The Java Jive was a dive bar shaped like a giant tea pot under a freeway in what was once called Nalley Valley after the Nalley’s pickle factory that stunk up the neighborhood for decades. Brandon thought it hilarious that a killer wanted to meet him there. Back in the late 1980s, River Phoenix met two hit men at the Java Jive in a movie called I Love You To Death. Even Hollywood used it as a shady place. Of course the truth was it wasn’t really a bad bar. Sure, it was a little bit creepy, but once you had a good buzz going, the place was alright.
Brandon was avoiding Ashley. He didn’t want to look at her. He even spent an extra hour driving the delivery van around so he wouldn’t be at the shop with her. After work, he said he was busy with Ray. He knew it was a bad lie. He wanted her to know he was lying. He wanted her to know what it felt like being lied to.
He sat at the bar at the Jive drinking a Pabst Blue Ribbon. He thought about Gretchen’s van. It wasn’t in the parking lot yet. Or maybe it was. There were no windows at the Java Jive, so he couldn’t tell. He’d taken the last bus around 11:30pm and expected to see Gretchen, but she wasn’t there when he’d arrived. It was only a couple of miles back to his place. He could walk it if he needed to.
His phone rang. He saw it was Ashley and hit ‘Ignore’, then he turned off the volume. He didn’t want to hear from her. He didn’t want to hear her lie. He wanted to be done with the whole thing. People were shit. His girlfriend and his best friend…How clichéd was that? He placed a few bucks on the counter and left.
He checked the time on his phone: It was ten to midnight. The street in front of the Jive was empty and there were only a few cars in the parking lot. Then he saw it.
The blue Chevy Astro looked black in the night and was parked in the back of the gravel lot. There were other cars, but none near the van. He approached the van. The windows were tinted. He couldn’t see shit. He went to the passenger side of the van, heard the door unlock, and opened it. Gretchen sat in the driver’s seat. She smiled at him.
“Hop in.”
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to A Shot of Jack to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.