2nd Intermissions

The next afternoon he called, and I was assured once again he wasn’t a guy to play stupid games.

“Hey.” Adam said on the other line.

“Hey, Adam?” I wondered.

“Yeah- its nice to here you call me Adam finally. I don’t mind Bur either- but I though Burish was kind of formal after you flicked my nipple.”

I laughed and replied, “I should just keep calling you Burish to spite you.”

“Oh that would be mean.”

“Yeah, plus it’s longer than Bur or Adam.”

“There you go. See the light.”

I smiled and said, “So what’s up?”

“Oh, nothing really- just wanted to see if you wanted to get lunch or something because I’ve got a bowling benefit with Seab and Sharpie tonight.”

I checked my hair in a mirror. “Yeah that sounds good- where are you thinking?”

“Well- I’m feeling sushi, I was hoping you’d know of a good place?”

“Actually, I do. There is this kick ass place on Clark in Andersonville that has fantastic sushi.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah.” I looked in my closet for something that was lunch-datish.

“So it’s a date?” Adam asked.

“Well I guess so. What time?”

“I was thinking I could pick you up?” A huge step in the relationship is letting them know where you live. Adam was up for it I think.

“Yeah sure. “ I gave him the address as I pulled out a sweater.

“Oh- I know where that is. I’m basically in the same neighborhood.”

“Lincoln Park?”

“Yeah- it’s really nice so I decided to get a small place there.”

“Spiffy.”

“So I’ll see you in 20?” He asked to make sure.

“Yeah- see you in 20.” I smiled and said goodbye.

Closing my phone and throwing it on the bed, I changed into a pair of dark jeans that sacrificed comfort for beauty and pulled on a nice fitting black knit turtleneck.

I pulled half my hair back and made it look nice, then quickly applied some more mascara and lip gloss before I pulled out some nice close-toed heels to wear under the jeans.

Just as I slipped my foot into the second shoe, I heard a car door close and I grabbed my wallet, keys, and my pea coat that was hanging on a hook by the door.

The bell rang and I ran down the two flights of stairs as fast as I could in the heels and slipped on my coat, stuffing the things in the pockets.

I got to the door and opened it, out of breath from hustling down the stairs.

Adam stood there, looking spiffy in a leather motorcycle type jacket with a simple Team USA shirt underneath with jeans and a baseball cap.

He also sported that black eye, which, was actually kind of yellow still.

“You clean up nice.” He said.

“I’d say the same for you if you weren’t wearing that Team USA shirt.” I laughed, messing with him. I closed the door and followed him to his truck.

I looked at his Ford 2006 F250 and laughed.

“What? Are you making fun of my truck?” He opened the passenger side door for me.

I raised my eyebrow but managed to jump in there with heels and he closed the door and came around, looking at me for an answer.

“No- its just such a guy truck.” I chuckled again.

His ipod was hooked up to his radio and when he turned his car back on, Bullet and a Target by Citizen Cope came out of the speakers.

I smiled again and he looked over at me and cocked his head in question.

“This is a really good song.” I assured him.

“Well, that’s all I listen to- good songs.” He tapped his hand on the steering wheel to the beat.

“But what you've done here

Is put yourself between a bullet and a target

And it won't be long before

You're pulling yourself away”

Came through the speakers and I bobbed my head along with the tune.

“I didn’t know you liked Citizen Cope.” Adam said, breaking the silence after the song had ended.

“Yeah, I like to much stuff to really put a list to, so not a lot of people know.” I smiled at him and the next song came on.

I instantly recognized the opening tune and said, “More than a feeling?”

He nodded and turned a corner.

“So many people have come and gone, their faces fade as the years go by—“Adam sang to me.

I laughed and beamed at him and his total cuteness. His hair flipping up around the seam of the hat and his swollen eye (which, actually, wasn’t that appalling.) and him singing to Boston.

He raised an eyebrow in question. “You’re just so cute.” I answered his unspoken question.

“Oh really?” He asked in his gruff voice, “Even with this black eye and big jaw?”

I looked him square in the aforementioned black eye and said, “Yes, even with your black eye and huge ass jaw. You’re adorable.”

“Oh- well then.” He smiled at me and the song ended, bleeding into another.

“I don’t know this one.” I admitted. “Its country though, isn’t it?”

He smiled and sang with the singer,

“Girl you've never known no one like me, up there in your high society, they might tell you I'm no good, girl they need to understand: just who I am. I may be a real bad boy- but baby I'm a real good man”

He skipped a verse and continued, going along bobbing his head and singing to me:

“I might have a reckless streak, at least a country-mile wide. If you're gonna run with me, it's gonna be a wild ride. When it comes to loving you, I've got velvet hands; I'll show you how a real bad boy can be a real good man.”

I smiled and said, “Tim McGraw?”

He laughed and replied, “Hell yeah!” The song ended as I directed him into the back lot of Tokyo Marina, but the lyrics he chose to sing to me rang in my mind.

We walked around the block to the restaurant and during the walk, I managed to fit my hand in his larger, calloused one and he looked down at me and smiled.

I figured it was the right thing to do so I didn’t move my hand until we got to the place and I needed to walk through the door.

We got a table and they dropped off the water, green tea, and miso soup as default with the menus.

I smiled and said, “The sushi here is kick ass and big rolls instead of small itty bitty rolls for three times the price.” I blew on my miso soup and took a sip, chewing on a piece of tofu I got.

The place was pretty empty, for lunch on a Monday, with only 5 people in there, including us and not the employees.

Adam blew on his tea and took a sip, drawing back when he burned his lip.

“Damn!” He whispered.

“Hey Adam?” I said.

“Yeah?” He touched his lip gingerly.

“It’s hot.” I smiled and I reached over and kissed the tender spot, leaning back and pointing to the menu.

“Check out the maki.” I couldn’t seem to not smile around him. It was getting painful, actually, but I wouldn’t complain.

He smiled back at me and picked up the menu, reading through the choices and asking me questions.

Soon enough, the waitress came back and asked for our choices.

“Three rolls of Philly maki, one roll of California maki, and two of the avocado maki. Oh- and two things of edamame.” I looked at Adam and he had nothing else to add.

The edamame came first and I taught him how to eat it.

“You gotta kind of bite with your teeth and push the beans out.” I crudely explained, trying to show him what to do with your teeth.

He seemed to get the jist of it and soon we plowed through the two orders of soybeans and just in time the sushi came and I ate a whole roll of the Philly maki all by myself because it was my favorite and personally, I don’t really like the other sushi. Shhh.

We laughed and ate our sushi until we finished and Adam let me pay half of the bill.

I climbed back in his truck and this time, the ride back to my apartment was silent from the ipod.

“So what’s this benefit for?” I wondered.

“For intercity education.” He proudly produced.

“Well that’s really spiffy.” I said.

“Yeah, and we get these really cool bowling shirts to wear when we get there. They said that they’re black with red stripes in the front and the hawk head on the breast. How cool is that?”

“Pretty damn cool actually. I’m sure you’ll look wonderful in it. You always look fantastic in Blackhawks red.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes really.” The ride was really short, unfortunately, and in no time he was walking me back to my door.

“What time do you have to be there?” I asked, messing with my keys.

He checked his watch and said, “In two hours.” He stood close to me- close enough to smell his aftershave.

“Want to come up?”

“Yeah.”