Drama in Radioland: Justin Stands Up to Tyrone (Installment 2)

This is an entirely fictitious work, and any resemblance to to real people are purely coincidental. All rights reserved.

“Who does Jess think she is?  What makes her think she can just come in here and disrupt everything like that?”

Tyrone was livid!  He’d awakened and called Justin, asking him to grab him a cup of coffee on his way to work.  After all, Justin knew the way he liked it.  This was the first morning Justin had told him no.

“I’m not coming to the station today,” he told Tyrone.

“What do you mean you’re not coming to the station? I thought you wanted to get a check! Are you content being an unpaid intern?  Is that where you want to be the rest—“

“Excuse me,” Justin interrupted. “Remember, I have a salaried position now.”

Tyrone had no words.

Justin continued, “It will be my pleasure to bring you a cup when I come in. However, I’m not making a special trip for you this morning.  I JUST got in maybe two hours ago.”

“What kind of responsible person comes home at 5 a.m. on a weekday?”  He couldn’t believe his ears.  Justin had always been reliable, and he’d pegged him to be much more of an adult than that.

“The kind of person whose boss pays him to bar hop with her!  The station is missing out on all kinds of money!  Did you know there’s a bistro over on 39^th and Lennox….” Justin’s voice faded away into oblivion as Tyrone keyed in on what he’d said.

Justin and Jess went out all night? What the heck was really going on? First, she comes in and says she’s selling the company to its employees and puts Justin on her payroll.  Now, they’re hanging out until the wee hours of the morning?  Something just wasn’t right.  He didn’t know what it was, but he was going to get to the bottom of it.

“Justin?”

“Yeah?”

“Let me ask you something.”

“Shoot.”

“While you were out, did Jess make any mention of me?”

“Huh? Why would she mention you?”

“I was just wondering.” What Tyrone really wanted to know was how much Jess had told Justin about him.  He’d been careful not to disclose much about himself since he joined the team.

“Well, no. There wasn’t much talk going on at all. When I tell you Jess knows how to have a good time…. Whew!  That woman is full of energy! We went from this club to that club. Eventually settled in this bar where we ran into—“ Justin stopped abruptly. “Tyrone, I noticed something a little strange about Jess.”

This was it.  Tyrone just knew Justin was about to tell him something scandalous if it stopped his train of thought just like that. “Well, what is it?”

“Jess didn’t have ONE drink last night.  I mean, we went to at least seven bars.  She only drank water, pineapple juice, cranberry juice, and Diet Coke. Hmph. Weird.”

Strange indeed, thought Tyrone as Justin continued talking. Tyrone really wasn’t interested in anything Justin was saying at that point.  All he could think about was what was up Jess’ sleeve. He didn’t trust her.  She’d never done anything against him that he knew of, but something about her gave off the impression that she knew more than she would say. And THAT was what he didn’t trust.  She always seemed to be ahead of the game. There’s a difference between a know-it-all and a person who actually, truly knows it all!

Justin was STILL talking! “And that’s when the guy was all up -- ”

“Justin!” Tyrone interrupted.

“What?”

“I didn’t really call you for all that.  I just wanted to know if you’d bring me a cup of coffee.  You told me no, and we could’ve gotten off the phone then.  No need for me to sit and listen to you talk about—“

It was Justin’s turn to interrupt. “Well, YOU’RE the one who asked if Jess said anything about you. I was just letting you know how the night went.”

“I didn’t need all that. Just saying no would have sufficed.”

“You know, Tyrone, I’m going to tell you something I always wanted to tell you now that I don’t fear retaliation.”

Tyrone was taken aback by Justin’s newly discovered cajoles. It caught him off guard to the point of being speechless. So, Justin continued.

“My grandma always told me that you draw more flies with honey than you do with sh—“

“I know the saying,” Tyrone interrupted. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Well, life is too short to go through alone.  Maybe if you were nicer to people, more people would want to be around you.”

“I don’t care about people being around me!” Tyrone snapped at him. “I don’t need people! All they do is let you down… Just like you did when I asked about a cup of coffee.  It’s all good, though.  I don’t need you!  I’ll get my coffee on my own!” Tyrone hit the button to end the call.

So, this is how it was gonna be, huh?  Not only did Jess take away his greatest helper, but that helper turned around and talked to him like he had no fear!  My oh my how the tables had turned.  Jess had better get over her power trip, or Tyrone was ready to flip that table over.  And he was making plans to do just that.