He had heard the showers turn on and then slowly come off. He had heard her go downstairs. Darryl was proud of himself; he had not given into the massage parlors last night. Actually, it had been a week. And he stuffed a whole $100 aside to give Mackenzie today; except, he was a little behind all together. He'd need another $100 next week to catch up for last month. Then, he'd need $200 more to pay for this month. Which was perfectly reasonable to expect. No, Darryl wasn't going to allow this to discourage him. If he worked equally hard this week as he did last week, he would have extra for himself too!<br/><br/>He had showered the night before at the gym, so he was set for this morning. He would just need a quick splash of water to the eyes, brushing of his teeth, deodorant, and then washing of the hands (in that order). After taking care of those incidentals, he joined Leonard and Mackenzie downstairs. Both Leonard and Darryl were relatively new, but Darryl was slightly suspicious of Leonard. Why exactly was he here? What was his angle? No matter; as long as he didn't try to impede any hope of friendship he might have with Mackenzie - he didn't care what he did. Actually, sometimes he harbored a desire for Mackenzie to be a type of a sister and maybe Leonard a brother. But he didn’t know Leonard well, so he wasn’t sure he was brother material yet. The only reason he knew Mackenzie was because he sat behind her in homeroom for a couple of years in high school.<br/><br/>Besides, Mackenzie was very nice putting him up here … well, sharing the rent together. But he looked at Mackenzie as the Queen Bee.<br/><br/>Today he put on a collared shirt, but no tie. He wore jeans since they really didn’t care at BioTech what he wore. They only cared that customers could order materials on line and revenue was streaming in.<br/><br/>Overhearing Leonard’s question, Darryl quickly piped in. “Save the bottle; I mean, don’t keep it here. Take it to the grocery store and get the nickel for it. We need all the money we can scrounge for some wheels.” He realized he was rather abrupt, and then finished in a softer tone, “I mean, if you want.” Reaching down his pocket, he took out the envelope with the five twenties in it and gave it to Mackenzie. “Sorry I’m late; I’ll get more next week Mackenzie.” He looked at the pancakes, gave a quick smile and said, “I’ve got to go, see you guys later. Can I visit you on lunch break again, Mackenzie?” Mackenzie … he liked the name. He didn’t like the name Mack; but she did like it or at least tolerated being called it. He couldn’t bring himself to use that nickname yet.