by Lori L. Otto
“I don’t know, Nate. I honestly don’t know him well enough to say one way or another. Plus, what’s her type, anyway?” He takes a break from the game to take a drink. He looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “The only guy she’s spent any amount of time with is you, and you’re just friends. I was beginning to wonder if guys were her thing.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
He laughs at me defending her. “I just wish she’d find a decent man soon.”
“So you don’t like him, then?”
“I didn’t say that,” he groans, starting the game up again. “I’m not going to shut the door on anyone this soon. I’ll support any man who wants to date her until he gives me reason not to.”
“He’s given me reason. I don’t like him.”
“What? What don’t you like about him?”
“He’s a total dick!” is my first argument… admittedly not a good one. I decide to fill him in on the brief conversation Colin and I had at the basketball game.
“That’s real mature.”
“Just wait. You know we saw the Knicks together a few weeks ago, right?”
“Yeah, that’s where she introduced you two. She told me. What happened?”
“He followed me into the men’s room at the arena,” I start, looking up at Chris, who is now completely interested in the conversation. “I would have punched him if I had the slightest bit of assurance that he wouldn’t break both of my arms off and beat me with them.”
“What’d he do?”
“He didn’t do anything. It’s what he said. Something like, ‘She’s a wild one,’” I begin.
“Yikes, do I want to know more?”
“I’ve never had to defend your sister’s honor before, but I did. I mean, out of all the adjectives in the world, ‘wild’ is not one I would ever use to describe her.”
“Yeah, agreed.”
“So, after I stood up for her, he told me it was obvious that I hadn’t ‘had’ her. I mean, can you believe that?”
“What? Surely you misunderstood.”
I start the game again. “Yeah, I didn’t misunderstand. His meaning was quite clear.”
“How did you respond? Did you tell her?”
“I wanted to, but once we made it back to the suite, he made it a point to stake his claim on her by putting his hands all over her, glaring at me… you know, for the three minutes they stuck around before going off to wherever and… fuck, it just pisses me off.”
He looks at me and laughs, shaking his head. “Don’t tell her.”
“Why not?”
“Because I just have a hard time believing–”
“It happened–”
“That’s fine, so he’s a little immature. Maybe he felt threatened by you, I don’t know. But let it play out on its own. She hasn’t dated anyone in awhile. And she’s a pretty good judge of character. There’s got to be some redeeming quality about him, right?”
“It’s nothing I can see. Nor do I care to.”
“You two really are ridiculous, you know that?”
I’m sure he can see through me. He’s known me too long and knows me too well. There have been plenty of times that I’ve let my guard down. I have no doubt he knows how I feel about her, but he’ll never say it and he’d never encourage me. I’m sure it’s because she feels nothing for me in return.
“Why do you say that?” I decide to ask him anyway as his phone rings from the back of the court.
“Hold on. That’s Anna.” His smile grows instantly as he sighs, relieved. He runs to his gym bag and answers it. While he’s on the phone, I check my emails. Three from Sam. One from my agent. None from Emi. It’s been so long since she’s dated someone that I don’t remember if this is normal. Do we normally go this long without talking? I send her a text, just a friendly reminder that I’m still alive.
“Hey, what do you think about going to dinner with me and Anna?” Chris asks when he gets off the phone. “I’ll ask Emi and Colin, too, and we can get to know him a little better. I want you both to meet Anna.”
“Sam too?” I’m evenly split between wanting her to go with us and wanting to go alone. I’m just not sure she’ll fit in with Chris and Emi.
“Of course.”
My phone notifies me of a text message.
“Are you at home? I need a place to go.”
“I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes. Can’t wait to catch up.”
“Cool,” I respond to Chris. “Emi’s on her way to my place, so I’ll talk to her. Next weekend?”
“Friday?”
“I’ll see if that works for everyone and set something up,” I tell him, gathering my things. “You gonna see her? Anna?”
“She wants to meet me for lunch. At my place,” he smiles. “I really like this one.” He seems genuinely happy, something he hasn’t been in a really long time. It’s good to see my friend this way.
“Alright. I’ll call you later in the week.”
“Sounds good. Tell Emi hi.”
“Will do.”
Emi is walking up to my building as soon as I pull in the drive. I wait for her so we can go upstairs together. She hands me a latte before trying to hug me.
“Careful, I need a shower.” She steps back and waves instead.
“Where have you been? Or do I want to know… ” Her voice trails off.
“I was with your brother, actually.” She raises her eyebrows as we get into the elevator.
“I always knew there was something going on with you two,” she teases. “Racquetball?”
“Yeah.”
“What was he stressing about this time?” Emi asks, knowing her brother’s habits.
“A woman.”
“Really?” Emi says, a little shocked, exiting the lift and walking toward my door. “Who?”
“Someone named Anna,” I explain, letting her in to the loft. She drops a bag full of her things on the dining room table and takes a seat on the couch. “Have you heard of her?”
“Not a word. I haven’t talked to anyone in my family in awhile, though.”
