Chapter Fifteen
Morgan
This is the longest day ever. Typically, I enjoy Fridays, but after my date last night with Dex, I stayed up way too late with Ruby and Gia watching Veronica Mars on Netflix. Personally, this is the third time I've seen the show, but Ruby had never seen it. I was a diehard fan; I read and loved the recently published Veronica Mars books and even supported the Kickstarter that produced the big screen movie last year. With Ruby’s obsession with cult shows, I thought it warranted a TV binge session. Needless to say, I’m exhausted this morning.
Ruby crashed on our couch since we stayed up so late. She stays over a lot—once or twice a week. She lives by herself a few blocks away, and I really think she hates going home to an empty apartment. I know I would.
Ruby and I carpooled to work, and we had to make a coffee stop. The only way I was going to get through the morning was with a piping hot white peppermint mocha. Ruby calls it my Christmas drink, but I drink them year-round. It didn’t help all that much, and the morning dragged on. I even went out for lunch with a couple co-workers, but the day wouldn't end. I’m ready for the weekend, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Dex, and the fact that I get to see him tomorrow.
The next morning, Dex texted me to ask what kind of drinks we preferred. Ruby put in a request for margaritas, so we decided to take a cab to Dex's since we’d be drinking. One of us could have been the DD, but I think we all wanted to enjoy the night and not have to worry about getting home or leaving a car behind.
We live about twenty minutes from Dex. It turns out he lives pretty close to the arcade we went to the other night. I point it out to the girls as we pass it. Just seeing the neon sign makes me think of Dex. And pizza, the best pizza I've ever had.
"Are you more nervous or excited? I can't tell," asks Ruby.
"Nervous," Gia says at the same time I say, “Excited!”
I look back from the window to Gia, sitting between Ruby and me in the cab. I thought Ruby was talking to me, but I guess Gia thought the same. Whereas I sounded genuinely excited, Gia replied with more of a grunt. She has been a bit off all day.
"Whoa, ok Gia. Let's discuss," Ruby says, concerned.
"Yeah, you didn't have to come with us tonight if you were that worried about seeing Simon," I add.
With a sigh, she says, "No, I wanted to come. I want to get to know Dex, and I really do want to see Simon again, but we didn't leave on the best of terms."
"So, what happened between you two?" Ruby prompts.
"Ah, well to make a long story short, we grew up together, hung out a lot. You know, high school stuff. We may have been a little more than friends before my family moved. I haven’t seen him since."
Uh. Wow. Poor Simon. Poor Gia.
"Ouch," said Ruby.
"Yeah, Gia, this is going to be awkward, isn't it?" I asked.
"Well, it depends. Did you tell Dex that I know Simon?"
"Uh, no. It never came up. Did you want me to tell him?”
"I really don't know. What's less awkward? If he was aware that I was coming, and he had time to prepare, or him seeing me for the first time in eight years when I walk into his apartment?"
I look at her apologetically; I should have mentioned it to Dex.
This is so unlike Gia to be nervous and tense. She doesn't talk about her past...ever, so this is throwing me off a bit. When we first became friends, I had asked her about her friends back home. She literally just brushed it off by saying she missed them and told me a little about them. When I asked her about a boyfriend she may have left behind, her whole body tensed. “Yeah, I don’t really want to talk about that. It didn’t end well,” she replied. Topic dropped. Sore subject noted.
"Well, it looks like it's time to get this party started because we are here," Ruby says.
We climb out of the cab. I pay the fare and join the girls on the sidewalk. I stare up in awe of the high-rise in the West Loop that Dex calls home.
“Shit,” says Gia. “I didn’t realize this is where they lived. Please tell me they don’t live in the penthouse.”
“They must make some hella good money playing video games all day,” states Ruby.
“No, umm…” I look at my phone to confirm, “Dex lives on the seventh floor.”
“Alright girls, let’s go hang out with some gamer boys. Do you think we will play any video games?”
“God, I hope not,” says Gia. “I’m not a fan.”
I give her a look; she isn’t herself tonight. I wonder if there is more to the story she isn’t sharing.
We head through the revolving doors and are greeted to our right by a nice-sized concierge desk. To the left, is a large, modern looking set of leather chairs and a couple end tables and a massive fireplace. One of the men behind the desk smiles politely and asks my name. I tell him who I am and who we are here to see, and he checks the list in front of him. With a nod, he says we can head on up.
“Wow, this place is so fancy-schmancy, Morgan. Not where I expect them to live,” Ruby says taking in the niceness of the elevator.
