Against the Odds

“So, what’s up with this guy?” Sadie asked once we had been seated at the restaurant, which was just a block down from where we worked.
“Like I said before, he won’t leave me alone and it’s not like I’ve been particularly nice to him,” I started to explain.
“When did you even meet him?” Sadie questioned.
“Last night, I was in a bad mood so I decided to go out on the beach to relax and my neighbors were throwing a beach party,” I started to explain.
“Marie?” Sadie asked interrupting.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“I don’t like her,” Sadie informed me, like I didn’t already know that.
“Yeah, me either. Anyway I was sitting on the bench not wanting to be bothered by anyone when Joe, that’s his name, comes up and starts talking to me,” I continued.
“Any particular reason he just decided to waltz up and talk to you?” she asked.
“He wanted to know why I wasn’t at the party. So then I had to explain to him Marie and I aren’t really friends, which led to me telling him I wasn’t in a good mood and wanting him to leave. He then proceeds to give me his number telling me to call him if I ever want to vent to someone. Then he shows up today at the shop,” I recounted.
“Hence your sudden need to pee,” Sadie observed.
“Exactly and how much of our conversation did you hear?” I asked.
“All of it, so I think I’m caught up now,” Sadie replied. “He seems nice though, maybe you shouldn’t be quite so rude to him,” she suggested.
“I’m not in any way interested in a relationship right now and I’m pretty sure that’s what his agenda is. I don’t want to have to deal with a guy at the moment. When you start hanging out with a guy knowing there’s a high possibility that it’s going to lead to more, or at least he wants it to, it only brings drama. I have enough drama in my life without bringing a boy into the mix,” I said. I’ve explained to my friends some of what’s been bothering me, but I’ve never told anyone the full story. I just never felt like talking about it with them.
“I guess that’s true, but I guess I never had your skill for being rude to people,” Sadie joked.
“It is a skill, but it’s one of the reasons you’re friends with me because then I can be rude to the people you don’t like for you,” I reminded her.
“This is also true. So, you’re really not going to do anything about this Joe guy?” Sadie asked bringing us back on topic.
“I don’t think so. I mean I probably will never see him again and I don’t have any real intention of calling him,” I replied.
“After last night you didn’t think you would see him again, but look how that turned out,” Sadie pointed out.
“Yet another good point, we’re having a lot of those today aren’t we? Anyway one can only hope that luck is on my side and I won’t see him, but now that he knows where I work that may be a long shot,” I said thinking out loud.
“I have a feeling today won’t be the last time you have to deal with him,” Sadie predicted.
“You may be right,” I said. The thought of dealing with Joe even more bothered me. I was not in the mood for some guy constantly trying to get me to call him and I don’t think I ever will be.
“So, I think you better figure out how you’re going to handle this,” Sadie informed me. I hate when she’s right about these things, especially when it makes me think about something I’d rather not think about.
“Are you ready to order?” our waitress asked coming over to our table. We nodded and quickly ordered our food.
“So how are things at your house?” Sadie asked once the waitress left.
“Same as always, which sucks,” I replied.
“It really does, I’m sorry,” Sadie replied.
“Yeah, having drunk parents yelling every night isn’t necessarily the funnest thing in the world,” I replied. That wasn’t even close to the whole story, but like I said before I really didn’t want to talk about everything with my friends.
“You know if my parents would let me I would let you stay at my house,” Sadie said.
“Thanks, it’ll be okay though,” I assured her just as our food arrived, which allowed a change in topic, which I was grateful for.
“Are you working tomorrow?” Sadie asked.
“No, Mondays are my day that I know I have off remember?” I reminded her.
“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Sadie said.
“Hey, will you let me know if Joe shows up tomorrow at the shop?” I asked. I wanted to know exactly how persistent he was.
“Of course, if he does he’ll probably talk to me,” Sadie predicted. We paid for our food and then headed home. I spent the rest of the night walking along the beach prolonging my return home. When I couldn’t put it off any longer I went back to my house and quickly secluded myself in my room.

