Getting up early to go get his mother’s prescription (she didn’t know how to drive) and getting nailed by a Pittsfield Township cop for fifty-five in a thirty should have been Smile’s warning that it was going to be a bad day.  That ticket took his license up to ten points, not to mention what it would do to his damn insurance.  All of which would make it just a little bit harder to make rent next month.

And then he and Dori had had a stupid fight.  Okay, he had started it, and he knew it–she had called and told him she’d bought a new car, and he had gotten pissed.  Some part of him had wanted to go through the selection process with her.  He had figured it would take at least a week for her to look at cars and decide, and she’d gone out and bought the first thing she’d looked at, without even sleeping on it.  Neons were okay cars, but it was bad to buy anything that expensive on impulse.  The way she’d sprung it on him had taken him by surprise, and he’d yelled at her mostly because he was still frustrated about the ticket.  Since when did she do things on impulse, though?  Dori was about the most indecisive woman he’d ever known, always having to think about things for days on end, and all of a sudden here she was walking off and dropping a year’s salary on a new car without even telling anyone she was going to do it.

His head hurt, too.  He didn’t feel like admitting to himself yet that it was probably from being whacked in the head during the robbery. 

As if Smile’s day hadn’t been bad enough, some drunken fratboys had decided to order a pizza for delivery at the last possible moment–12:57–which meant that he had to work as long as it was possible to work on a four-to-one shift.  Even coming in an hour late and taking a long lunch didn’t help his mood.  It had been a shitty day.

Despite the argument, he wanted to see Dori.  She always forgave him for losing his temper, which was better than could be said for some girlfriends he’d had.  That was one of the nice things about going out with her–down below all the relationship bullshit, they had been friends for a while. 

Besides, he had something to show her.  It was late, but they had sort-of made plans to get together.  Dori wasn’t waiting outside Pandora’s when he got off, so he headed over to her place.

Her light was on, so he parked his car behind the shiny red Neon in front of the house.   So that was her new car.  It was kind of nice, but it didn’t say “Dori” to him.  Whatever.  Instead of going to the door, he walked across the lawn and knocked on her window.   She pulled the curtains aside and looked out at him with a goofy grin.  In warmer weather, she’d let him climb in through the window; it was too cold for that, so she pointed toward the front door and went to open it.

“Hey,” he said when he met her there with a hug and a little kiss.  “Did I wake you up–hey, what happened to your face?”

“It’s okay,” she said.  “Brian’s dog bit me.”

“In the face?”

“I was sitting on the floor after she bit my leg–it’s a long story, dude.  It ends with, I’m okay.”

He nodded, seeing that she didn’t want to talk about it.  “‘Course you are.  If you weren’t, you’d be on a late-night shopping trip to Meijer to cheer yourself up.  Check it out,” he said, keeping his voice low.  Dori’s aunt and uncle knew that he came over at night sometimes, so there was no reason to, but the fact that it was their house made him feel like he was still in high school.  “You’re famous.”  He handed her the papers he had brought.  The Michigan Daily student paper had a front-page, above-the-fold headlines proclaiming, “Suspect Arrested in Sinclair Stabbing,” and right below, a big picture of Dori being taken out of a car by two cops.  She was identified by name in the caption, although they called her “Doreen.”

Dori gaped at the picture, her mouth open in a comical expression of surprise and disbelief.  “Oh, shit!” she whispered.  “But I didn’t do anything!  They didn’t even arrest me!”

“So I assumed.  Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were too busy yelling at me about the car.”

The way she said it got his back up a little.  “Give me a break, I had a bad day, too.  So what happened?”

“I guess the guy saw me at Pandora’s and had an epiphany,” Dori said, sitting on the sofa to read the article.

“What’s an epiphany?”

“You’ll know if you have one, dumbass.”

“Don’t call me a dumbass.”

“So it’s only okay for you to call me that?” she shot back.  She didn’t raise her voice.

“Like I said, I had a bad day.”   

“Well, I’ve been having a good day, except for the parts with you in it, Smile.”

He looked contrite, and meant it. “I’m sorry.  Even the police station thing?”

“Fuck, at least they were nice to me.  You’ve just been evil.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again.  He sat next to her on the couch.  “Can I make it up to you?”