On Wednesday, I got home from work with just enough time for a quick outfit change and a glass of wine (in case you hadn’t realized yet, I need at least one glass of wine to lessen my severe awkwardness in any possible awkward-inducing situations). I was ready and waiting in jeans, flats and a casual t-shirt and feeling a nice buzz from the one (okay two) glasses of Chardonnay by the time Bray knocked on my door. I had even managed to clean (aka shove everything in sight in the closet) before he got there, so my apartment was basically pinterest-worthy.
“Nice studio,” he said leaning in and kissing me on the cheek.
“Thanks,” I replied as I tried to tell the trapeze artists in my stomach to sit the hell down. “Do you want a drink or anything, or..” I trailed off, motioning towards my small kitchen.
“I’m okay,” he replied, extending his arm to me. “Let’s get going.” I grabbed his hand and followed him out the door and down the endless stairs.
“So where are we going?” I asked as we settled into a comfortable walk. He didn’t seem to be hailing a cab, so it couldn’t be too far away.
He gave a small laugh “You’ll see in a mere five minutes.”
We spent the walk talking about our work weeks, the weather and other fairly mundane topics until he stopped and held open a door for me. I looked at him, quizzically. This was not a restaurant. I took a step back and examined the sign above the door: Frames. Was he taking me to get new photos framed? Did he know I’d found the Nick photo?! I didn’t have any more time to spend on the Bray-installing-cameras-in-my-apartment theory, because he gave my arm a gentle tug to follow him into the frame shop.
Once inside, a long narrow hallway lead to an elevator. I was starting to rethink my framing store theory and go the speakeasy route, but when Bray didn’t need to whisper some secret code word like “toothpaste” into an invisible box, I told myself to relax.
“Where are we?” I asked as the elevator ascended. Bray simply smiled and turned me around. The back of the elevator had another set of doors, that I presumed was about to open and deposit us into the frame store/speakeasy/black market for selling 20-something girls.
The doors opened with a ding and I tentatively stepped out. A massive bar was in front of us, and clubbing music was beating all around. The left wall was lined with bowling lanes each outfitted with neon lights. A second bar sat further behind the first one and waitresses dressed in all black zipped from the lanes to the bars serving drinks. This. Place. Was. Awesome.
“I hope you like bowling,” Bray said, placing his hand on my lower back and leading me towards the check-in. He purchased us a lane for an hour and pointed me to a wall lined with bowling shoes. I grabbed a size 7 and followed him to our lane.
I was settling into the red couch to tie my shoes when the waitress appeared asking what we would like to drink. Bray ordered us two beers and started to enter our names into the screen.
“I have to warn you, the last time I bowled was at an 8th grade birthday party,” I said going over and examining which bowling ball I wanted to claim.
“I have to warn you,” he replied “I play on a bowling league each week.”
“You what?” I laughed. I had pegged Bray as more of a basketball player or rower or something.
“My team is the best in the league,” he flashed a smile at me, wiggling his eyebrows. I laughed out loud.
“Well then hotshot,” I said gesturing towards the lane. “Show me your moves.”
Bray won two games in a row, but I wasn’t trailing too far behind. He purchased another hour for us on the lane, and I’m pretty sure he let me win the third one. Either way, it was fun to pretend I beat him.
We changed our shoes and took a seat at the bar for one more beer.
“This place is amazing, I can’t believe I didn’t know about it,” I said taking a sip of my Stella.
“Yeah, we play our games here every week for the league. It’s always a good time,” he said.
“Well then I guess I’ll have to come be your cheerleader one of these days,” I said.
“You’d look hot in a cheerleading uniform, I bet,” he flirted. I was enjoying being around Bray, he was easy and didn’t put too much pressure on me. It was the perfect distraction. I looked down at my watch and saw that it was almost midnight.
“I should get going,” I said mournfully. “I have a job interview tomorrow.” I slid down off of the high barstool. He stood up next to me and downed the last of his beer.
