Let's Stay Together

by J. J. Murray

“But you’ve gotten used to a lot more, right?” Patrick asked.

  “While the money I’ve made is nice, I’ve never gone crazy with it,” Lauren said. “I remember my roots. I don’t care where you live, okay?”

  “I do,” Patrick said. “What kind of man would I be if I couldn’t provide a nice place for you?”

  “You do provide for me,” Lauren said. “In only a few days, you have given me everything that has been missing in my life. You’ve just set my body on fire, and you didn’t even touch me. You’re magic, and I want to feel more magic. I might explode if you really touched me.” She smiled.

  “I don’t want you to explode, Lauren,” Patrick said.

  “I think I need to, okay? I need to go buck wild or something. I have seven years of sexual frustration to unload, and I don’t plan to be quiet about it.” She laughed. “You even have me laughing, man. I have missed laughing so much. And if I have to explode, I can’t think of a better way to go, can you?”

  “No,” Patrick said. “I can’t. But seriously, Lauren, I don’t have much. There’s nothing I can give you.”

  “You’ve given me love, and that’s everything,” Lauren said. “Let me come to you.”

  I don’t know if I’ve given her love. “I haven’t given you anything you couldn’t get somewhere else or from someone else.”

  “Yes, you have.” Her face filled the screen. “I may even love you.” She smiled. “I probably do love you, Patrick. I know that’s a lousy way of saying it, but I’ve never been in love, so I don’t know if I truly am. Yeah, we’ve only known each other a week, but in one week you have given me so much attention, you’ve given me so much of yourself, and I love that about you.”

  She may even love me, Patrick thought. She probably does. I should be happy about that, but I’m not. “But I really have nothing, Lauren,” Patrick said. “I live month to month. I don’t have much in savings. I don’t have investments or a retirement plan or even a health insurance plan. When I get sick, I usually stay sick and keep working.”

  “You have so much more than you know, and I want it,” Lauren said. “All of it. I want all of you. Please, Patrick. Let me come to you.”

  He minimized Lauren’s picture, went to Google, and typed in “map of US.”

  “The screen is shaking,” Lauren said. “What are you doing?”

  “Hold on.” He clicked on the first map that appeared. What’s halfway between Brooklyn and LA? Kansas? Nebraska? Oh. They’re having a snowstorm out there now. Oh yeah, global warming is the real deal. Blizzards in November. “Let’s meet . . .” He focused on a city. I guess this will do. “Let’s meet in St. Louis.”

  “What?”

  “Let’s meet in St. Louis,” Patrick said.

  “Why St. Louis?” Lauren asked. “I can be in New York and in your arms in less than twelve hours.”

  I haven’t been west of New Jersey in my life, and I’m about to go about a thousand miles west to the banks of the Mississippi River. “I know you can, and I really appreciate the idea, but this is our first date and I want it to be special.” And anywhere but here.

  “In St. Louis?”

  “Would you rather meet in Kansas City, Omaha, or Oklahoma City?” Patrick asked.

  “No, St. Louis is okay,” Lauren said. “But that’s not the point, Patrick. It would be so much easier for me, who is currently unemployed by the way, to get on a plane and be with you in less than twelve hours.”

  “It’s tempting, really, but let’s meet in St. Louis first,” Patrick said.

  “I don’t understand this plan at all,” Lauren said. “Why do you want to meet me in St. Louis?”

  Patrick sighed. “This is no place for a star.”

  “This star grew up in a much worse place,” Lauren said, “and this star isn’t a star anymore.”

  “You’ll always be a star to me,” Patrick said. “You’ll always be a star to the rest of the world, too.”

  “I won’t,” Lauren said. “I will fade away in a matter of weeks. Trust me. The world has a very short attention span these days.”

  How can I convince her? “Lauren, my entire wardrobe probably cost less than a single pair of your shoes.”

  “You think I . . .” She laughed. “I don’t spend a lot of money on my shoes or my clothes. I’m sensible. I still look for bargains.”

  “I have boots that are over ten years old,” Patrick said. “Do you?”

  “No,” Lauren said.

  “Do you have any clothes that old?” Patrick asked.

  “No.”

