Push(39)

I turn off the computer, having discovered quite enough new information for the time being. And I flip open my phone.


Hi.


Two minutes pass before I get a reply.


Hi back.


Did u get some sleep?


Yes. U?


All day.


Glad to hear it.


U home?


No. Out with the *s.


Your thing with Brad go ok?


No, but I didn’t expect it to.


Oh. Nice shiner u gave him, BTW.


Yes, quite proud.


As u should be.


What r u doing?


My face flushes with guilt, and I am thankful that he can’t see me.


Watching TV.


Anything good?


Just crap.


Go up to my place and pick a DVD. Door’s open. They r in the box next to the TV.


Item number 4: Shitty-ass boyfriends are always trying to get you to watch porn.


Is that so?


Yes. Not interested in your porn either. Not without u anyway.


I’ll be home in twenty.


I don’t want him to come home.


Don’t. I was kidding.


No porn in the box anyway. Sorry to disappoint.


Not disappointed. Enjoy your friends.


Hardly.


Then why r u there?


U were sleeping.


:) like a rock.


Enjoy your movie. Seriously, go pick one.


I’m going to try on all YOUR underwear while I’m up there.


I knew there was a reason to always go commando.


I can think of several...


C u tomorrow Emma.


Good night.


Night.


I flip my phone closed and smile, thankful that what I now know hasn’t changed the spark between us.
I sort through David’s box of movies. He’s right; there’s no porn here. There is, however, a vast assortment of man movies. The Blues Brothers, Star Wars, Field of Dreams. I pull out The Big Lebowski because, even though I’ve seen it a half dozen times, I know it will make me laugh.
* * *

I wake up late on Sunday, eat a leisurely breakfast/lunch, shower, and make a quick trip to the grocery store. When I get back to the apartment building and haul the two bags of groceries off the bus, I see David standing in the parking lot next to his car, talking on his cell phone. When I walk up the steps to the building, I pause and try to make eye contact with him. I don’t want to interrupt his conversation, but I want him to notice me, and eventually he does. As I am pulling open the door, his head lifts and his eyes hit mine. I smile and tip my head in toward the hallway, motioning for him to come in and see me whenever he is ready. He gives me a halfhearted wave. Then he turns around, drops his head, and continues the conversation facing the car.
Ten minutes after I finish unloading the groceries, there is a knock on my door. Even though I know it is David, I peer out the peephole before I open it.
“Hey,” he says, with both hands in his pockets now.
“Hey,” I say. “Everything okay?” He looks a little shaken. Or maybe I am just overly sensitive because of last night’s online revelation. I don’t know.
“Yeah. Everything’s fine,” he says with resignation. “I was just talking to Carl. We’re thinking of moving our poker game to different digs, and he isn’t happy about it. That’s what Brad and I had to deal with yesterday. Carl can’t f*cking stumble home drunk if we go to this new place. He’s such an ass.”
“Yeah, I only met him twice, but he definitely set off my ass alarm. I can spot them a mile away.”
David’s face lightens immediately. “Ass alarm, huh? Is that like Gay-dar?”
“Yeah, kinda. Only an ass alarm is far more valuable. Keeps out the riffraff.” I am smiling now, and David’s head sinks to his chest and shakes back and forth. I think he is laughing at me, and frankly, I deserve it. Ass alarm. God, I am a f*cking loser.
“Good to know you’ve got one of those. I’ll have to watch myself,” he says, raising his head. “I guess all those shitty-ass boyfriends really light it up, don’t they?”
“Like a goddamned Christmas tree.”
He is grinning again and shaking his head. I turn around and walk back into my apartment. I hear him follow me and close the door behind him.
“So, we still on for dinner tonight?” he asks. “You wanna just stay in and get some pizza or something?”
“Sure,” I say, stopping short of the kitchen and turning to him, “and maybe we can watch one of the hundreds of man movies you’ve got up there. It was like a big box of testosterone. I grew hair on my chest just looking at them.” I am teasing him, and I’m not quite sure how he is going to take it.
“Hair on your chest, huh? You should check out the other box of movies I’ve got up there. They’ll make your hairy chest blush.” Ahhh, so he does have a box of porn. I knew it.
“I doubt it. My brothers got the best of me already on that front. I stopped blushing at porn when I was eleven.”
I don’t think David knows what to say in response to my remark, so instead of talking, he comes over, wraps his arms around me, and kisses the top of my head. He holds me like this for a minute or two, then lets go and steps back.