Love is a Laserquest

“So then I had to speed to the game, and you know how rush hour traffic in downtown Philly is. Lexi, are you okay?” Eric stopped mid-story and eyed me with concern through my laptop.

“Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?” I replied keeping my tone even and feigning confusion at his question.

“I don't know. You're not really saying much except “mmhm” and “right” a lot. Kind of seems like something's bothering you.” he answered, his eyes studying my face.

I shrugged my shoulders and raised my hand dismissively. “I just have a lot on my mind with work, you know. I have a few deadlines I have to make tonight actually.” I said pretending to pick up my phone and check the time.

“Okay, I'll let you go then.” His eyes darted around like he was thinking of something else to say. “I miss you.”

“That's the best you've got?” I was instantly remorseful about my overly critical thought. At least he was trying.

“I miss you too. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Bye.” I gave him a wave before I clicked the “close” button on our Skype conversation.

I laid back and folded my hands over my eyes. Life hadn't felt right in months. Since February 15th to be exact, when I parted ways with Kris. Living in Philadelphia, knowing he was only a few miles away, became too tough for me even as I tried to maintain a blossoming new relationship with Eric. I had contemplated going back home to Canada for a brief period of time before being talked into moving to sunny Miami, Florida in early June with Sara, who had become my new roommate after the situation with Kris unfolded. She had gotten a job with the Miami Herald and I was doing frequent freelance writing for The Shuffle, a popular music blog in south Florida. Unfortunately for me, a month later Kris got traded to the Florida Panthers.

“What the hell?! It's like he knows!” I yelled when I saw the story online.

“Maybe it's a sign.” Sara had replied to which I responded with a simple glare.

So here I was, in September, right back to where I started. Knowing he was miles away, missing him, but retaining too much pride to back down and call him. Sara had pushed me to do it for some time but I wasn't going to waver. I had ignored his attempts at contact for so long that soon he stopped trying. I would feel like a fool now if I changed my mind about the situation, no matter how much I wanted to. Whether I wanted to face it or not, the truth was I had grown to miss Eric less, and Kris more.

“What's wrong with you?” Sara said as she walked into the door carrying a bag of Chinese food.

“Just what I need. Comfort food on which to gorge.”

“Nothing.”

“Don't tell me lies, King. You're not good at it.”

“You know what it is, Sara.” She raised her eyebrows at me impatiently. “I miss him.”

“Oh my god. Why don't you just call him?!” She screamed at me exasperatedly.

“It's not that simple!”

“It is. It really is. Here.” Sara walked over to the coffee table and picked up my phone.

“Sara! Don't!” I yelled reaching up to take it out of her hand. She turned away, leaving me to miss.

“Now all you have to do is press 'call'.” She said simply handing me back my phone with Kris' name in my phone book up on the screen.

“There's too much unresolved, embarrassing, and awkward stuff there.” I shook my head and shut my phone off setting it back down on the table.

“Basically you mean there's too much awkward stuff there that you don't want to acknowledge because you're shitty at talking about your feelings. Ah yes, I see. I, too, would throw away a long term friendship like the one you two shared over something as trivial as that.” I hated when her sarcasm made perfect sense.

“You know what? I'm not hungry. I'm just going to go to sleep.”

“Exactly. Take the easy way out, yet again. You can't do this forever, Lexi.”

“Watch me.”

-x-

I woke up the next morning with the tiff with Sara still fresh in my mind. I didn't have time to let it affect me though. I had back to back interviews that morning at a coffeehouse twenty minutes away. I rushed out of the house with barely enough time to do my hair.

As I was on the road driving, I decided to do my standard pre-interview calls to make sure things were still secure. I reached around in my bag looking for my phone but feeling nothing that resembled it. When I got to a red light, I picked the bag up and searched only to come up with nothing. I must have left my phone at home.

“Fantastic. Great start to my day.”

I got to the coffeehouse and started the first two of five interviews I had to conduct that day. My subjects for this interview were two jazz bands who had organized a charity fundraiser for a colleague who needed a bone marrow transplant.

Everything went off without a hitch and when they left I called Sara as I waited for my third interview to arrive.

“Hello?”

“Sara, it's me. I need you to do me a favor. Can you go home on your break, grab my phone, and bring it to me?”

“I already have it actually.”

“Why?”

“Well I confused it for mine so I took it with me and then I got to work and realized I already had mine in my bag.”

I sighed in annoyance. “Okay, well can you bring it to me, please? I'm going crazy without it.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just meet me for lunch after you get done with your interviews. 3 sound good at Cobblestone?” Sara asked referencing the bar and grill we frequented downtown.

“Sounds good.”

Three hours later I sat in a booth at Cobblestone waiting for Sara to arrive. My impatience was growing as 3:30 rolled around and I had no way of contacting her to find out her whereabouts. I was pretty sure the waiter was getting annoyed with me constantly turning him away due to my lack of being ready to order. I looked up at the TV playing ESPN and showing highlights of a baseball game when I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Uh, hey.”

I looked up and saw Versteeg awkwardly smiling down at me. I stared at him confused for a second, not knowing if my mind was creating images of what my heart wanted to see. Then all at once, everything clicked.

“That sneaky bitch. I'm going to kill her.”