The Gambles(4)

Finished, AJ released the jack and his old Honda creaked with a moan. He stepped close, looked over my shoulder at my phone and said, "We can make it to that gas station in no time." He picked up the tire and rolled it to me. "Here, asshole. Make yourself useful. Put this in the trunk."

I gave him my official, "Don't tell me what to do" look and stowed the blown out tire. I jumped in the car and we were on our way.

Minutes later we pulled into the gas station and parked. near the bay of the repair garage.

"Shit. Look at that," I said. "All the roll-up doors to the repair bays are shut. It's closed. We came too late." I checked my watch. "It's after six o'clock."

"Just our luck," AJ said. He craned his neck, peering at the steel garage doors. I'm sure he was thinking what I was, hoping to see some sign of life, maybe one last employee hanging around after hours that we could bribe to help us out.

"We'll have to find something else." His face scrunched into a frown, then said, "Well, let's at least go inside and get something to eat. I could go for a Red Bull and chips."

"Chips are for girls," I said. "I need some manly snack food like beef jerky, the hot as fire kind, preferably."

Before AJ had a chance to do anything, I looked through the plate glass window and noticed a female attendant inside. She appeared to be in her twenties with long dark hair tied up into a loose bun. She was helping a man dressed in a black jacket and pants. 

I shot a glance to the gas pumps. There were no cars. Where'd he come from? We were out in the middle of nowhere on an interstate exit and it was getting dark. The repair garage was closed, so who was this scruffy looking dude? I kept my eyes on the girl attendant, watching her face, and she wasn't smiling. It was only this girl and a man wearing a stocking cap-oh shit!

Black hat.

Dark clothes.

My eyes strained to see past the display racks of chips and pretzels to get a better view. It looked like the man had one hand in the pocket of his jacket-as if there was something in it. My mind filled in the gaps. It looked like something large.

And hard.

And metal in that pocket.

"What the fuck?" I pitched forward in my seat, trying to make sense of what was happening inside the store. "Do you see that?" My eyes widened as my imagination spun with ideas.

"Let go of my arm, man," AJ snapped. He was annoyed that the repair garage was closed for the night, but this was important.

"Inside the store … look."

"So what? Two people in the store. Big deal."

"There's a man with a stocking cap and … I think that guy has a gun in his pocket and he's got it pointed at the girl behind the counter. He's robbing her. We gotta do something."

Suddenly, AJ perked up and was peering into the window along with me. "A gun? He doesn't have a gun. That's not..." He craned his neck. "Does he have a gun? I don't wanna get shot. Let's get out of here."

"No balls, dude." I turned and looked at him. "That girl needs our help. Hell, we're football players. We workout. I'm sure we can take him. We have to do something." I turned back to check on the girl.

"Fucker, I'm a kicker, not a tackle."

I kicked open the car door and said, "Come on. We've gotta act fast. Let's just rush him."

AJ followed suit and with my best bud on my heels, I tore into the small store in an attempt to tackle what I thought was a convenience store thief. But the slick linoleum was too much for my shoes and we bungled our take down. What seemed so well planned out in my mind, turned into nothing more than a bump, but it was enough to throw the guy off balance. In an attempt to break his fall, the thief yanked his hand out of his jacket pocket as he fell to the floor. And much to my surprise, there was no gun.

It was embarrassing to say the least. Two young, well-built football players with ripped abs and bulging biceps, and we couldn't even take the guy down properly. If that was our best effort, it was all downhill from here.

The three of us scrambled around on the floor, the f-word popping like fireworks. Everything was, "fuck you this" and "fuck you that." After a bit of a scuffle, the wily old guy in the black cap wrenched himself from our grip. Just as we got to our feet, he sprinted out the door and was gone.

We straightened and pulled ourselves together. I turned to the girl behind the counter, assuming I'd see her mouth gaping and her eyes wide with fear from the attempted robbery. But instead, she stood with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed at us, glaring...mostly at me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You knocked over the snack display," she huffed.

She threw her hands up in the air as if exasperated with us. I'd been expecting something more like an exuberant, and grateful "thank you," but she didn't seem all that freaked out, considering we just saved her life-maybe.