When We Were Young

Man rules

"Did you sleep with her?"

I was at my desk staring out the window down Park Ave. The sky was a clear, the sun was blinding, and I was exhausted. I fell asleep on the couch, but only for a few hours.

"No Nate. I didn't sleep with her," I said. I was resting my ridiculously heavy head against my arm and just glanced up at Nate when he came and sat down next to me. I knew he would ask as soon as he saw me. I had work to do but couldn't concentrate. Besides the haziness of being tired, I couldn't stop thinking of Skylar and looking at my phone every few minutes to see if she had called or texted. She hadn't. I felt like a teenager again.

"Mistake. You should have fucked her," Nate laughed. "You might not hear from her ever again. And she was hot."

My first thought was to smack him for his remark but was pretty sure he could beat me in a fight.

"She said she wanted to see me again and mind yourself," I remarked, and ran my hands through my hair.

Nate just shrugged. "So it's Friday night, you coming out with us?"

"Us" meaning Nate's buddies, most from college that I had met a few times and was unimpressed with. I was supposed to have drinks with some of my friends, Jack and Michael, but had already canceled. I stared at my phone.

"Don't tell me you're thinking of calling her today?" Nate was exasperated. "It's been less than one day, man. You shouldn't even text her until next weekend."

I crookedly smiled. I didn't need to explain myself to him but he was that guy who always pushed you until you snapped and blurted out everything. "Nah, it's not that. I'm just beat. I need to study, so I should probably just head home. "

"You study too much." Nate waved his hand and started to walk away. "Tomorrow night?"

I smiled and nodded. "For sure."

The end of the day couldn't come fast enough. I stopped on the way home to pick up dinner. I wasn't very good at cooking so thankfully there were plenty of restaurants along Second and Third. Mexican seemed like a good idea, along with the beers I always had in the fridge.

I changed and tossed my clothes into the corner of my room with the rest of the week's clothes meant for the dry cleaner. I flipped on the TV, looking for a football game—not American—and found one. Not the teams I would have chosen to watch but at least it was football. I took a deep breath, tried to wake up, opened up one of my books, and started to scribble down some notes.

Hours later, I had eaten all of the tacos, drank three beers, and my mind was numb from reading LSAT study books. I leaned back on the sofa, and could feel myself fading and melting into the cushions.

Ding.

I think I had just fallen asleep so I wasn't sure if I actually heard something. I reached for the phone, seeing a new message, and was disappointed when the message was from Nate.

You should be here, man. Come out! 23rd and 2nd.

I turned the phone over in my hand a dozen times, deciding what to do. Was I waiting for Skylar to call me? Not really. I should be going out and having a good time but then again, I should be making that call to Skylar. Then again, I really was just exhausted.

I started to write back when the phone rang. Immediately I had a second wind.

"Hello," I tried to sound nonchalant but I knew my voice sounded higher than normal. I started pacing around the living room.

"Albert, it's Sky," she sounded tired but there was still a little excitement in her voice.

"Hey, how are you?" I felt out of sorts, nervous, and unsure of what to do. I just kept running my hands through my hair.

"Pretty tired," she laughed softly.

"Yeah, yeah. Me, too. It was hard to get through work," I said, my voice leveling.

"I slept until nine. I can't remember the last time I did that. Missed my spinning class," Sky said.

"I was actually going to call you," I began. I was pretty sure I was going to call her so I wasn't exactly lying.

"Ha, yeah right. I know all those stupid rules men live by. I half-expected a text this weekend. No offense," she laughed.

Men? I liked that she put me in the category of men.

"No really. I was," I said trying to lighten my voice.

"Well, no matter. I wanted to call you and tell you I had a really great time last night."

"Me, too. Really, it was brilliant talking to you and...." I was babbling. The heat in my face rose. I had no idea how Nate had such confidence when speaking to women. I felt like everything I said sounded so juvenile.

"I'm glad."

"Listen, would you be up for lunch tomorrow? Or dinner? Whatever you like, really," I blurted out, rushing my words and sounding too eager, I supposed.

"Well actually, I have tickets to a hockey game tomorrow and wanted to see if you wanted to come."

"Right, hockey. Definitely, although I don't know much at all about hockey," I admitted.

She laughed but not mockingly. "I wouldn't think so, but don't worry, I'll tell you all about it. It's a three o'clock game so how about we meet at the steakhouse downstairs from the Garden at one for lunch?"

"Sounds great. Do you want me to pick you up?"

"You're sweet but it makes no sense to come all the way downtown to get me only to go back to midtown. Thanks, though."

"No problem. Okay, then I'll see you tomorrow at one," I said. I tried to control the boyish giddiness in my voice.

"See you tomorrow."