Page 127 of Fun Together
“You just need to find what works for you. There’s nothing wrong with you. We all have to find ways to navigate life’s bullshit.” He takes off his safety glasses and massages the bridge of his nose. “Sometimes things have to break so you can build them back up again.”
I go over and give him a hug. We both linger in it longer than we ever have, like we both needed one.
“You got anything else that needs breaking?”
42
Eli
It takesme two weeks of mild to moderate pestering, but I finally convince Andrew to meet up to talk.
Just like the first night I met him, we’re standing at the bottom of the ladder that leads to the roof of the elementary school.
“It seemed taller before, didn’t it?” he asks.
“Yeah, it did.” I place a foot on the first rung of the ladder, which has gotten much rustier than before, too. “Come on, let’s see if anything else has changed.”
“What if they have cameras now? If I get arrested because of you, that’ll be the final nail in the coffin, just so you know.”
“We won’t get arrested.” I don’t think we will, anyway. It’s a Sunday night at nine in the evening, and I don’t know what I was thinking come up here. It just seemed like a cool, full-circle thing. “We’ll just be quiet.”
We climb to the top and I shine the flashlight of my phone over the area. I see a pile of candy and Doritos wrappers. Guess we aren’t the only ones who hang out on roofs.
I look around a little more, not because I’m super interested in what I might see up here, but because I suddenly don’t know what to say. He’s waiting for me, I’m sure. I know I need to fix this rift between us somehow. How do I apologize for the thing that I could really use his advice on right now?
I know I was sleeping with your ex and I’m super sorry about not telling you, but also can you help me figure out what to do?
“Everything sucks and I fucked up,” I finally get up the nerve to say.
“You’re going to have to be more specific.” He kicks around an empty Mountain Dew can. “You mean the whole losing your job thing, or sneaking around with my ex-girlfriend thing?”
I knew he wouldn’t make it easy. Not that I deserve for it to be easy. “Both. But I didn’t really lose my job. Technically, I quit.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
I take it he’s talking about the job, which is the least contentious thing to talk about first. “You’re looking at the newest employee of Clean Fur Smell.”
“Do I even want to know?”
“I’m in the dog grooming business now.”
He almost huffs out a laugh. “Is this a permanent career change?”
At my softball game the other night, I talked more to Chris about how I lost my job.Lostis such a funny way to describe becoming unemployed. Like, you just misplaced it somewhere and need to retrace your steps in order to find it again.
We decided I’d start working next week. I figured, if he needs the help, why not spend time bathing puppies while I figure out my next move.
“No, just for the time being while I decide what I want to do with my life.” Because I will figure out something that works for me.
He takes a seat on the building’s ledge. “That’s good.”
It’s go time, Eli. Let’s really make this apology count.
I look down and kick my feet around. “I’m sorry,” I say. It’s simple, but it’s the truth. He’d appreciate some brute honesty from me. “I really didn’t mean for anything to shake out the way it did.”
He crosses his arms. “I overreacted the other night.”
“No, you didn’t. You had a very normal reaction.” Maybe an overreaction for the way he usually tempers his emotions, but he responded exactly the way I would expect someone in his shoes would have.
