Ghosts of Boyfriends Past

"I have no clothes!" Ash whined, sitting on the floor next to my bed with various skirts, crop tops and bathing suits in a heap around her.

I rolled my eyes at the familiar complaint, "You have a thousand clothes. You also have the option of all of my clothes." She looked at me, clearly frustrated with my unhelpfulness. 

It was Thursday night and we were attempting to pack for the weekend in Sea Isle. Well, she was attempting to pack. My weekend bag was zipped up and waiting by the front door, and I was enjoying leftover chinese while watching Ashley.

"How about this?" she asked, holding up a black crop top.

"That's great!" I said, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. We had been at this for over an hour and I was exhausted. Just then, my phone vibrated from where it was balanced on my knee. Looking down my stomach did a little flip at Keith's name.

Hey you, got any weekend plans? My buddies are having a rooftop party tomorrow night.

"Ugh," I said out loud. "Keith just invited me to a party tomorrow night."

"Wait do you really like him? You barely even mentioned your date," Ashley replied.

"I think I do, I'm not sure yet," I answered while typing a reply.

Damn, I'm heading to the shore this weekend. Rain check? 

I took another bite of the cold lo mein, watching the three dots as Keith typed his response. 

Sounds good.. are you free Tuesday?

I smiled at his response, which prompted Ashley to ask what he had said. I showed her the short exchange. 

"He doesn't play any games does he?" she said while considering a striped blue and white skirt.

"Nope, and it is very refreshing. Especially after Nick and Bray." 

"Speaking of Nick..." Ash said, discarding the skirt. "Do you think he'll be down this weekend?"

"Doubtful, we've been talking off and on and he didn't mention anything. He usually sticks with North Jersey beach towns." I shrugged. Nick and I had texted a few times since our dinner but he had made no mention of his weekend plans. 

"Okay, I think I'm done!" Ash declared, standing up.

I stifled a laugh at the bag which was bulging with clothing. "We're going to be gone for like, 36 hours. You packed for a ten day safari."

"Hey. You'll thank me when you need options," she remarked, bending down to try and zip the bag. 

I can make myself available. What did you have in mind?

I typed back to Keith before starting to get ready for bed. As I walked past Ash into the bathroom, I could overhear her mumbling curse words at the stuck zipper. I ducked into the bathroom before she could recruit me to help. 

"Your lover responded!" Ash yelled from outside the bathroom moments later while I was brushing my teeth. I wiped my mouth and lept out of the bathroom before she could do anything devious with my phone. Too late, I thought as I saw her standing in the kitchen, my phone in her hand.

"Give me that!" I yelped, leaping for the phone. She held it up over her head, completely out of my reach. Yet another downfall of my shortness. Finally she deposited the phone back in my hands. "That was your punishment for being a very bad helper during packing," she said before disappearing into the bathroom.

I glared at her back, but looked down to the screen. I was shocked to see Bray's name next to Keith's.

There's this great wine bar in the west village, I'll meet you there at 8? 

Keith followed up with the address and I told him I'd see him there before opening the message from Bray. We hadn't spoken in weeks and I had no clue what he was going to say. 

Hey stranger, I saw on facebook you're going to sea isle this weekend - me too. Headed down with a coworker. Would love to meet up.

"Ohmygod," I said while practically sprinting to the bathroom where I could hear Ashley brushing her teeth. I barged in and showed her the phone. As she read, her eyes widened. After spitting out the toothpaste she turned to me.

"Whaaat." 

"I know, what the hell? We haven't spoken in weeks," I said. "It didn't end badly.. but it just..ended." 

"Are you going to respond?" Ash asked.

"Well considering there are about four bars in the whole town, I'd say the odds of us running into him are pretty good. So I may as well just text him back." 

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, contemplating what to say back. I couldn't very well lie since the town was roughly the size of a square block in New York. After two more minutes of staring at my phone, I decided on a vague response.

Yeah, heading down after work tomorrow. I'm sure i'll see you around. 

I plugged my phone into its charger far, far away from my bed. I didn't want to engage in a full conversation with Bray, so I figured going to sleep was the best way to avoid that. 

This weekend was definitely going to get interesting.