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Nope. Wasn't going to do it. I grabbed my purse and headed out, desperate for another change of pace.
~
"Don't worry. You're still my number one, Janey," I said on the phone while I absently walked through a consignment furniture shop in Allston. I had decided that the best remedy for my melancholia was to make my room into a place I actually liked.
Jane huffed. She had opted to spend the summer renting a room in her cousin's apartment in Chicago, much to her parents' chagrin. She wouldn't be able to afford her own place on an ASA salary anytime soon, but she'd also insisted there was no way she was going to live with her parents while she saved her money. Her cousin's place in ritzy Lincoln Park was the next best thing.
"This is bullshit," she griped. "I should fuck it and move back there. Chi-town is driving me bonkers. It is already so damn hot here, Sky, and my mom has been to the apartment four times in the last week. How is a girl supposed to leave for no-strings sex with her mom bringing over Ziploc bags of bulgogi at all hours of the night? And now I've been replaced with Eric the whoremaster? Ugh."
"You love your mom, Janey. Are you really complaining that she's bringing you homemade food?"
I checked out a mid-century bureau. It was nice, but not big enough for most of my clothes.
"No, I'm complaining about the fact that you are living with a human petri dish."
"I love how, when you're making these claims, you conveniently forget that month during first year where you and Eric never left your bedroom," I said, going to check out another dresser.
"Oh, I'd never forget that, babe. That's how I know just how gross that boy is."
Jane had never divulged completely what had gone down between her and Eric (although in fairness, I had only known her for about two months at that point). All I knew was what I'd seen: that he'd stumbled in with her after a party during first semester, and for the next few weeks they basically forced me to spend fourteen hours a day at the library if I didn't want to listen to their animal habits.
Then I'd arrived one night to find Jane curled up on the couch with a bottle of wine. It had become our first drinking/bitch-about-men session. I had been seeing my boyfriend Patrick at the time, a Wall Street asshole and all around terrible human being. We had commiserated, and a bond was forged over cheap wine and bitterness. But from then on, she'd also never had anything else pleasant to say about Eric, who mysteriously seemed to treat her only with distant kindness.
Come to think of it, that in and of itself was a bit odd, considering how easy it was for Eric to forget the women he slept with, or at least treat them like they didn't exist.
"You'll probably need to Scotchgard your sheets," Jane was saying. "Speaking of, do you have a bed yet?"
I grinned into a gaudy, gold-framed mirror on the wall. "Yes! I found a great deal on this gorgeous teak frame, and I ordered a mattress too. I'm kind of excited about it. Every other bed I've owned has either been university-issued or balanced on rolling wheels."
"Good for you, Sky. You deserve a fresh start. And a hot man to help you christen the thing. Speaking of which, any other hallucinogenic episodes?"
I huffed. Jane had been asking me about the encounter at the Met every day since it had happened.
"I think it's time for a fresh start," was all I said.
"Amen to that, sister," Jane replied. "So, what's on the agenda this weekend? Please tell me you're not just going to hole up with your books. No one normal has even started studying for the bar yet, and you need to get out, friend. Before the grind begins."
I sat down on an orange plaid couch that was probably designed sometime around 1975. "Eric did suggest that we go to this club tonight."
"Eric did? I see, you're going to a herpes den. Wear a dental dam, my love."
"Jane, give it a rest, will you?" I was not looking forward to hearing STD jokes for the entire time I lived with Eric. "He's my roommate, and he is my friend too."
"Sorry," Jane mumbled. " I guess that settles it, then. I'm just going to have to fly out the next chance I get. Because there's no way I'm letting that walking dildo be the only person who ever gets to take you out."
"Yeah, but you will have to study by then," I pointed out, even though I was secretly thrilled with the idea. Even though it had been less than two weeks since Jane and I last seen each other, that was a very long time after living together for three years.
"I can study in Boston too," Jane insisted. "Probably better than here. No Umma busting in with food every ten seconds."
"Won't that be expensive?"
"Frequent flyer miles, baby. Credit cards can accomplish amazing things."
~
I returned to the apartment feeling like a pirate with a major score of booty. I was loaded with several bags full of throw pillows, a bedding set, and equipment to paint my room a deep cerulean blue. I had ended up choosing a desk and a nightstand that would go well with the dark-wood aesthetic of my bedframe, and all of the large furniture would be arriving the next day.
I set the bags on the floor of my room and surveyed the space. They said blue was a calming color, right? At least, the sales associate at Home Depot did. I wasn't too sure.
