I was eating on chicken fingers and fries, sucking down a beer and watching ESPN on one of the thirty or so TVs when I saw my phone light up and dance around the table. I picked up the phone and shouted as I pushed my chair out and made my way outside followed closely by Carl. The entire time I kept telling him to hold on as I tried to quickly find a little peace and quiet.
�Ok, yeah? Hello?� Caller ID, its Jake. One of my close friends. One of my newer friends. We met through Joe, the bastard who actually thinks I hit on his girlfriend, and I hadn�t heard from his since Joe and I fell out. I figured he felt trapped between an older friend and a new friend and he went with his older friend. I can understand that and I wouldn�t want to make him choose anyway. It�s hard when you�re in between two opposing forces and they both expect of you.
�Hi man, its Jake.� He moved from Tampa to Jacksonville. I don�t know why anyone would want to do such a thing but that�s ok. I don�t just say that because I love Tampa. To be honest, I don�t spend much time there anymore but I wouldn�t move to Jacksonville. �I haven�t talked to you in a while. What�s up?�
�Nothing much man. Just touring.� I�m waiting. I know this isn�t just a hello call or I would have had one of those a long time ago.
�I moved to Jacksonville. Got a job with a small up and coming company designing video games. I�m not doing it yet but in a couple of years I think I will. Its entry level but it�s a start.� I always know everything. If it has anything to do with me and any of my friends it always comes back to me. I always have an ear to the ground.
�You said once you finished the summer semester you were out of there.� I�m glad he got something going for himself in that field. He wasn�t happy going to community college and working in some graphics studio. If I�m not mistaken that was his second year at Hillsborough Community College.
�Yep, I�m in school up here, at night.� I paced back and forth in the parking lot as I waited for him to tell me what was really going on.
�I�m going to have to stop up there and hang out with you for a couple of days.� Maybe there were some cute local college girls. They were always willing and usually a lot of fun.
�That�s a good idea. It�s a nice city.� I knew this wasn�t what he wanted to talk about. I�m waiting and so are my chicken fingers.
�Joe misses you man. He won�t come out and say it but he does.� I knew it had something to do with him.
�Until he apologizes I have nothing to say to him. He actually thinks I tried to hit on Denise.� When I say it out loud its even more ridiculous.
�He knows it�s not true. He found out Denise was cheating on him and when he confronted her she said it was because he was ignoring her. She made him feel so bad he was asking her for another chance.� Pretty pathetic but I�ve been pathetic over more than one girl in my life so I can�t be too critical. �She was at it less than two weeks later and instead of fighting it she just moved out and moved in with the guy.�
Unbelievable.
I have a hard time feeling bad for women. They hurt us just as much as we hurt them. They probably do it more but our ego won�t let us cry over ice cream with a buddy while we watch Sleepless in Seattle.
I�m not ready though. As bad as I feel for him I�m not ready to sweep his words under the rug and act as if it didn�t happen.
�What does all that have to do with me?� I waved to then turned my back on a group of girls who smiled and waved at me. They looked as if they were coming over but once I didn�t show interest Carl stepped in between them and me and I could hear him saying something about an important phone call. If there was a cute one things would have been different but I just had sex with Sarah and India. What would I look like having sex with any of them. They were all a little overweight except one and her face wasn�t attractive at all. She couldn�t even hide it with great hair because hers was dyed and fried.
�Come on man, don�t be cold.� Cold? Maybe. Necessary? Definitely. I can�t just let it go and say all is forgiven after he accused me of more than just coming on to his girlfriend.
�I�m not being cold. Now he knows his girl is a whore but that doesn�t mean he knows I wouldn�t screw him over and sleep with her.� She was trash from the get go. She used my sister BJ to get into our circle. He should have known better than to get with this girl. No girl becomes friends with one of my sisters so she can get involved with one of my friends.
She was in Lakeland the day of my brother�s concert, one that everyone knew I was going to be at, and happened to be there visiting a friend but not going to the concert. She just happened to meet my sisters at the mall and just happened to sit near them in the food court and start a conversation with them.
�He knows she�s a liar. He knows man, it�s hard for him to say it but he�s sorry. Its hard to admit your girl is no good.� Well he�s got to say it.
�I�m not trying to be an asshole man but he�s got to make the first move.�
He told me he was going to talk to Joe and I simply said I would try to see him soon in Jacksonville.
When I returned I had to wait about a minute for my food to return. They actually took it to the kitchen to keep it warm for me. Considering my chicken fingers were seven bucks I�m thinking it�s because of who we are. Works for me. I was a little surprised Kevin was eating pizza but this wasn�t one of those places where he got to show off his daring food choices. Later I would find out it had lamb, grilled eggplant and goat cheese. Even in a pub Kevin would find a way to be a little bit different.
The waitress came back and offered dessert. We all ordered their �famous� double-chocolate-fudge suicide brownie. I shouldn�t be eating this but I couldn�t help it, this was Las Vegas all bets were off including your diet. After we leave, I�ll go back on a strict two week diet to lose about seven pounds. I�ve been pretty good about my diet, I haven�t denied myself anything I just don�t eat as much. My waist hasn�t been a thirty four in years and I love the way I look. No more fat jokes and comments about my weight. I�m going to make sure it stays that way.
We were all sitting around like true men, patting our stomachs, not wanting to move. Maybe it wasn�t a good idea for us to eat so much. We have the pre-party to attend and all I want to do is take a nap. I might be able to do that if we get back to the hotel fast enough.
�What time is the party?� Its not like we�re going to even attempt to get there on time so whatever he says we�ll probably get there an hour or two late anyway. Hopefully.
�Red carpet is from eight to nine. We�ll leave the hotel around eight thirty.� I could sleep for about an hour and a half if I�m lucky.
Back at the hotel, we got off on our floor and ran into Natalie, my favorite PR person of all time,
�Nat, what�s up?� She smiled and I was scared. Anytime she got that smile it was because something was out in the public relations world that wasn�t very harmful but kind of embarrassing.
�Someone is linked to a hot blonde supermodel.� she sang out. It wasn�t enough that I had to convince the guys now I need to convince the world I wasn�t dating Brehan.
�I am not dating her!� She frowned at me and laughed,
�No one thinks that. She�s dating AJ.�
Chapter 113
Stranger Than Fiction
Stories
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