  “I do,” Patrick said. “Just let me do it this way, okay?” Lauren sighed and shook her head. “But it makes no sense!”

  “It does to me,” Patrick said quietly. “And it’s how I want it to be.”

  “Okay, okay,” Lauren said. “But why St. Louis?”

  “I want to meet you on neutral territory.” That sounded weird.

  “Neutral territory?” Lauren’s eyes blinked.

  It sounded weird to her, too. “Yes,” Patrick said. “If you come to New York, what will most likely happen?”

  “We’ll get to know each other very well,” Lauren said quickly, “and I won’t let you leave the apartment for twenty-four hours.”

  “No, I mean, what will most likely happen when the media finds out that you’re coming to New York? What will happen then?”

  Lauren’s lips wrinkled slightly. “I’m yesterday’s news, Patrick. They won’t care.”

  “Really?”

  Lauren sighed. “Okay, so they’ll make a little fuss, but we’ll be together, and that’s all that matters.”

  “Maybe I need a place to practice being with you before I bring you home,” Patrick said. “Like normal people do when they date. I want a date before the hookup.”

  “A very nice hookup, but I understand what you’re saying,” Lauren said. “I don’t want only a hookup either. But St. Louis, Missouri? Really?”

  “I want to wine and dine you first, okay?” Patrick said. “I want to do this right. I can’t do that if you come here. I can’t afford to take you anyplace nice in New York.”

  “I don’t mind paying, Patrick,” Lauren said.

  “I do,” Patrick said. “A nice meal here costs what I spend on a month of groceries.”

  “So we’ll eat in,” Lauren said. “We don’t have to go out. I’ll even cook something for you.”

  “But I want to take you out,” Patrick said. “I don’t want our first date to be some microwaved burritos.”

  “I like microwaved burritos,” Lauren said.

  “Really?”

  “Really,” Lauren said. “I have normal eating habits, Patrick. I eat a little bit of everything, and I don’t care what we eat as long as I’m your dessert.”

  “You will be,” Patrick said, “but you’ll definitely be my main course, not my dessert.”

  “You make me so hungry, man,” Lauren said. “I’m starving out here. Let me come to New York!”

  “No,” Patrick said. “Not yet.”

  “How can I change your mind about all this?” Lauren asked.

  “You can’t.”

  “Please?” She poked out her bottom lip. “Pretty please?” She moved the screen closer to her lips. “Please?”

  “You’re not playing fair,” Patrick said. “But I’m not changing my mind.”

  “All right,” Lauren said, and her full face appeared again. “We’ll meet in St. Louis first, but then I am coming straight to Brooklyn with you, okay?”

  I hope so. “Maybe.”

  “Maybe?” Lauren frowned.

  I shouldn’t have said maybe. I don’t like to see her frown. “Let’s see what happens in St. Louis first.”

  “What do you expect to happen in St. Louis that would keep me from following you to Brooklyn?” Lauren asked.

  “I don’t know,” Patrick said. “Nothing, probably, but I’m hoping . . .” What am I hoping? “I’m hoping that we can be like any other couple, I gu
ess. Just two people out on a date without . . . photographers.”

  “Is that what you think happens whenever I go out?” Lauren asked.

  “Isn’t it?”

  Lauren winced. “Well, yeah, it does happen, and there might be a paparazzo or two hiding outside my apartment right now, but I doubt anyone will bother us in St. Louis.”

  Bingo. “You’ve made my point,” Patrick said. “No one will bother us in St. Louis.”

  “Or Brooklyn,” Lauren said.

  “You’d be bothered here,” Patrick said.

  “But it doesn’t bother me,” Lauren said. “I’m used to it.”

  Bingo. “I’m not used to it,” Patrick said. “Look, I don’t want anything to interrupt our first date anywhere. I don’t want anything to distract me from you.”

  “Which is sweet,” Lauren said, “but if I take a red-eye tonight from LA, and you pick me up . . . Oh yeah, you don’t have a car. We can share a cab, then. It might still be dark, and we can sneak into your apartment and get to know each other in peace.”

  “We shouldn’t have to sneak around,” Patrick said. “Right?”

  “Well, at first we might have to,” Lauren said.

