Tonight, Not Again

At twelve o’clock I walked into the nearest Panera Bread looking for Adrienne. She left a sticky-note on the coffee pot for me, insisting I meet her. Frankly, I was a little concerned. She’d been acting strange since she met Rob, and I wasn’t quite sure of the reason. I knew she wasn’t too keen on our relationship, but I didn’t expect her to turn hostile.

“So.” Adrienne sat across from me, completely ignoring her turkey Panini. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“With…what?” I realized she was talking about Rob, but it seemed like such an extravagance to make me come to a restaurant.
“With you and your playmate.”
“Look, I know you’re not too pleased that I’m abandoning you for Rob later tonight, but—”
“I don’t care about that.” Adrienne rolled her eyes, and picked up her Panini, only to drop back on the plate. “What are you doing?”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on, Zoey. What are you really doing with Rob?”
“Do I need to spell it out for you?” I practically hissed at her.
“How long is this going to go on?” Adrienne lamented, waving her hand through the air. “I didn’t think you were going to fucking marry the guy.”
“Adrienne…” I was too annoyed to even finish the sentence. Was it such a crime that Rob and I had been spending a lot of time together since he got back from Boston? Was it so horrible that I enjoyed being with the guy? “You know it’s not like that.”
“How long do you really expect to believe that you’re just fucking each other? You see him at least four times a week. That sounds like more than, oh what do you call it, ‘friends with special privileges’?”

I cringed. She had made an excellent point. I sounded like a girl with a boyfriend, and Rob certainly wasn’t my boyfriend.

“How are you even affected by my sex-life?” I waved my hands furiously. “I’m doing fine. I’m getting over Brett. I’m having fun.”
“Are you really over Brett?” Adrienne shook her head. “Have you really gotten over it all just like that?”
“Yeah…” I answered slowly. As far as I was concerned, I had gotten over Brett.
“I just don’t know about that guy. I thought you weren’t going to date anyone and now you’re practically joined at his hip. And he’s older than you.”
“Now what does that have to do with anything?” I sighed and picked at my tuna sandwich.

Rob was two years older than me, which wasn’t what I’d call a capital offense. I’d never seen Adrienne act like that. More and more she reminded me of my mother. At times, it was more irritating than it was endearing.

“Well, what about the fact that you’re using him? Does that not bother you—or him—at all?”
“It’s not like he isn’t doing the same thing.”

As we spoke, my cell beeped. Rob sent me a text confirming that night’s “date”. I quickly slapped the phone back on the table, only to meet Adrienne’s piercing stare.
“What about the tabloids?” Adrienne grappled with her purse for a minute, before pulling out this week’s USweekly. “What is Rob doing to keep you away from that?”
I sighed, recalling the discussion I’d had with Rob four days earlier. Even if I were to explain to Adrienne the lengths Rob had gone through to get me away from the cameras, she would still think he was out to destroy me.
“Adrienne, will you please lay off?” I asked, ignoring the magazine comment. “Rob is a great guy. He’s not doing anything wrong and you have no excuse to feel this way about him.”
Adrienne didn’t speak for several minutes. I fiddled with my thumbs, watching her bite the corner of her lip. Whenever she mulled things over, she bit her lip.
“Alright,” she sighed. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”