“Yeah, I know. And I thought our apartment was one of the nice ones. This place makes ours look like a dump.”
“No way. This one just makes your apartment look more loved and more lived in,” says Ruby.
Minutes later we are in front of Dex’s apartment. I knock, and within seconds, Link answers the door. “Well hello, ladies. Welcome to our humble abode.” He bows dramatically and swipes his arm across his chest and into the apartment.
The inside of the apartment looks exactly like I expected a bachelor pad to look and nothing like the rest of the fancy apartment building. We walk into a short entryway to the living room. The room features an overstuffed leather couch and chair. The lighting isn’t great, but there seems to be plenty throughout the room.
On the opposite wall from the couch, there is an enormous TV and entertainment center that houses a lot of gaming stuff. There is no dining room table, but there is a large bar that faces the kitchen. It has four tall leather stools pushed up to it. That has to be where they eat, if not in front of the TV. We passed the kitchen as we walked in. It is small, but upon first sight, looks clean. I wonder which of them is the cleaner and which of them is messy.
By the time we come to a complete stop in the living room, Dex is coming out of what I guess is his room. Simon is sitting on the couch. Link asks on his way back to the kitchen, in an overly feminine voice, “I’m making margaritas! Who wants one?” Ruby and I both raise our hands.
“Hi,” Dex says as he comes over to me and leans in to kiss my cheek.
“Hi.” I try not to sound breathless, but that’s how I feel. Taking him in, he is just as handsome tonight as he was two days ago.
“Did you guys find us ok?”
“Yeah, we took a cab so… easy-peasy,” I say with a smile.
“Great.”
Gia is standing almost behind me, like she is hiding, which is so not like her. Dex notices and says, “Hi Gia, glad you guys could make it. You met Link, and that is Simon over on the couch.” Simon unfolds himself from the couch and walks over to shake Gia’s hand. It's not until she accepts his hand when he truly sees her. I can tell because of the look that crosses his face, is one of confusion mixed with recollection. Next to me, I swear I can hear her gulp.
“Hi, Simon. Been a while, yeah?” She forces a smile.
“Umm. Uh. Yeah…you could say that,” he says as he drops her hand as if it burned him.
“What? You guys know each other? How?” Dex asks with curiosity as Simon walks back to the couch.
“Link, can you grab me a beer?” Simon's tone is clipped.
Honestly, I thought he would be happier to see her. Now I know she didn’t tell us the whole story, before. After this exchange, I'm almost positive Simon is the unnamed boyfriend that she refused to talk about all those years ago.
Gia shrinks back into the group, trying to hide. Gia might seem a little stand-offish, reserved when people first meet her, but she isn't shy. She's a great person. She is the friend you want in your corner. She isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, but she knows when you need love and support and not just the cold hard truth. I really can’t see anyone not liking her. And I hate seeing her like this. Ruby passes us and hands him a beer. She then retreats to the bar stool she has claimed to watch the events unfold. I bet it’s also to keep an eye on Link, who’s making her margarita. She is usually the bartender.
Simon takes a swig of his beer and replies to Dex’s question, “Yeah. We grew up together, but Gia moved away in high school. Never saw or talked to her again. Until now.” Well. That didn’t sound bitter or anything.
Gia turns to Dex and adds, “Yeah, we had to move. Rather abruptly. I lost contact with everyone back home.”
“Ok. Well, this has gotten off to a great start. Here you go, Morgan.” Link hands me a strawberry margarita, and I see that Ruby is already drinking one. He gives Gia and Dex each a beer and retreats to the kitchen to get another beer for himself. Dex grabs my hand and pulls me to the couch, and Gia sits in the chair.
“I thought we could order some Chinese, but I didn’t know what you girls liked. The menu is up on the bar, Ruby.”
Ruby starts looking at the menu. The three of us always order the same thing, so we’ve got our ordering down to a science. Dex leans back and puts his arm round the back of the couch. There seems to be a slight awkwardness between us, which is normal in new relationships. I want to snuggle back into him and get all up in personal in his space, but this is technically only our second date. Ruby corrected me earlier that it is our third, but I’m not so sure the Visionwave party counts.
I do know that you can cut the tension with a knife. Simon looks ticked off, and Gia looks so uncomfortable. I lean over to Dex and whisper in his ear, “We’ve got to do something or this night is going to go down in history as the worst ‘friends meet the friend’s night’ ever. “He chuckles in agreement.