  “I don’t want to sneak around at any time, Lauren,” Patrick said. “I don’t want to have to hide. You understand?”

  “I guess I’m so used to the attention, I didn’t think how it might affect someone who’s not.... Sorry. I don’t know what I’m saying. Ignore me.”

  “I can’t,” Patrick said. “You said exactly what I’m feeling. I’m nobody. You’re somebody. You’re glamorous and gorgeous and sexy, and I’m not.”

  “That’s not true,” Lauren said.

  “It is to me,” Patrick said.

  “You have no idea how important you are to me,” Lauren said. “You’re everything a woman wants and needs. And trust me, you are gorgeous and sexy, too.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Patrick said, “but I know I want this to last. I want to take my time and do this right, and I can’t do it right if we have to sneak around or be harassed by photographers and reporters.”

  “Okay,” Lauren said. “We’ll meet in St. Louis, and we might have a quiet evening, or we might not. I hope we do.”

  Me, too, Patrick thought. I’m going to be nervous as it is. I don’t need an audience.

  “When?” Lauren asked.

  “I’ll have to get off work. . . .” And make sure the buildings won’t fall down without me there for a few days. “How about two weeks from tonight?”

  “Two weeks?” Lauren said. “Why not the day after tomorrow ? Why not Thursday?”

  “I don’t know.” Patrick quickly Googled “flight JFK to St. Louis” and found that the cheapest fare was $240 one way. With fees and taxes, that’s well over five hundred bucks round-trip! He quickly went to Greyhound.com and checked bus schedules.

  “What don’t you know?” Lauren asked.

  “I have to see about something first.” Bus fare is only one hundred fifty dollars one way, but it takes twenty-eight hours to get from Brooklyn to St. Louis! Twenty-eight hours on a bus! Is that even legal? If we meet somewhere at seven p.m. on Thursday, I’d have to leave at eleven p.m. on Tuesday night to get there in time.

  Tuesday is tomorrow.

  This is happening too fast!

  “Patrick?”

  “Thursday might work,” Patrick said slowly. I’d have to work half a day Wednesday, get on a bus Wednesday afternoon, see her Thursday, leave Friday, and be back late Saturday. That’s almost four full days off from a job that usually requires me to be somewhere every single day! This is impossible!

  “Where are we going to meet?” Lauren asked. “Some out-of-the-way hotel perhaps? I’ll be the woman in the overcoat and high heels, and that is all I will be wearing.”

  Now, there’s a sexy image. “Well, we’d meet at a restaurant first, of course,” Patrick said. “I’ll be hungry.” After twenty-eight hours on a bus, I’ll be starving!

  “Okay. Which restaurant?” Lauren asked.

  I have no idea. I can afford McDonald’s, but I can’t take Lauren Short to McDonald’s. “It will be a surprise.” To me, too.

  “And then?” Lauren whispered.

  I love that sexy whisper. “And then we’ll go someplace private, where I can get to know that woman in the overcoat and high heels much better.”

  “That sounds good,” Lauren said.

  That sounds life-altering! “I’ll set up reservations and give you the details as soon as I know them.” What am I thinking? She could come here and . . . see this dump. She’d see how much I have to show for my life, see how shabby I really am, how I live, what I do, how I smell at the end of the day. I can’t have her come here! No. St. Louis is safer.

  “I’m checking flight schedules right now,” Lauren said. “I can fly Alaska Airlines.... Isn’t that funny? I can fly Alaska Airlines and arrive in St. Louis on Thursday at five. There. I’ve bought my ticket. Should we meet at the airport ? When will your flight arrive?”

  “I won’t be flying,” Patrick said. “I’m taking a bus.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t afford to fly, Lauren,” Patrick said.

  “I can wire you the money,” Lauren said.

  “I got this,” Patrick said. “I’m buying my bus ticket now.” The Internet fare is nonrefundable, but it’s the cheapest.

  “You wouldn’t have to spend a dime if you’d just let me fly out to New York,” Lauren said.

  Patrick found himself on the payment page. Greyhound lets you pay with cash? I can do that? Perfect. All I have to do is pay for my ticket when I get to the bus terminal. “My bus arrives at five o’clock on Thursday.”

