Page 16 of Friendshipped
He looks over, obviously deducing that something went wrong or Lexi and I would have come home from college engaged, or at least seriously dating and on our way to being fiancées. That thought makes me swallow hard.
An Amish cart pulled by a horse clops by. Their community is about twenty minutes north of here. You can’t drive these back roads without passing or getting stuck behind a carriage here and there.
“So, I had this whole thing planned out. I got her room number from her mom before I left. Foolishly, I imagined our time had come. We were finally going to move out of the friend zone and this date would be the start of a possible romance between us—one we’d tell our grandkids about.”
“Man,” Rob says. “Grandkids.”
“Yeah,” I say, realizing how crazy I sound. But this is Lexi we’re talking about. “Anyway, I went to her dorm and convinced the freshman at the entry desk to let me in. I told her I was visiting my best friend from high school. I’m sure she assumed I was trying to visit one of the guys in the building since it was co-ed. I signed my name in the guest registry, showed her my driver’s license and took the elevator up to the third floor.
“When I got to Lexi’s dorm room, I knocked. She answered wearing this faded pink T-shirt that hugged her curves just right with cut-off shorts. Her hair was up in a ponytail. She looked casual, but perfect. I stood there for a minute taking her in. She screamed my name and jumped at me for a hug, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. She was so surprised—and happy to see me.”
I point down a road that used to be private. Trees grow along both sides of the packed dirt lane and fields stretch out forever beyond the rows of trees. It leads to an abandoned farmhouse. I like running here alone, but today I feel like sharing it with Rob for some reason.
“Let’s turn here,” I suggest.
We turn and I keep talking.
“I felt so sure of myself, holding Lexi in my arms. Her reaction spurred me on. I set her down, put my hands on either side of her face and said, ‘Lex, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I want to take you on a date. Not just as friends. Will you go out with me?’”
Rob’s already shaking his head lightly. Hearing my story is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You see the impending wreckage yet can’t do anything to stop the inevitable outcome.
“Lexi’s face contorted into about ten different expressions in rapid succession—confusion, care, maybe a dash of hope, then pain, followed by more confusion and definitely an apology. Then she looked over her shoulder. My eyes tracked to what she was looking for as a guy poked his head around her partially open door.”
“No!” Rob shouts.
He shakes his head and purses his lips as the reality of what happened sinks in.
“Yeah,” I confirm. “I don’t know how much he heard. It was obvious he was with her, and not as a study buddy. The guy looked at Lexi and said, ‘you okay, babe?’”
“Babe?” Rob asks. “That’s the most cliché nickname. And Lexi’s not a babe. It doesn’t fit her. She’s way too spunky and unique to have a generically cheesy nickname.”
“Not relevant,” I tell Rob. “But I totally agree.”
“So, what did you do?” Rob asks.
“I took off,” I say. “I turned quickly and walked back the way I came in. Lexi was calling my name from behind me, but I was beyond humiliated, so I just left. If the guy hadn’t been there. I would have stayed, and we could have talked through things, but he was there. It was too awkward.”
I pause under a large maple and grab the water bottle out of my back pocket. Rob stops and circles back to me.
“Let’s hydrate,” I suggest.
He takes a long pull of his water and swallows. I take a drink, returning the bottle to my pocket and waiting for him to start off running again.
The road narrows a little. The low weathered wooden fence stretches alongside us, broken in a few places, but mostly still holding up. This property could be on a postcard. I catch up to him and resume my story.
“I couldn’t face her after having asked her out, basically in front of her boyfriend.”
Thinking back, I’m sure Lexi could almost hear the cracking of my heart. I know I could.
“I get it,” Rob says.
“She called me later that day,” I tell him.
“What did she say?”
“I let it go to voicemail,” I tell him. “I couldn’t bring myself to talk to her while the pain and humiliation were still so fresh. She basically said she was so sorry, and she had just started dating this guy. Turns out his name was actually Guy.”
I fake a drum roll with my hands. “Ba dap bing.”
