Love That Leaps Without A Shove

two

“Yep?” I said into the handset.

“What kind of professional talks like that?”

For a moment, I froze, not knowing who it was but fuck, the voice was familiar. Too familiar for me to just ignore, like I usually did when the phone rang around here.

“Tom?” I asked hesitantly, not too sure about this all.

“Lily,” he joked, laughing on the other side.

My body immediately relaxed, I was talking to a friend. “Tom! Its been so long, like a year almost! What’s up?”

“Touring and stuff, you got the album right?” he suddenly asked.

I laughed. “Of course I did you asshole. Boston’s quiet without you… so are you here? Let’s go out for some drinks!”

“Nah, we’re in California actually. And… I called you ‘cuz Joe is getting married.”

If I hadn’t been sitting down, I would have been on the ground already. Joe getting married. Joe getting married. Oh my fucking god. Holy shit. Fuck!

“Oh…” I said with a trembling voice, coughing hard in order to fix it, “that’s wonderful.”

“Yeah, anyway, he’s gonna call you, you know Joe, he can’t not tell you, you’re his best friend.”

I looked out of the window, how high could it be up here? If I fell, would I be able to die without feeling a thing? I hope so because I was weighing my options.

“Lily?”

“Uh yeah. I’ll be waiting for his call. See ya Tom.”

“Bye Lily!”

I slammed the phone down, making the two people slightly jump of their seats and give me a well-deserved glare. Fucking assholes.
I got up, tidied my clothes and ran to the bathroom. The first stall open, I pushed the door aside and ran as fast as I could, emptying my stomach of everything I had eaten the past few hours. It was gross to vomit, I almost never threw up but I guess I couldn’t handle the news.

Uh, he was getting married…

To my great luck, my boss, Christine had just seen me throw up. Can this day get any better? I think not.

“Lily, maybe you should go rest, you seem pale.”

I nodded without a word, I fucking felt pale. Like the life had been sucked out of me maybe? Damn you Tom, you are the bearer of the worst news I could ever hear.

I hailed a cab, a smelly old cab and gave the directions to my apartment on Beacon street. I was glad I had a place of my own literally in the center of the city. My whole life spun around the center, the noise, the sea of people walking around and how they all interacted.
I found it fascinating but then again, I was a freak.

The cab let me off at the corner, I paid the driver and unlocked the entrance to the old building. There was no elevator but that was the magic of it.
I climbed up the four flights of stairs, after two years that I’d been living in here, my legs became immune to this small hike upwards.

I played with my keys, unlocking the door and giving it a little push, since it got stuck most of the times.
The place was quiet, my sanctuary. I had lighted a cigarette as soon as I stepped inside. It wasn’t clean but it wasn’t messy either in here. There was a big room, where I even had my bed. I found it alternative and quirky to have my bed in the same space as the living room, so that’s how I modeled it.

There were some simple white curtains on the big window behind the couch. From there, I could look down at the street and have a great view. But then again, I was afraid of heights so I rarely went over there.
The couch was green but a nice green that was soothing to the eyes. And old tv was there as well but I preferred reading the newspaper, since uh, duh, I worked there and had a free subscription.

There was the kitchen, a place I didn’t really use that much but still nice, the bathroom, which was the most luxurious place in the house and my office, my favorite room of all.

It was where I sat for hours and hours, typing away on my typewriter. I would write about anything that popped into my head really and that was what I loved about it, that I could write anything I wanted in my house and nobody would judge me because if they did, I would hurt them and trust me, they wouldn’t want that…

I crashed on the couch, for a second forgetting why I had come home so early. Then I remembered. Joe.

Joe and I had been friends since… how long was it, nine years? Yeah, it was about that time, nine years ago when we met and we became really good friends. I knew Tom longer but Joe and I really hit it off.
He wasn’t much of a talker and he would usually sit in corners and seem to sulk, so one day, I had enough of Tom’s antisocial friend and decided to confront the issue. It turned out that Joe wasn’t antisocial, he just didn’t have much to say.

And we became best friends. I would talk and he would listen most of the times. There were some occasions where he would say something funny and everybody would burst out laughing but you could count those times on one hand.
He had the ability to just smile when something hilarious happened, like maybe when Joey and Tom said something very funny. I would usually cry from laughter and Joe would just smile. Weird…

It was around the time that Aerosmith had just started, in 1971, when Joe and I had started dating. It wasn’t a long-lived relationship, we both agreed that we were better off friends and it was true, we were.
And that was when we had made that stupid little deal, that if either of us wasn't married by the age of 27, then we’ll have to marry each other. I had always thought of that as a joke and I never took it seriously, I never even thought about it.

Until now.

Now Joe was getting married for fuck’s sake. What would I do? Did I still care for him? Did I want to relive what it was like when we were together? Hell yeah. He was hands-down the most gorgeous man I had ever met.
Okay, he was a bit skinny looking but that could change. But he was tropical-looking and dark and mysterious, with wonderful hair and that odd-shaped mouth of his. I loved his mouth. And his eyes were great too.
Dark eyes. People said he had a strange nose. But it fit his other featured perfectly, making him extremely beautiful. Or at least that’s how I thought. And his soon-to-be wife of course, let’s not forget about her.

The phone started ringing. Fuck phones today. I knew this was Joe, I could tell by the way it rang. I let it ring a bit longer, maybe he would give up.

Eventually I picked it up.

“Hello?”

“What took you so long? I’ve been hearing that beep noise in my ear for three minutes now!”

“Sorry, I was… cleaning.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, sure. So I take it you know the great news?”

Great news? Nope. Horrible news, yes. “Aha, I heard, congratulations.”

“Don’t sound so excited.”

“Its not me getting married, its you Joe. I’m just saying good for you!” What a little bitch.

“She’s wonderful, her name’s Elyssa and she’s amazing. She’s gonna quit college an-”

“Quit college? How old is this girl?” I asked, suddenly taken aback.

“19... But that doesn’t matter, I love her and she loves me so its all good. So back to our point, are you coming?”

“Coming where?”

He sighed. “California. Please come. I need you here, I can’t have this wedding without you!”

“Wedding? Wait, you’re actually getting married soon?” I shouted.

“This Sunday…”

I sat down on the couch. I felt my blood pulsate in my neck. “Its Tuesday today,” I whispered.

“I know. Please be here! Leave tomorrow! I’ll pay for it, I don’t care, she means a lot to me and I want her to meet you. Lily please come!”

I had never heard him beg and talk so much ever. He sounded desperate but was I willing to watch him get married? Not really.
He didn’t hear me say anything, he could tell I didn’t want to come.

“Come on, Steven’s best man, you don’t wanna miss that for the world!”

“True but… I have my job, I can’t leave.”

“I’ll call them then,” he persisted. “They must know who we are!”

“Oh okay, fuck Joe, I’m gonna come…” I sighed. I was defeated. He had won.

“Tomorrow. I’ll be at the airport.”

He hung up without another word. I threw the phone away from me. It crashed somewhere on the floor; I hoped it was broken beyond repair, after this, I never wanted to see a phone again.

I couldn’t believe it. He was marrying some 19 year-old chick. What could she have that he wanted? I knew she was probably after his money… I could just picture her, some bitch. What was I going to do?

I could make him fall in love with me.

I laughed.

Could I? Could I make him choose between this Elyssa chick and me? Now that would really test our friendship.
What if I tried to win him over? Would he mind? I don’t know…

I jumped off the couch. I had bags to pack and a wedding to ruin.
♠ ♠ ♠
Any good? Should I keep this up?

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