“All wrapped up in Collie, huh?”
She glares at me before correcting me. “You’re one to talk. Speaking of which, I believe I just met your little Samantha.”
I had wondered if that was a possibility. I knew Sam was working this morning at the coffee shop.
“I thought my chai tasted extra sweet. Did you tell her you knew me?”
“She’s a bright one. I placed your regular order, and she did this cute little blushy-blinky-thing and said that it was how her boyfriend likes his chai. And then I told her I was pretty sure that it was for her boyfriend.”
“Oh, god… ” I sigh as I check my phone and see that Samantha has sent me six texts in the last five minutes. “Thanks, Emi. I didn’t have time to warn her that we were hanging out.” Sam continues to be very understanding of my friendship with Emi, but she is very demanding of my time.
“Well, she seemed okay about it. She was relieved to find out who I was. You’ve apparently told her about me.”
“I have.”
“She is young, though, isn’t she? How old did you say she is?”
“Twenty-one,” I remind her quietly.
“That’s right. That means she was… ” she pauses, making her thought process obvious, “in the third grade when we met in high school.” She cringes a little. “Kinda creepy, no?”
“She’s a grown woman now. There is nothing creepy about her.”
Emi kicks her feet up onto the coffee table, reaching for the remote. She finds an indie music station and turns the volume up a little.
“So, what brings you out here so early on a Saturday morning?”
“Morning sex,” she mutters with disdain.
“I don’t know… I don’t think Sam would approve of that.” I laugh as she glares at me, trying to hide her own smile. “And what do you have against morning sex, Em?” I ask, sipping my latte.
“Nothin
g if I’m an active participant,” she grins slyly. I try to think of other things to get the thought of her and morning sex out of my head. “But I’m not into threesomes, so I had to get out of there.”
“So Teresa’s found a new guy?”
“She’s been seeing him for a few weeks. He’s really nice, too. He seems different than the others.”
“Wow, all the stars must have aligned to have all of us in relationships. That’s never happened.”
“No, I don’t think it has,” she agrees.
“Speaking of which, Chris would like you and Collie–”
“Colin–” she corrects me, sounding genuinely upset.
“Colin, I apologize… would like you to go on a triple date with us. We can meet Anna, and it’ll give us all a chance to get to know everyone better. What do you say?”
“Will you learn his name by then?”
I give her a small smile and nod.
“Okay. When?”
“Friday. Can you do that?”
“I think so. I’ll just have to see if it’s okay with Colin.”
“And why wouldn’t it be?”
“He prefers it when it’s just the two of us.” She shrugs but avoids eye contact with me.
“I see. A little possessive?”
“I wouldn’t say so. No.”
I get up and make my way toward the kitchen to get some water. “You still like him?”
She hesitates a fraction of a second too long. “I do,” she nearly sighs.
“Hmmm.” I take a drink. “Does he give you that ‘loving feeling?’” I ask her in a mocking tone. I’m genuinely curious, though. She gets up and grabs her bag, taking it back to the couch with her, just giving me a momentary glance. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“Take that as ‘it’s none of your business.’”
I take it as a no. I can hear the tension in her voice. “Taken. You’ve got work to do?” I ask casually.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’m going to go clean up a bit. Make yourself at home.”
“Cool.”
“Cool.”
After my shower, I pull on some pants and a t-shirt to work in. I start to set up my canvas in the guest room after turning on some additional lamps and readying my paint. I look over the sketch I had done earlier in the week in pencil, deciding I still like where the piece is going. I crack the window for ventilation and get to work.
After about a half hour, Emi walks into the room and sets my phone down abruptly on the dresser. “I can’t get anything done. You keep getting texts.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, wondering if she’s really annoyed. My hands smattered with paint, I don’t bother to check my messages. Instead, I turn around to look at her as she’s standing a few feet behind me with her arms crossed. “Everything okay?”
“So, who will be accompanying you on this date on Friday?” she asks me. I rinse my brush in a bowl of water and pick a new color, looking away from her.
“Sam,” I tell her, continuing with my work. “Who else?” I laugh.
“Who’s Audra?”
I groan inwardly, realizing that Emi has seen the texts. “No one.”
“I highly doubt that she’s no one.” I hear the seriousness in her timbre.
“Calm down, Emi. She was once someone. But now, she’s just a friend.”
“When?”
“I dated her last year. Remember?”
“Nope. I don’t remember an Audra.”
“It was brief. Kate introduced us, remember?”
“Nope,” she reiterates. “Why is she texting you?”
I set my paintbrush down carefully and pick up a rag from the floor, cleaning off my hands. “My, how I love the third degree,” I tell her sarcastically.
“Are you cheating on Sam?”
“What do you think?” I ask her, getting angry. I’ve never cheated on any woman, and have no intention of starting now. I know that would be the quickest way to end our friendship, knowing how her family has been affected by people who have been unfaithful… her father’s affair, her brother-in-law’s indiscretions… it’s caused the women in her family a lot of pain.
