Love in the Big Apple

Silent lucidity

Julie opened the door to her apartment. Ollie was waiting to greet her.

"Hey sweet boy, how are Ya?"

She threw her purse on the table and sat down on the couch. Ollie jumped up and rubbed his head against her arm.

"Come here baby, mommy will love Ya."

She felt like crying, she was pretty sure she'd just ruined any chances of what could have been. Then she reminded herself that she was trying to be smarter with her heart, she'd wasted almost 10 years with her ex, she couldn't repeat past mistakes.

Her phone dinged, it was a text from Brian.

Brian: I'm sorry if I screwed up going to get coffee. Thank you for an amazing night."

She read the message but couldn't bring herself to respond. She was wrong for leaving the way she did. She should explain. She just couldn't bring herself to do it. She deleted his text.

Brian spent the rest of the day trying to keep busy and not stare at his phone constantly. She'd read the text, he saw that. Why was she not responding? Why did he leave to go get that damn coffee.

He text Sal, still got company?

Sal: no left a couple of hours ago, what's up.

Brian: she fucking bolted from the apartment when I went to get coffee and she won't return my text.

Sal: who knows what's up. Sorry bro.

Brian: maybe I'm horrible in bed, or maybe my dicks to small. Lol

Sal: well those are both possibilities

Brian: fuck you lol

Sal: nah I don't think your dicks big enough to satisfy me

Brian: compared to you I'm fucking King Kong

Sal: seriously man, want me to call Kelly and ask

Brian: nah I'm not sure I even want to know the reason

Sal: sorry bro

Brian: see Ya tomorrow

He decided to try to put it out of his mind and decided to do his laundry instead.

Julie spent her day running errands, doing laundry and grading papers. Kelly called her around 4.

"So you really jetted from the apartment Julie? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I don't know. I woke up and felt really comfortable in his apartment and I immediately thought, I could see myself living there and it immediately made me think of Evan and how we moved so quickly and I fell so fast and so hard and it scared the hell out of me."

"Girl I've only met Brian once and could tell he was completely different from anybody I've ever seen you with. Evan was a self serving prick. He never loved you the way you deserved. From the moment I met him, I knew he was wrong for you."

"Brian is different." "Different is good." Kelly added.

Julie started to cry. "I screwed this up so bad."

Kelly asked,"want me to talk to Sal?"

"No..... I'll figure this out."

"I'm gonna take a shower, go get a mani pedi, grab a salad for dinner and call it a night. " Julie said.

"Ok well I'm here if you need me."

"Thanks bestie. What would I do without you?" Julie asked.

"Oh you'd be a hot mess." I love Ya girl." Let's do happy hour this week!"

"You got it"

Julie finished her itinerary for the afternoon and evening. Ate her salad and decided to turn on the tv. Ollie curled up on her lap and slept. Julie flipped channels and ended up on TruTv and to her surprise, they were playing Impractical Jokers. Joe was presenting his crutch to everyone. They were in a park playing "now again". She laughed hysterically. Where did they come up with this stuff she wondered. She saw Brian on screen and her heart sank to her stomach. Why did she make such a stupid move.

She started to tear up. Ollie nuzzled her chin. He was always there for her. She laid down on the couch, grabbed the blanket laying across the backend covered up. Ollie of course came and laid right in the curve of her waist. She ended up watching the show marathon, crying and laughing and eventually fell asleep.

A few blocks away Brian woke up about 11:30pm he'd fallen asleep on the couch. Brooklyn , Benjamin and Chessie were all laying across his legs. He had to work to break free from underneath them. He stood up, rubbed his eyes and went to grab a snack from the fridge. He opened the door and the first thing he saw was the left over Thai food on the shelf. He still didn't understand what had gone so wrong. This really sucked. He grabbed all the Thai out and tossed it all in the trash. No way would he want to eat it now. He'd been looking forward to leftovers with Julie.