Page 44 of All That We Never Were

Axel

“Another round? my treat.”

Oliver clicked his tongue. “I shouldn’t drink more.”

“I shouldn’t, it’s not right, I chipped a nail, what the fuck happened to my best friend? Come on, enjoy the night.”

“I should call and make sure she’s got keys.”

“Cool, do that and get it over with for once.”

My friend got up from the red wood table where we’d just had dinner. He walked off a bit to talk to Leah, who luckily, since she was friends with Blair again, usually had her phone on her. Not like me, it was as if my subconscious refused to give in to that device that forced me to be available twenty-four hours a day. That night, Leah had agreed to go with my parents, Justin, Emily, and the twins to a flea market outside the city, so I hoped Oliver would relax a little bit.

“Okay, everything’s cool; she’ll go home on her own.”

“See? It wasn’t so complicated.”

“Order me something strong.” Oliver smiled.

Like the good friend I took myself to be, I walked over to the bar. The dinner service was over and there was a musical atmosphere in the place full of colorful chairs and weird prints. I greeted one of the bartenders, an old friend from school, and ordered two drinks.

“Bring me up to date before I’m hammered,” Oliver said, licking his lips after taking a long sip. “How are things with Leah? Everything normal?”

She got naked, she kissed me, I remembered, but I ignored that fleeting thought and tried to make the image of her body fade into the background. But I couldn’t. She was a fucking demon. I would go to hell for being unable to forget a single curve, a single fucking inch of her body.

“Yeah, everything’s great, you know, routine.”

“She’s better though. She’s different.”

“Sometimes a change of scene is good for a person.”

“Maybe. True. And how are you?”

“Nothing new. Lots of work.”

“At least your job is bearable. I swear to you, one day I’m gonna get up, go to the office, and try and kill myself with the stapler. How can anyone keep from losing their mind in one of those cubicles? They’re like little jails.”

I laughed.

“I’m serious, you wouldn’t last two days in there with all those rules and all the jerk-offs there…”

“Let me remind you I was an intern in an office.”

“Yeah, maybe you forgot that you set off a fire extinguisher and sprayed the boss’s office before taking off laughing like a fucking madman.”

“Guilty as charged. But he was an idiot; he deserved it. It was a kind of poetic justice on behalf of my colleagues and all the future interns who were going to pass through there. They should have started a fan club for me or something.”

“Yeah, just what you needed. Order another.” He raised his empty glass.

“What am I, your fucking slave? I invite you to dinner, I babysit for you for free, I put up with your whining…”

The waiter passed by our table and Oliver ordered another round, giggling.

“You know what? Really the job’s not so bad. I mean, it’s shit, it’s not my thing, but you get used to it, and actually my coworkers are nice. We go out for a drink on Fridays when we’re done.”

“Are you trying to replace me?”

“Have another friend like you? Not if they paid me.”

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