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“Some of my friends are going out later toThe Drinkbut I’m not feeling that tonight. What about you?”
“No plans, other than to take a shower and eat my weight in some Chinese takeout.”
His mouth twitches and I can tell he’s amused. As we walk we fall into an easier rhythm and it feels comfortable and nice. I gesture up the street to my apartment building. “That’s me up ahead.” I can see my neighbors on multiple floors outside of their apartments. Most of them decked out in school colors with a beer in their hand.
He squints his eyes as he looks up the street. “Nice quiet place you’ve got.”
I huff out a laugh. “Yeah, everyone is pretty quiet until it comes to the weekend and game days. Then all bets are off but this place was what we could all afford.”
“Meg lives with you right?”
“Yes,” I confirm for him. “And Lola too.”
He jerks his head back. “Lola?” He sounds surprised.
“Yeah. Why?”
He’s tentative now. Choosing his words. “She’s a little wild.”
I laugh loudly. “You aren’t telling me anything I don’t know. Trust me, Meg and I didn’t realizehowwild until it was too late. The things I could tell you.”
“I don’t think I want to know.” He laughs at our shared joke.
We reach the steps of my apartment building. I stop at the bottom of the steps and wait for him to hand me back my bag but he doesn’t. I doubt he wants to climb three flights of stairs. “I live on the third floor so I’ll save you the steps.”
“No, that’s ok. I’ll carry your bag up.”
I shrug my shoulders. “That works for me.”
We go up each flight of stairs, passing a few people outside of their apartments continuing their good time from today’s scrimmage. After what feels like a climb up Mount Everest, we finally reach my apartment door. He pulls my bag off his shoulder and gently leans it up against the door jamb.
“Thanks for walking back with me.”
“It was no problem at all. I had to make sure no one gave you a hard time.”
“Eh, I usually don’t get anyone yelling too much crazy stuff.” We stand there for a few moments in silence and as it starts to turn awkward a small laugh bubbles out of me. Brad starts to laugh too. It breaks up the awkwardness.
It’s that normal feeling that resurfaces that causes me to ask him: “Would you like to come in and hang out?”
“I wouldn’t be ruining your big plans of Chinese?”
I reach forward and dig my keys out of my bag. “Nah, as long as you don’t eat all my wantons it’ll be all right.” I unlock the door and gesture for him to come on in.
THE CRUSH
“Ican’t believe you watch this crap.”
I feign indignance. “This,” I wave my hand towards the television, “isn’t crap. It’s educational and sharpens my survival skills. If there’s a ghost I now know what to do thanks to these brilliant hunters.”
“There is no such thing as ghosts.” He tells me in complete deadpan.
“Blasphemy.” I lean forward and pull another egg roll out of the bag. I take a big bite and sit back on the couch. Some girls feel self-conscious about eating around guys but I’m not one of them. I’ve never felt self-conscious about eating around guys before and I’m not about to start now. We’ve eaten thirty dollars of Chinese food, watched four episodes ofGhost Huntersall while critiquing them and much to my heart’s desire I’ve changed into sweatpants and a tank top. Brad hasn’t moved from the couch except to get more water out of the fridge, and as the sun begins to set and the living room gets darker from the loss of natural light, I begin to wonder how long he’s planning to stay.
We haven’t broached any other topics of conversation andso far it’s been easy…fun. There is none of the tension I feared would be present between us. It feels like nothing happened and we’re picking up where we left off. It stays in the back of my mind though—I like him—and it stings that he doesn’t like me back.
“Is this how you spend your free time? Watching horrible TV and binging on take out?”
I make a noise of agreement in the back of my throat. “Yeah, pretty much. I don’t get a lot of downtime during football season so I enjoy it while I can.”
