Page 108 of The Moon Also Rises
On Wednesday, I was out of the office all day and missed Jake so much I showed up at his flat at seven o’clock armed with a bottle of wine, take-away sushi and a hard-on for him.
On Thursday, I went to work wearing his clothes. While everyone I passed in the building did a double take because my shirt was white, not black, and Sharon gave me more than a few knowing looks, it was easy to ignore because I was too busy lifting the material to my nose and inhaling his spring air smell.
And on Friday, today, I am taking him on that date my sister rightly told me I should take him on. And I am going to tell him everything about my past – the DJing, the cult and the way I estranged my friends and family.
At least that is the plan, but as I step out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around my waist, I hear my phone ringing on top of the chest of drawers. I answer and bring it to my ear.
“Arse cracks, shit, fuck, balls and cunts!”
“Hi, Jake,” I say. “Everything okay?”
“Can you not hear my voice is an octave higher than usual? Clearly, everything is far from okay!”
I’m glad he can’t see my smile. “Would you like to tell me why?”
“My sister and her life-partner-boyfriend-toy-boy-whatever-the-fuck-he-is are on their way!”
“Yeah, you said they’re coming to visit tomorrow...”
“No, Rami, I mean they’re about to arrive at my apartment any minute now!”
“Ah, so you can’t do dinner?” I say, keenly aware of the lull of disappointment that sinks my stomach.
“No, I can’t fucking do dinner tonight! I swear to God, she told me they’d be arriving tomorrow not today.”
“It’s not a big deal,” I say. “You love your sister. You’ll have a great time catching up.”
The silence that falls surprises me after all Jake’s previous commotion.
“But I wanted to go to dinner with you,” he says in a small voice.
“We can do that next weekend,” I suggest.
“That’s forever away!”
“No, it’s seven days away.”
“Semantics, Rami!”
“I don’t actually think that applies—”
“The other part of the drama is I haven’t told her we’re not fake dating anymore.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you’d told them wewerefake dating.” I shouldn’t be feeling all puffed up with this new slice of information, but I am.
“It’s a long stupid story but when I was going to Lionel’s wedding, it served me to also tell Jenna I had a date and that he was also my boyfriend. Since getting coupled up with Marty she’s been rather keen for me to meet someone so I figured it would buy me a little relief from that. But then I just neglected to tell her we’d fake-split up…”
“Okay,” I say. “Are you going to tell her tonight?”
Jake pauses. “I suppose I should.”
“You don’t have to,” I say quickly.
“I don’t?”
“Well, we’re obviously not too far from dating anyway right now so maybe it’s just easier for you to not create a break-up. In fact, have you told Lionel and Luigi yet that we fake broke up?”
“No, I’ve not had a chance since they got back from their honeymoon. Or rather, I’ve actively been avoiding them until Luigi’s tan fades.”
