Upon arriving in the back of the diner, the moment the door closes, you begin systematically searching the room in every small corner and loose tile, even going so far as to unscrew the cover for the outlets. Once you start screwing the first cover back on, you realize what you're doing: you're looking for taps, making sure you and Rocky really can have a private conversation. When you realize what you're doing, you suddenly stop searching, now that you're conscious of what you're doing, you can't do it. 'If it's second nature for me to search this room, I must have a damn good reason. I have to distract myself and let my subconscious take over,' you think to yourself.
You try thinking about who you are and why you would even conduct a search to distract yourself, but it doesn't work for very long. With no other option, you decide to lose a little dignity and start thinking about the sex with Regina, and before you even think too much you're already sporting major wood. As bad as the trouser tent looks, Regina managed to keep you thoroughly distracted and you complete the search, easing off now knowing there are no taps.
Trying to hide the bulge from him, you look at Rocky and say, "Alright, Rocky, I need to hear what we talked about in the past back here." Rocky looks at you confused, "Uh, , you're the one who did most of the talking in those conversations. Why do you need me to tell you what we talked about?" Given your past with him, you decide to level with him, "Well, I'm not really sure myself. The only things I can say for sure are I lost my memory and I'm running off instinct most of the time, but I do get an occasional flashback. That's why I need to hear what we talked about, it may help me remember." Rocky looks at you, "Alright, I'll buy that. You definitely changed, you never used to ask if we could talk, you always said, 'Rocky, back, talk,' or something like that.
"Since I don't remember every last detail," he continues, "I can't give you specifics, but I'll give what I can. I remember, the first time you came in here with Regina, we always chatted when I didn't have to wait behind the bar for some reason. You always seemed to need someone to talk to, and I always seemed to be someone, and I assumed you didn't use Regina in case you needed to talk about guy stuff. And our conversations really changed once we talk in the back. Out in the front, you were this reserved guy with the occasional ordinary complaints, like how you could never get a break and had to try a thousand different methods to get one business account, and you never mentioned what you do for a living. But in the back, you talked about things like how you HAD to use sex to climb through the ranks and actually mentioned you worked for a company."
"Which company did I work for?" you ask, finally seeing a solid lead.
"You never said," you're face falling as the words leave his mouth. "I asked you once or twice which company, and you said something like, 'You'll find out, but not when I succeed for it, you'll find out which when I fail.' The only other thing you ever said in regards to where you work and what you do was, 'My job with the company is this simple,' and you always said that while you knocked on the walls, I always assumed that meant your job was so easy anyone could it. You always told me to remember that, saying something like, 'If a woman named Ashley asks for me by full name, write down what I just said and knock the bar. She's a smart girl, she'll know where to look. If she doesn't ask for the full name, don't help her out, just tell her I was here and anything we didn't talk about back here, but only if she asks.' You never really talked about Ashley, so I can't really remember anything else without something triggering a response, just that we talked about random stuff, usually related to your job, so that's about all I can tell you."
You grin slightly, quickly wiping it from your face before he notices, Rocky doesn't even realize exactly what you told him. You can't remember Ashley or why you needed Rocky to have alternate responses for her, but you know this is something that will yield serious results. "Alright Rocky, that'll do. If I think of anything specific, I'll be back to ask you about it, but for now, get back to work, I'm pretty hungry." Walking out the back door, you can't believe your luck. The phrase you told Rocky is a variation on the old phrase, "Our successes won't see the light of day, but our failures will become widely known." And you didn't say, "My job with the company is this simple," you said, "My job with The Company is this, simple." You were knocking as a play on words. You're an NOC, non-official cover, with The Company, the ones who pretty much coined that phrase. Bottom line: you're an agent with the CIA. |