  “You’re taking a bus from Brooklyn to St. Louis,” Lauren said.

  “Yes,” Patrick said. “It’s only a twenty-eight-hour ride.” Piece of cake.

  “Patrick, don’t do that to yourself,” Lauren said. “Let me fly you in.”

  Patrick then searched for St. Louis restaurants. Tony’s four-star rating caught his attention, and he went to the Tony’s website. He scrolled down to the chef’s tasting menu. Whoa. Over two hundred bucks for two people. If that’s the worst that can happen, we’ll be okay. “We’ll eat at Tony’s on Market Street.”

  “Why won’t you let me fly you in?” Lauren asked.

  “Because I’ve already reserved my bus ticket,” Patrick said. “Tony’s is an Italian restaurant.”

  “I love Italian,” Lauren said. “Can I at least pay for the meal?”

  “No.”

  “Are you always this stubborn?” Lauren asked.

  “Yes,” Patrick said.

  Lauren’s eyes blinked several times. “I can be pretty stubborn, too.”

  “And I like that about you,” Patrick said. “But I will pay, okay?”

  “Okay,” Lauren said. “Where will we be staying after dinner?”

  Patrick found several hotels near Tony’s. “Somewhere close to the restaurant.”

  “Such mystery,” Lauren said.

  These hotels are not expensive by New York standards, but they aren’t cheap. “I’m also going to pay you back for your plane ticket.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Lauren said.

  “I’m asking you out on a date to St. Louis, Missouri, so I should pay,” Patrick said. “How much was your ticket?”

  “About two thousand,” Lauren said.

  She has to be kidding. “Really?” Patrick asked.

  “I usually travel first class,” Lauren said. “Let me change it from first class to coach first. Hold on.”

  “No, no,” Patrick said. “It’s okay.” Two thousand bucks! “Is that one way or round-trip?”

  “One way,” Lauren said. “I do not intend to come back here.”

  Two thousand! “Will you take a check?” There goes most of my savings.

  “You don’t have to pay for everything,” Lauren said.

  “I do, okay?”
>
  “Why?”

  “I don’t want you to look back at our first date and remember how you had to pay for anything,” Patrick said.

  “But if I have the means,” Lauren said, “I should contribute.”

  “I told you about Natalia and how I couldn’t provide enough for her. I doubt I could ever provide enough for you either, but I will pay for this entire first date.” Even if it bankrupts me.

  “Okay,” Lauren said. “You pay for this one, and I’ll pay for the next date.”

  “No.”

  “Why not?” Lauren asked.

  Patrick chose the Millennium Hotel and tried to make online reservations, but he needed a credit card. I’ll have to call the toll-free number later.

  “Patrick, why not?” Lauren asked again.

  “We’ll be staying at the Millennium Hotel, which is close to Tony’s and has a great view of the Gateway Arch and the Mississippi River.” I hope we’ll be staying there.

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Lauren said.

  “I will pay for every date we go on,” Patrick said. Though I have no idea how. “Tony’s is only two blocks from the hotel.”

  “Patrick . . .”

  “It’s okay, Lauren,” Patrick said. “It’s something I have to do, okay? I want to impress you.”

  “You already do,” Lauren said.

  “Then I want to impress you more,” Patrick said. “I want to impress you more than you’ve ever been impressed before.”

  “You already have,” Lauren said.

  “And I’ll try to continue to do so,” Patrick said.

  “You know, we might not eat much at Tony’s,” Lauren said. “I know that I won’t be that hungry, for food anyway.”

  And that would save me a nice chunk of change. “I might not be that hungry, either.” After twenty-eight hours on a bus? Who am I kidding? I’ll be hungry enough to eat the napkins!

  “And I doubt we’ll be looking at that arch or the river,” Lauren said.

  “I’ll only be looking at you,” Patrick said.

  “With the lights on or off ?” Lauren whispered.

  “With every light on,” Patrick said. “I don’t want to miss a thing.”

  “Good,” Lauren said. “That’s . . . that’s very good.”

  “So, we’re set,” Patrick said. “Thursday at seven at Tony’s on Market Street in St. Louis.”