“Let me walk you home,” he said, pulling on his jacket. We were just walking away from the bar when I heard someone yell my name a few feet back. I turned around to see Trevor, Nick’s roommate, waving his hand in the air towards me.
“Do you know him?” Bray asked looking from Trevor to me.
“Yeah,” I said smiling back at Trevor. “Friend from college.” Friend from college, ex who I’m possibly sleeping with’s roommate, tomato, tomato. We started over to where Trevor was sitting with two other guys I didn’t recognize. He stood up and enveloped me in a big hug.
“How are you!” He asked enthusiastically. “God it’s been forever, D”.
“I know, I’m good. Trevor, this is Bray; Bray, Trevor.” I said, gesturing between them.
“Hey man,” Bray said giving him a firm handshake. Trevor then introduced us to the two other guys at the table, whose names I forgot almost instantly. Was everyone born from 1985-1990 named Mike, or is that just my imagination?
“Well we were just heading out,” I said to Trevor as I leaned in to give him a goodbye hug.
“Alright well don’t be a stranger anymore. Are you going to Haley’s thing this weekend?” he asked, referencing a mutual friend of ours from college. I remembered getting a Facebook invite for something at Libation this Friday.
“I actually hadn’t decided yet,” I said, making a mental note to stalk the Facebook guest list when I got home.
“Well I think we’re going,” he said, as I silently decoded “we” to mean him and Nick. “So you should definitely stop by.” He looked over at Bray, then back at me. The last thing I was planning to do was subject Bray to an awkward encounter with Nick, although it would be kind of fun to arrive on Bray’s arm in front of him.
“I’ll think about it,” I said giving Trevor a kiss on the cheek.
Bray and I got back into the elevator and took it down towards the creepy hallway. “He seems nice,” Bray said.
“Yeah, we were really close in college. I never see him much anymore though,” I replied, hoping he wouldn’t ask why.
He grabbed my hand as we walked out onto the street and pulled me closer to him. We spent most of the walk in silence until we reached my building.
“Well thanks for a really fun night,” I said, my breath visible in the chilly night air.
He responded by pulling me into him and giving me a long, hard kiss. When he pulled away, I stood on my tiptoes and reached for his neck, pulling him back into me. His arm slipped down and under my jacket, circling my waist. The facial hair that had grown in from his morning shave was scratching lightly on my face and I moved my hand up into his long hair. He lifted me slightly and pressed me against the door to my building. I pushed myself closer to him, closing any space that was left. I could feel how firm his whole body was and wanted to run my hands up his chest, wishing desperately we were in my bed, or his bed.. or any bed for that matter.
A few moments later, I realized we were basically humping each other on my doorstep. I pulled away, out of breath. He laughed. “I don’t suppose asking me up would help with your beauty rest for tomorrow, would it?”
“Hmmm..” I pretended to think. “I doubt it.”
“Well goodluck on the interview,” he said giving me one last, much more public-appropriate kiss. “You’ll kill it.” He stepped away and started towards his place uptown.
By the time I had showered, laid out my interview outfit and chugged two glasses of water to ensure I’d wake up hangover-free, it was almost one o’clock. I wistfully set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. hoping to get in a little interview prep before having to leave. The interview was all the way downtown at 8.
I was just about to call it a night before I remembered Haley’s party Friday. I pulled up Facebook on my phone and searched for the forgotten invite. I scanned the attending list and saw Nick’s name towards the top.
There’s this party for a college friend on Friday, want to come with me and be my support system?
I texted to Ashley hoping she was still awake.
By support system, I assume you mean Nick will be there and you need me to tell you how hot you look and make sure you don’t go home with him?
Maybe.. I replied
Steve is going to his parent’s this weekend, so count me in
You’re the best :) Come over around 8
I hit “attending” on the Facebook invite and pulled my comforter up to my ears.
Ed note: I have a feeling that a bonus post will be appearing this weekend, so keep checking back :)
“Nice studio,” he said leaning in and kissing me on the cheek.
“Thanks,” I replied as I tried to tell the trapeze artists in my stomach to sit the hell down. “Do you want a drink or anything, or..” I trailed off, motioning towards my small kitchen.