It felt so nice to sleep in the next day. I got two days off of work each week, one was always Monday and the other was to be determined. I took advantage of these days off enjoying the summer, mostly with my friend Tara, who was too lazy to get a job. Well that and the fact that the few jobs she did apply to always wanted someone who would be there year round and not leave for college. Since Tara was always free all I had to do was call her up and we would go hang out, which is what exactly happened when I called her at noon.
“Can we go to the movies today?” Tara asked when I got to her house.
“Sure, why not?” I replied as I got into her car. I let Tara pick the movie because I really didn’t care what movie we saw.
As we were waiting in line I thought I saw a familiar face. I could only see the back of his head so I wasn’t positive, but I still started to freak out. Are we really at the same place at the same time so often? He turned his head and I was able to see his face and breathed a sigh of relief; it wasn’t him. It made me think, was I really that paranoid about seeing him? What did it say about me that I was thinking people were him? I didn’t want to think about him, yet I still was. Maybe when I talk to Sadie tonight she’ll tell me he never showed up, meaning he gave up and I won’t have to deal with him.
After the movie finished I headed back to my house knowing that Sadie was getting off work soon and she would be calling me. Sure enough ten minutes after I had gotten into my room my phone started ringing.
“Hey, so what happened?” I asked immediately.
“As predicted he came by,” Sadie informed me. It was the answer I had predicted, yet not the answer I was hoping for.
“Did he talk to you? What did he say? I want all the details,” I quickly asked in rapid succession.
“Calm down, if someone heard you they might actually think you liked the guy,” Sadie joked.
“Ugh, that’s so not true,” I said only semi-repulsed by the thought. You would have to be blind to think that Joe wasn’t attractive at all, but that still didn’t make me want to hang out with him.
“I know that,” Sadie laughed. “Anyway he did come talk to me, he recognized me from yesterday.”
“So what did he say to you?” I asked.
“Right, so he asked me if you were working today, but since you never told him your name it was more of ‘you know that girl I was talking to yesterday?’ He proceeded to ask me if you were working tomorrow, to which I replied that I wasn’t sure,” Sadie said.
“That’s it?” I asked.
“Well, he did try to get me to tell him your name, but I figured that was something you should do,” Sadie told me.
“You make it sound like I’m going to tell him at some point,” I said.
“I have a feeling that eventually you will, and you know that my feelings are always pretty accurate,” Sadie reminded me.
“As much as I hate to admit it at this point, you are right,” I replied. “So did he just leave after that?”
“Yeah, I think he figured that I wasn’t going to tell him anything so he gave up,” Sadie said.
“Surprising, he’s not the giving up kind,” I replied. I’m pretty sure I was right with my logic even with what little I knew about him.
“Oh, he didn’t completely give up,” Sadie continued. “He told me to tell you, if I talked to you that is, that he was going to stop in tomorrow to see if you were working.”
“Maybe I should call in sick tomorrow,” I contemplated.
“Are you really going to go that far?” Sadie asked. “Why don’t you just talk to him?”
“Don’t worry I’m not going to call in sick. As for your second question, I’m not quite sure, I guess I never really liked the vibe he was giving off,” I answered.
“You never give any guy a chance, you usually push them away before you even get a chance to get to know them, but I can tell Joe is different. He’s not put off by your rudeness towards him, if anything it’s going to make him try harder,” Sadie explained.
“You don’t even know the guy!” I exclaimed.
“Maybe not, but I know him better than you do because I actually give guys a chance when they talk to me, not push them away,” Sadie persisted.
“Like I said before I’m not interested in all the drama starting a relationship brings,” I reminded her.
“Not all relationships involve drama,” she informed me.
“There’s always drama! You can’t avoid it!” I half-yelled at her.
“I give up, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sadie said as she hung up before I could even say good-bye. If only she knew the full story.