Something Sweet to Get You By

"Give me the phone, you guys!" Charlie pleaded through a clenched jaw as she and her two roommates rolled around the floor, six hands on the home phone as it rang. They had fought for it everytime the ringer went off after the other night, when she had told her friends about her run-in with a mister Beau Bokan.
Nikki was the first one to lose grip of the phone with one of her hands. "No! I wanna talk to Beau! What if Eric's with him and he hears my voice and falls in love with it?" she asked before placing her hand back onto the reciever.
"Nikki, are you fucking kidding me? Do you know how unlikely that is?! Give me the phone!"
"Tell Amanda to let go, then!"
Amanda glared at Nikki as she toppled over onto the mess of tangled limbs.
"Guys, it's gonna stop ringing in a few seconds! Let go!"
Nikki pushed her legs against Amanda's torso, forcing Amanda to let go of the phone. She huffed in defeat and jumped onto her best friend, making her let go of the phone as well. Charlie squealed at her victory as she ran a few feet away from her friends. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself before pressing the talk button.
"Hello?" she asked as casually as she could. Her friends had stopped fighting long enough to walk over and watch in excitement. She smiled at them harder than she ever had before, knowing that they were so jealous they were probably turning green from the inside out. Her heart sank as she recognized the voice on the other side of the line. "Oh, hi Ms. Baker. Yeah, Amanda's right here."
"Oh, come on!" Nikki exhaled, walking away from her friends.
She and Charlie made their way to the couch, plopping on it and sitting in silence, feeling the burn of yet another let down. The phone had rung countless times that week, yet, none of the incoming calls had been from the man Charlie had had the pleasure of being harrassed by.
"Maybe he lost your number," Nikki said, trying to lessen the pain of rejection that was making its way through Charlie's body.
Charlie nodded, smiling politely though she knew he had not. She wondered if he decided against calling her since she had seemed so put off by him. Fuck playing hard to get; she was never going to do it again - or at least not so hard. Everything she had learned about men had just gone to waste. Then again, she was sure that he wasn't like other men...so why had she treated him as such? She hated herself. She hated herself for --
"Charlie! Beau's on the phone!' Amanda rushed into the living room, the reciever still at her mouth.
She and Nikki jumped off of the couch and looked at each other with excitement.
"What?!"
"Yeah, I got another call while on the phone with my mom and it was him!"
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Nikki exclaimed as she began to jump up and down. "Oh my God! Wait, can he hear us?! Fuck! Was Eric in the background?!"
"No, give me a second," Charlie looked away and pressed a button before speaking again. "Yeah, Mom, Charlie just got an important phone call. Call you back later, bye."
She handed the phone to Charlie, who stared at it for awhile before pressing the call button again. She looked at her friends with wide and curious, but also slightly frightened, eyes. They urged her on.
"Uh, hello?" she asked.
Amanda and Nikki silently jumped up and down, hugging each other and squealing as quietly as possible.
"Hi, Charlie," the voice asked.
"Hi. Um, who's this?"
'Oh, this is Beau - the guy from the boba place."
"Right, right. The guy that stood in front of my car and refused to move until I agreed to a date."
He laughed. "Yeah, that guy. Listen, I know I seemed like a creep the other day, but I was wondering if you were still up for that date?"
Charlie's heart nearly stopped. She looked at the phone, afraid that it was a part of a dream that would be ending all too soon.
"Hello?"
"A date sounds fine."
"Great! Okay, how does Wednesday sound?"
"Wednesday? That's a little," Charlie searched for the right word, "far from now, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is but the thing is, my friends and I have some things to tend to but we should be done with it by Tuesday."
"Alright, then. Wednesday sounds good."
"Great, great. Should I pick you up?"
"Uh, no, that's alright. How about we meet at the Chinese place? 8-ish?"
"Yeah, that's good. Okay, well, see you then."
"Bye."

There was a lot to look forward to within the next week; Beau was sure of it. There were many things on his mind, like the upcoming tour that he and his bandmates were preparing for, the nights he and his friends were going to spend practically running the streets, and now a date with a girl he had just met.
He sat at his regular Starbucks joint, sipping on his choice of coffee, messing around on his Mac. Somewhere in the same building, Eric and Ken were making a big commotion - he could hear them laughing hysterically. Eventually, they made their way over to his table and sat down, smiling innocently.
"What's with you, bro?" Ken asked, leaning back in his seat.
"Yeah, you look...disturbed," Eric agreed, sipping on his own cup of iced coffee.
Beau looked at his friends. He bit his lip, questioning whether or not it was too early to tell them about the girl he'd be taking out in a few days. He found that letting anyone know before anything got close to official often jinxed the situation. To hell with jinxes, Beau thought, he was gonna tell his friends what he wanted when he wanted and right now, he wanted to tell them.
"It's nothing big, guys. I saw this one girl while getting boba like a day or two ago and asked her out on a date. It's on Wednesday."
"Damn, bro!"
"Was she hot?"
"Let's put it this way, dude, I forgot all about getting boba after she took off in her car,"
"Daaaaaaaamn!" Eric and Ken belted in unison. Beau nodded in agreement.
"My man! If anyone can, Beau Bo-CAN!" Eric laughed. Beau laughed again, feeling better knowing that his friends weren't questioning anything. He supposed it was the guys with the girlfriends that usually questioned new girls - in fact, their girlfriends were usually the ones asking questions, both supportive and skeptical.

When Ken was dropped off at home, Eric and Beau decided to go for a bike ride, not knowing where or when they'd stop. The ride took them to a vacant parking lot of an old and abandoned warehouse. The cement was cracked and bare, rising and falling in the places where the elements tore at them most. As they dismounted their bikes and laid back onto the ground, both men spotted a shooting star. They shouted in contentment before hushing each other so a wish could be properly made. When a few minutes had passed, they began to talk. They talked of everything that came to mind - the upcoming tour, recollected memories, plans for the week and for the rest of the month.
"I start my sophomore year on the 15th," Eric commented. Beau nodded and congratulated his friend. He was glad Eric's parents were serious about having their son finish college so that he would have something to fall back on; he wished he'd've done the same a few years ago.
"How are you gonna get all your work done while on the road?"
"My professors e-mail me all the work and lessons. It usually doesn't get done 'till we get back, but it's on my mind a lot," Eric nudged his friend's side, "But enough about me. Tell me more about this chick you're gonna take out on Wednesday."
Beau explained how he had seen the girl even before he had walked into the restaurant. She had been sitting at a table next to the window, focusing on her phone. He explained how she looked like she wasn't from around there and how that had made him unsure of how to approach her. Both friends laughed as Beau retold his comment about the straw and her lips. How stupid, they said. No wonder she wanted to get away from your creep self. I'd run away too.
Beau told Eric about how the girl seemed confused for a second, like she'd known him for ages but couldn't remember where, and how her face suddenly lost all expression before she agreed to go on the date. He admitted that it had made him curious, but he knew it meant nothing. He did not know why he had to pursue her so madly but he knew that he did. Eric laughed softly, knowing that Beau felt this way about girls often, but not always. He didn't know if this girl was any different, but he would have to wait to find out.