“I’m okay,” he replied, extending his arm to me. “Let’s get going.” I grabbed his hand and followed him out the door and down the endless stairs.
“So where are we going?” I asked as we settled into a comfortable walk. He didn’t seem to be hailing a cab, so it couldn’t be too far away.
He gave a small laugh “You’ll see in a mere five minutes.”
We spent the walk talking about our work weeks, the weather and other fairly mundane topics until he stopped and held open a door for me. I looked at him, quizzically. This was not a restaurant. I took a step back and examined the sign above the door: Frames. Was he taking me to get new photos framed? Did he know I’d found the Nick photo?! I didn’t have any more time to spend on the Bray-installing-cameras-in-my-apartment theory, because he gave my arm a gentle tug to follow him into the frame shop.
Once inside, a long narrow hallway lead to an elevator. I was starting to rethink my framing store theory and go the speakeasy route, but when Bray didn’t need to whisper some secret code word like “toothpaste” into an invisible box, I told myself to relax.
“Where are we?” I asked as the elevator ascended. Bray simply smiled and turned me around. The back of the elevator had another set of doors, that I presumed was about to open and deposit us into the frame store/speakeasy/black market for selling 20-something girls.
The doors opened with a ding and I tentatively stepped out. A massive bar was in front of us, and clubbing music was beating all around. The left wall was lined with bowling lanes each outfitted with neon lights. A second bar sat further behind the first one and waitresses dressed in all black zipped from the lanes to the bars serving drinks. This. Place. Was. Awesome.
“I hope you like bowling,” Bray said, placing his hand on my lower back and leading me towards the check-in. He purchased us a lane for an hour and pointed me to a wall lined with bowling shoes. I grabbed a size 7 and followed him to our lane.
I was settling into the red couch to tie my shoes when the waitress appeared asking what we would like to drink. Bray ordered us two beers and started to enter our names into the screen.
“I have to warn you, the last time I bowled was at an 8th grade birthday party,” I said going over and examining which bowling ball I wanted to claim.
“I have to warn you,” he replied “I play on a bowling league each week.”
“You what?” I laughed. I had pegged Bray as more of a basketball player or rower or something.
“My team is the best in the league,” he flashed a smile at me, wiggling his eyebrows. I laughed out loud.
“Well then hotshot,” I said gesturing towards the lane. “Show me your moves.”
Bray won two games in a row, but I wasn’t trailing too far behind. He purchased another hour for us on the lane, and I’m pretty sure he let me win the third one. Either way, it was fun to pretend I beat him.
We changed our shoes and took a seat at the bar for one more beer.
“This place is amazing, I can’t believe I didn’t know about it,” I said taking a sip of my Stella.
“Yeah, we play our games here every week for the league. It’s always a good time,” he said.
“Well then I guess I’ll have to come be your cheerleader one of these days,” I said.
“You’d look hot in a cheerleading uniform, I bet,” he flirted. I was enjoying being around Bray, he was easy and didn’t put too much pressure on me. It was the perfect distraction. I looked down at my watch and saw that it was almost midnight.
“I should get going,” I said mournfully. “I have a job interview tomorrow.” I slid down off of the high barstool. He stood up next to me and downed the last of his beer.
“Let me walk you home,” he said, pulling on his jacket. We were just walking away from the bar when I heard someone yell my name a few feet back. I turned around to see Trevor, Nick’s roommate, waving his hand in the air towards me.
“Do you know him?” Bray asked looking from Trevor to me.
“Yeah,” I said smiling back at Trevor. “Friend from college.” Friend from college, ex who I’m possibly sleeping with’s roommate, tomato, tomato. We started over to where Trevor was sitting with two other guys I didn’t recognize. He stood up and enveloped me in a big hug.
“How are you!” He asked enthusiastically. “God it’s been forever, D”.
“I know, I’m good. Trevor, this is Bray; Bray, Trevor.” I said, gesturing between them.