“Honestly, I think you are. Judging from the messages. ‘It was good to reconnect. Thanks for lunch. When can I see you again?’”
“I’m glad we’ve established boundaries of privacy, Emi.”
“You left the phone sitting next to me. It kept chiming. She kept texting. What was I supposed to do?”
“Silence it? Ignore it? Not read it.”
“Now it sounds like you’re hiding something.”
“I’m not hiding anything, Emi. We dated last year… we ran into each other on the subway. We decided to have lunch to talk about work. It was fun. She’s got a show coming up and she wants me to help her prepare.”
“And you’re telling me you’re not attracted to her?”
“Not in the way you’re insinuating.”
“So you are.”
“Emi, I find lots of women to be attractive. I find you attractive, when you’re not accusing me of being a complete heel. I can’t help that. I do have some modicum of self-control, though. The last thing I want to do is hurt someone I love.”
“Someone you love,” she repeats.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Do you love Sam, Nate? The last I heard, she seems to have become more of a burden to you.”
“Emi, I’m trying, and I care about her a lot. Do I know where this is heading? No. But sure, a part of me loves her. I wouldn’t still be with her if that weren’t true.”
“Not hard to figure out which part… ”
I roll my eyes at her. “What have I done to change your opinion of me? You’re being a little mean.”
She nods silently, recognizing her hostility. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I just don’t understand your definition of love. I guess that’s all.”
No, she doesn’t. She never would. I think our opinions of love are as different as night and day… sometimes I wonder if she is even capable of love. If she knows what it really is.
“Maybe I just have a greater capacity to love,” I tease after some of the tension subsides, shrugging my shoulders. “Lots to go around.”
“If you ever become one of those assholes that cheats–”
“Emi, listen to yourself. Don’t you know me at all?”
“I don’t know. What do you consider cheating, then?” She asks, exasperated again, more so than I can understand. I just wish we could change the subject.
“Kissing another woman… certainly sleeping with another woman… ” I explain. “What’s your definition? Hanging out with other women? Talking to other women? Looking? Thinking about them?”
“I don’t know, it depends.”
“Am I cheating on Sam with you then?”
“No, we’re friends.”
“Well, what if I were to pursue a friendship with another woman, someone other than you? Someone like, say, Audra? Would that be cheating?”
“Well, I don’t think it really matters what I think… but Sam certainly may think so.”
“Then why don’t you just let Sam be the judge… and you can just be my friend… like normal… ”
“Does she know about Audra?”
“She knows she exists. She knows I ran into her last week.”
“But she doesn’t know you met her for lunch.”
“It’s not an issue. I didn’t not tell her because I’m hiding it from her. I just didn’t want to end up having a conversation like this one with her when there is nothing for her to be afraid of. I am not pursuing Audra.
“What are you afraid of?” I ask her.
“I could never forgive you… ”
“I would never do it… ” She looks at me contemplatively. “Emi, please, don’t be mad,” I plead. “I don’t want to fight with you. I haven’t seen you in over a week. I miss you.”
“I don’t want to fight, either,” she
turns to face me, frowning, a look of confusion spreading across her brow. If I didn’t know her better, I’d think she was… jealous? “I’m sorry.”
I walk to her and give her a hug, kissing the top of her head. “Like ya, Em.” I look down into her unsure eyes.
“Like you, too, Nate,” she smiles, looking a little apologetic.
After spending the afternoon together working, Emi is just packing up her things when I hear Sam’s familiar knock on the door.
“Wanna stick around a little longer? Get to know her a little better?” I offer.
“No thanks. I need to get ready for my date.”
I open the door for Sam, leaning down to kiss her before I let her in. “Emi’s on her way out,” I whisper in her ear. She scans the apartment quickly until she sees my friend.
“Hi,” Sam says brightly. “Did you two have fun today?”
“We got a lot of work done,” Emi says, smiling, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “It was nice to meet you, Sam. Probably see you Friday?” Emi asks, directing her attention to me.
“Friday,” I tell her, holding the door open for her and then closing it behind her.
“What’s Friday?” Sam asks quickly. “I have that night off. I thought we could do something.”
I rub her arm in assurance, picking up on her insecurity. “We thought we might go out as a group. Us, Emi and her boyfriend, and Emi’s brother and his new girlfriend.”
“Oh,” she says, relieved. “I’d like that. I want to get to know her better.”
“I’d like for you to, too.”
“I can tell she’s important to you.”
“She is. But so are you.” I guide her over to the couch. “How was your day?” She sits down, kicking off her shoes and putting them in my lap. I take them in my hands and massage them, continuing with the typical routine we have when she comes over after work.
“Fine,” she laments. She proceeds to tell me about different interactions she had with customers. Sometimes I have to focus more than normal to keep up with her chatty conversations. She talks more than most women I’ve dated, and I’m not always interested in the things she chooses to talk about. She tends to dwell on material things. A coat she liked, a pretty necklace a woman was wearing… shoes she saw in a window. When it comes time to buy her presents, I have no doubt she’ll give me plenty of tips.