She Had Me At Bonjour

Alex. Fucking Alex. He HAD to call right then. I looked at Krysha and sighed.

“I’m sorry. Hold on one sec.” I pulled out my phone and hit the green button, holding the receiver into my ear. I grumbled out a hello as Alex screamed in my ear.

“WHERE ARE YOU? WE’RE OUTSIDE IHOP. GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE. BYE MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRR!” The line went dead and I put my phone back in my pocket. That kid’s gonna be the death of me. Krysha snorted and laughed.

“Could he get any more obnoxious? What’s with the ringtone by the way?”

“Uhm, yeah, Jack changed my ringtone for Alex to that. Alex changed my ringtone for Jack to be ‘I’m So Pretty’. I don’t know where these guys get their ideas.” I chuckled, looking Krysha in the eyes. “I have to go. But I, uhm, I want to keep in touch?”

“I-is that a-a question?” She’s stuttering again. Why is she so nervous around me? What am I saying, I’m completely nervous around her. I’m just lucky she doesn’t notice.

“You’re stuttering again. But do you think I could maybe, get your n-number?” Did I just stutter too?!

She giggled and took a pen out from her pocket. Her hand was extended and I put mine palm up in hers. She uncapped the pen and wrote her number on my hand in clean writing, signing her name underneath. When she finished, I looked at her and smiled, helping her up off the bench.

“It was nice to see you again. I’ll call you, okay?” She nodded and blushed, the both of us walking off in different directions.

_ _ _

I walked up to the IHOP entrance to see Jack doing some sort of potty dance, Rian speed texting, and Alex pacing around, his left hand rubbing his stomach.

“FINALLY YOU’RE HERE. LET’S EAT, I’M HUNGRIER THEN A HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPO.”

“Alex, we’re all right here. Shut up.” Rian put his phone in his pocket and turned to Jack. “You could’ve gone in and peed at any time. Go now.” Jack’s eyes widened as he ran into the IHOP bathroom.

The server bat her eyelashes at Alex when we walked inside. “Table for 4.” He winked at her and she giggled, leading us to our table.

“She’s hot.”

“You probably don’t even know her name, asshat. She has a nametag in the general direction you stare.”

I smiled and scoot over in the booth for Jack to sit back down. He looked at me with a confused face and pointed to a bickering Alex and Rian before speaking. “What are they arguing about?”

“The waitress.”

He smiled and pulled out a piece of paper. “You mean the waitress whose number I just scored?”

_ _ _

323-668-2248. 323-668-2248. 323-668-2248.

Why did my phone have to die now?

I looked at my phone, still charging on my desk. The bars kept going to full charge and back down to no charge. Charge faster damnit!

“Zack”

323-668-2248. 323-668-2248. 323-668-2248.

Please hurry up and charge.

“Zack.”

323-668-2248. 323-668-2248. 323-668-2248.

“ZACK.” I turned around in my chair to see Alex standing in my doorway with a confused expression.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for a while now. What’s up with you? You’re just sitting there staring at your hand, then to your phone, and back to your hand.”

“Uhm, nothing. I’m just waiting for uh, my phone to charge. What’s up?”

“Well, Kara is coming over so we’re gonna go swim. You coming?”

“I won’t swim, but I’ll come out there with you guys.” I got up from my chair at walked out the door, but not before glancing back at my phone and back at my hand.

323-668-2248.

_ _ _

“ZAAAAACK WHY AREN’T YOU COMING IN THE POOL?! THE WATER’S NICE, BRO!” Jack screamed at me from across the yard. Everyone was in the pool except Kara and I, we were lounging on chairs next to the pool. Surprisingly, I hadn’t looked at her number the whole time I was out here.

323-664-2278? No, that’s not it. 323-668-2248! Right. That’s it.

“C’mon, Zacky, you’re acting like a girl. Lounging on a chair with Kara, sipping fruity drinks. Well, she has a fruity drink, but still. Just get in the pool.” Alex pouted his lip and had a lost puppy look in his eyes. Right, like I could possibly fall for his boyish charm.

I just laughed and got up, my phone should be charged by now so I could save Krysha’s number.

“You’re going inside?” Jack shouted from the pool.

“Yeah.”

“YES. YOU GUYS HE’S GOING INSIDE TO CHANGE AND GET IN THE POOL.”

“No, Jack I’m going inside to get my phone.”

Silence.

“Are you serious man?”

“Yeah. Did I seem like I wasn’t?”

He mumbled a no and I turned to go inside. I opened the door and stepped one foot inside before a pair of wet arms grabbed me and threw me in the pool.

Underwater, I flailed around, taking my shirt off and swimming back to the surface.

“What the fuck you guys?! Who did that?”

Rian swam over to his corner next to Kara and turned around and Alex went underwater mumbling something. Jack looked away and whistled.

“Nevermind. I’m going inside.” I stepped out of the pool and grabbed a towel, rubbing myself dry. Jack mumbled “party pooper” and I stepped inside, thankful for the air conditioner being on full blast and drying me off. I walked into my room picked up my phone, disconnecting it from the charger and turning it on. I looked at my hand and my eyes widened. Her number. What happened? It probably washed off in the pool. Fucking douchebags! I groaned in frustration, racking my brain for her number.

“I can’t… I can’t remember. Fuck, I can’t remember!” I slammed my fist on my desk and looked out my door to across the hall. The exercise room. I needed to blow off some major steam. I stomped into the room and slammed the door, grabbing the first set of weights I could find.