“Hey man,” Bray said giving him a firm handshake. Trevor then introduced us to the two other guys at the table, whose names I forgot almost instantly. Was everyone born from 1985-1990 named Mike, or is that just my imagination?
“Well we were just heading out,” I said to Trevor as I leaned in to give him a goodbye hug.
“Alright well don’t be a stranger anymore. Are you going to Haley’s thing this weekend?” he asked, referencing a mutual friend of ours from college. I remembered getting a Facebook invite for something at Libation this Friday.
“I actually hadn’t decided yet,” I said, making a mental note to stalk the Facebook guest list when I got home.
“Well I think we’re going,” he said, as I silently decoded “we” to mean him and Nick. “So you should definitely stop by.” He looked over at Bray, then back at me. The last thing I was planning to do was subject Bray to an awkward encounter with Nick, although it would be kind of fun to arrive on Bray’s arm in front of him.
“I’ll think about it,” I said giving Trevor a kiss on the cheek.
Bray and I got back into the elevator and took it down towards the creepy hallway. “He seems nice,” Bray said.
“Yeah, we were really close in college. I never see him much anymore though,” I replied, hoping he wouldn’t ask why.
He grabbed my hand as we walked out onto the street and pulled me closer to him. We spent most of the walk in silence until we reached my building.
“Well thanks for a really fun night,” I said, my breath visible in the chilly night air.
He responded by pulling me into him and giving me a long, hard kiss. When he pulled away, I stood on my tiptoes and reached for his neck, pulling him back into me. His arm slipped down and under my jacket, circling my waist. The facial hair that had grown in from his morning shave was scratching lightly on my face and I moved my hand up into his long hair. He lifted me slightly and pressed me against the door to my building. I pushed myself closer to him, closing any space that was left. I could feel how firm his whole body was and wanted to run my hands up his chest, wishing desperately we were in my bed, or his bed.. or any bed for that matter.
A few moments later, I realized we were basically humping each other on my doorstep. I pulled away, out of breath. He laughed. “I don’t suppose asking me up would help with your beauty rest for tomorrow, would it?”
“Hmmm..” I pretended to think. “I doubt it.”
“Well goodluck on the interview,” he said giving me one last, much more public-appropriate kiss. “You’ll kill it.” He stepped away and started towards his place uptown.
By the time I had showered, laid out my interview outfit and chugged two glasses of water to ensure I’d wake up hangover-free, it was almost one o’clock. I wistfully set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. hoping to get in a little interview prep before having to leave. The interview was all the way downtown at 8.
I was just about to call it a night before I remembered Haley’s party Friday. I pulled up Facebook on my phone and searched for the forgotten invite. I scanned the attending list and saw Nick’s name towards the top.
There’s this party for a college friend on Friday, want to come with me and be my support system?
I texted to Ashley hoping she was still awake.
By support system, I assume you mean Nick will be there and you need me to tell you how hot you look and make sure you don’t go home with him?
Maybe.. I replied
Steve is going to his parent’s this weekend, so count me in
You’re the best :) Come over around 8
I hit “attending” on the Facebook invite and pulled my comforter up to my ears.
Ed note: I have a feeling that a bonus post will be appearing this weekend, so keep checking back :)
Yay!! I liked your date with Bray!! Yum!! He sounds dreamy!!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for a bonus post!!
I am wondering how you will have the will power to avoid not going somewhere w Nick...hehe. You are placing yourself in a tough position! Will the girlfriend be able to really help?? I realize you can't stop socializing because Nick will be there but if it/he still bothers you this much wouldn't it be better to just not go? I have not known many who can handle a platonic relationship w an ex unless it has been a While(a year or so) since you parted ways.
Good luck on interview!!
Keep up the great work!! So enjoying the storyline!
Amy
Liked this post can't wait to see what happens!!
ReplyDeleteJust found you blog and caught up. Really enjoying the story line, can't wait for the bonus post.
ReplyDeleteAhh, haha, with Dani on the liquid courage, unfortunately. Totally relatable.
ReplyDelete