Page 59 of Thanks for the Friendship
“I never had her as a teacher,” I say, leaning against the counter. “My friend Shelley was in her class, and she used to brag that your mom would bring Fun-Dips on Fridays.”
He laughs. “Oh yeah, those packets of sugar were damn good.”
We both grow quiet.
“Speaking of sugar. Jeremy left a bunch of donuts.”
I grab the box and sit down next to him. The sugary devils smell intoxicating. Too bad I already brushed my teeth.
“Sara and I broke up,” he blurts out.
Well, I guess he’s ready to talk about it after all. Now what am I supposed to say? I’m sorry? Good for you? About time?
“You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to.”
“It’s fine,” he says. “I’m sure you’ll hear from her or Diane, so I might as well give you my side first.”
“Okay.”
“It was only a matter of time. We’ve been trying to make it work for a while now, even though we’d been growing apart. After three years, it’s hard to just give up.”
I listen intently. I want to ask all the questions. Instead I let him get it all out of his system.
“She’s had a thing for AJ for a while—I knew but I just ignored it, I guess. She’s going to be very disappointed when she realizes that AJ isn’t going to settle down anytime soon.”
“He asked me out tonight,” I tell him. “And I turned him down, which was really fun.”
He pounds his hand on the counter. “Damn, I wish I could’ve seen that. Only AJ would ask someone out an hour after making out with someone else.”
“Oh, so they?”
He nods. “Oh, yeah.”
I knew it. None of this is shocking to me. I’m just amazed at how calm Cal is right now.
“Anyway, we had a long talk,” he continues. “It got pretty ugly. She blames me because I wouldn’t take the next step like buying this house.”
“She really wanted this house, huh?”
He nods. “Of course.”
I sigh. “I’m really sorry. You tried to warn me about AJ. Maybe if we hadn’t had this dinner party none of this would’ve happened.”
“It’s definitely not your fault,” he says. “We were fighting before we came here tonight and have been for months.”
“You seem so calm.”
He smiles. “That’s the doctor in me. I’m an expert at keeping my cool in stressful situations.”
“Interesting. I didn’t think about that.”
He pushes his nearly empty plate away and reaches for the donut box, brushing my arm with his. My pulse speeds up slightly and I quickly stand up to take his plate to the sink.
Thoughts about him and me are already swirling around in my head, and I need to push them out. He hasn’t even been single for an hour yet.
“Can I get you some more water or something else to drink?”
“No, but I appreciate it,” he says. “I should probably get out of your house though, it’s the middle of the night.”
