Yeah, thanks!" I called out for him.
I heard the subtle noise of Marker moving away from behind the door. I knew that still would not stop him from hearing the horrible sound of my guts exploding once again. The door was like paper and my asshole was like some goddamn trumpet.
*
I was running late for work.
I had to take a later bus and that meant that I was at the mall half an hour past the usual time. I wished I could have jogged the rest of the way from the mall doors to the Eye Center, but I was not exactly capable of that sorts of athletic feats anymore. Instead of that I walked as steadily as I could and tried to ignore the vaguely threatening feeling in my stomach. I was sure that everything that had been there was now circling in the sewage system, and I probably didn't have to worry about having to do another runner. I hoped that the tablets I had washed down with some orange juice. That was everything I'd put down my throat since last night.
The shop was busy when I entered.
There was some sort of a morning rush, perhaps, of people coming in to get their glasses, a few of them browsing the displays, and a glance over to the practical side showed several people waiting on the chairs already. Nobody paid me much attention, except Maya, behind her desk at reception. She smiled quickly and I nodded her a greeting back. The badger was always smiling and polite, but I didn't think there was anything more to it than her being just that. I really didn't need that kind of complications in my life, having some girl chase after me. It wouldn't have been the first time.
I stomped into the staff only area and used the key they had given to me to get into Mr. Patrick Crane's office. The smell of coffee and tiger filled my nose when I entered, and a hint of myself too that had rubbed in. Funny, that. The room didn't feel like mine at all, what's with the plastic giant eye balls and books with titles like "THE NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF OPTHALMOLOGIC DISEASE". At least I had gotten used to the novelty value of all of that crap by now. At first I'd stare at it every now and then and wonder what it was for.
I set up my computer once I'd moved the tiger's keyboard to the side to make some room. It felt like it took ages to boot.
"Bah."
I scratched my muzzle and tried to get comfortable during this enforced waiting. My mind refused to get into the business at paw. Part of it was the ridiculousness of the situation. I'd survived a godfucking bomb trying to cut me in half and almost succeeding in it too, but what currently made my life a misery was the jagged piece of metal that had buried itself in my guts. The surgeon had removed it and stitched everything together, but apparently the bowels didn't like that sort of a thing.
"It is a functional disorder", the VA doctor said, and told me to keep taking my tablets. Elavil was supposed to help. Maybe it did, I wasn't sure. But whenever the bad day happened...nothing probably had any real effect. You just had to ride it out, bite your teeth together and take it like the proverbial fox.
That might've even been funny under some other circumstances, but not now. My stomach hurt, by now probably more from the lack of eating than the previous attack. The residual groaning in my belly made it hard to even think about lunch.
The computer was finally ready for me here. It hurt my brain to even think about the code that soon flashed to my screen. It felt like I might as well have not slept at all. Writing code was not yet a fully automatic function for me. My brain had to put a lot of energy into it, to make it work right. I liked it for most part. When I got inside the code, you tended to forget everything else and for a while even I felt useful.
I'd barely started when the office door opened. It was the tiger, for once not wearing the ridiculous cartoon coat but a regular white one.
"Tate! Good morning," the tiger said.
"Hello," I replied, glancing over the computer screen.
"Do not let me interrupt you, I just have to look into the files," the tiger told me.
"It's...fine," I said. He didn't mention me being late for work yet.
He flicked on the lights and moved over to a set of filing cabinets on one side of the room. He had to use a key from his coat pocket to open one of them and get browsing.
"An old customer who hasn't been in for a long time showed up and the files aren't in the computer," he said, "I think she's a legacy...from the practice Hal bought back in the day. Hasn't been transferred into the computer yet."
"Hah," I commented.
His paws went through the folders in the cabinet. I could smell that musty, dusty scent even from this far. The tiger sneezed at one point.
"Hmm...hmm..." he rumbled thoughtfully, and his tail swiped about. The giant eye ball stared at him from on top of the cabinet.
I really couldn't concentrate on my work with him around, not with my stomach's simultaneous complaints on top of everything else.
"Where is it...O...P...R..."
He continued his busy browsing. My eyes read the same line of HTML five times before I just clenched them shut tightly and gave up for now.
"Hope the car's been running okay," I said. It was just to distract myself, although it probably didn't make it easier for him to find his papers.
"Oh...oh, yes, it's been okay," he said. "I took it to the shop and they agreed with your diagnosis. Needed to replace the battery and the connectors. Just fine now!"
"That's good," I said.
The tiger smiled.
"Thank you for your help again, you truly saved me from a lot of trouble," he said.
"Glad I could help," I said. "And it was kinda fun too."
"Oh?" he sounded curious.
I smiled a little.
"Been a while since I got my paws dirty in a car," I said. "It was fun to do it again."
That last one had been a Humvee, I was pretty sure I remembered that right.
"Oh, I see!" the tiger smiled more broadly. "Then I'm especially glad."
"It was no big deal", I said.
"Well it was for me," he said. "If my car ever breaks down again, I'll be sure to ask you first before anything else."
He seemed to be in a good mood. Maybe he hadn't even noticed that I was late. Technically he wasn't my boss and I didn't have any set hours to be here, but I had taken the habit of being here at regular times, so as to make it easier for everyone involved. It's what everyone at the school told us to do, to give a good impression, that we weren't all fucked up in life.
"Thanks," I said. "I'll try my best."
He continued the browsing at a slow pace. I didn't even try to return to the code, but just watched him for now. Suddenly I realized that he looked at me again, a bit questioning.
"I didn't realize..." he said.
My tail gave an uncomfortable twitch.
"What?"
He looked thoughtful.
"Oh, just a thought, I hope you don't mind me asking," he said, and then asked anyway, I thought, "but I just started to wonder whether you can still drive a car, with your leg and all."
I hadn't expected that question. I didn't even know what I thought he would ask. Probably something about me coming in later than usual. That question took me off guard.
"Sure," I said. "It may make it a bit tricky but it's not like it makes it impossible for me to drive."
"Alright," he nodded. "You don't have a car, though."
"Can't afford one," I said bluntly.
He looked at me in a way that seemed to imply to me that not only he had only just realized that missing a leg can affect car driving, but also that not having enough money to own a car would limit my opportunities to do so. Maybe poor people didn't exist in his Lexus-driving world, just like faggots didn't exist in my father's world. I'm sure the examples were numerous. The tiger probably didn't even know what a food stamp was.
"Well that's one reason not to have one," he said. Maybe he felt embarrassed about the whole topic.
"Yep,"I said. My chest was starting to feel as painful as my stomach, in that threatening, dull way.
He returned his paws to the almost forgotten folders, shuffled through them, and picked one out.
"...Riggs...I think this might be it..."
He flipped the yellowed cardboard folder open and took a look while he sneezed again.
"Yes, this is it!" he said. "I better get back, she is coming in just a few minutes. I hope I didn't bother you too much!"
"No," I said.
"Alright," I said.
The tiger smiled.
"I'll leave you to work in peace now," he said.
"Okay, see you," I said.
I sighed deeply once he was out of the room, rearranged my tail, and tried to get back to work.
*
*
Thank you for reading my story! Remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
Enjoy my writing and want to support my work? Considering checking out my Patreon here www.patreon.com/Gruffyfor exclusive stories and sneak peeks :)
www.twitter.com/therealgruffyfor updates and randomness
See you next Monday for the next chapter!
Cheerio!