Best Friends for Life

Friday came around and I was really missing seeing Hunter. He’d text me the last couple of days asking if we were still on for dinner on Friday and I’d told him Richie had said yes. I tried to put a little extra effort when I got dressed for dinner. Not too flashy but just a little bit extra than jeans and a sweatshirt. Richie got home and I could tell that he wasn’t too pleased to be going out to dinner. The rest of the week hadn’t been as great for him. I could see him getting moodier and moodier as time went on.

We headed out in his car to the restaurant that Hunter had texted me to meet him at. The car ride was mostly silent but we arrived pretty quickly. When we got inside Hunter was already there waiting for us. He walked up and shook Richie’s hand. “You must be Richie. Nice to meet you I’m Hunter, Jessica’s friend from high school.”

“Yeah nice to meet you.” Richie said gruffly. I could see Richie and Hunter sizing each other up. As we all sat down me and Richie on one side and Hunter on the other side of the booth. I could feel how awkward this dinner was going to be. Who thought this would be a good idea? Why had Richie agreed to this? What was I doing sitting here at dinner with my husband and my ex who’d I recently just kissed? It was silent as we all looked at our menus. I wanted to say something to break the silence but I wasn’t sure what to say.

The waiter finally ended up coming to take our orders. “I’ll have the chicken parm, please.” Hunter ordered.

“And for the lady?” The waiter asked as he turned to me.

“I’ll have a hamburger.”

“How would you like that cooked?”

“Medium well.”

“I’ll have a steak, medium rare.” Richie said handing the waiter his menu. The waiter wrote it all down and was off to put our order in.

“So I hear you’re going to be a doctor,” Hunter asked looking at Richie.

“Yeah plan is to become a neurologist. Not that I need the money, I’m pretty much set for life.” Richie said haughtily.

“That must be nice.” Hunter took a sip of his soda.

“It is. How do you know Jessie again?” Richie asked.

Hunter’s face contorted at the nickname sending a quizzical look my way. He knew how much I hated that name. “I met Jessie,” Hunter emphasized smirking at me. “in high school. I lived next door to her.” I kicked Hunter under the table which just caused his smirk to grow.

“And you dated?” Richie asked like he couldn’t believe that I’d ever go out with a guy like Hunter.

“Briefly,” Hunter added. “Broke up when we went off to college.”

“Interesting. You don’t seem like her type.”

“Yeah? What would you say her type is?” Hunter questioned curious.

“Me obviously. Someone with a bit more ambition. I can see why she broke up with you. All that scruff and your clothes make you look like a hobo.” This was going great.

I could see Hunter holding himself back from making a comment back to Richie. Instead of saying anything he just smiled. “Yeah,” he shrugged. “What can you do? She was just too good for me. Threw my sorry ass to the curb so she could pick up guys more like you in college.” They both knew that wasn’t true. My breakup with Hunter was a mutual thing we both agreed to go our separate ways. Richie knew that I hadn’t looked to get with any guys in college and he had been my first in college.

I was beyond thankful when the food finally arrived. At least I was until Richie cut into his steak and there wasn’t any pink. I knew what was going to happen next. “Fucking sons of bitches. Don’t even know how to cook a god damn steak!”

“It looks fine. It’s not that bad.” I said trying to avoid a scene. I never understood why he wanted it so rare anyways but I’ve learned not to say anything.

“It is not fine. I asked for medium rare.” Richie waved down our waiter. “Excuse me!” The waiter came up to our table.

“Yes sir?”

“I asked for medium rare and this is definitely not medium rare! Do you see any pink there?” Richie asked holding his plate up.

“No. I’m sorry sir.” The waiter grabbed the plate. “I’ll take this back to the chef and have him make you another one.”

“Damn people making me wait for a new steak because they’re too stupid to get it right the first time.” Richie mumbled. My face was red I could tell.

Hunter was just sitting there eating his food glancing at Richie and then me. He gave me this look that I couldn’t quite figure out. Pity? Sympathy?

The waiter finally came back with the new steak which thank god was cooked right this time. “What is it that you do Hunter? You do have a job right?”

“Yes I do. I work as an IT consultant for a company in town. Pay is decent.”

“You mean you’re not a hobo?” I asked jokingly.

Hunter smiled. “No sadly I am not. I’m a full time working adult. Shocking I know.” I couldn’t help but laugh. I felt like I hadn’t laughed in ages. I could tell because Richie looked at me funny. The dinner was civil for the most part after that with the three of us busy mostly with eating. I was happy at the end of the night when we had all made it through without a major fight going down.

“Well it was nice to meet you. I see Jessica has done well for herself.” Hunter shook Richie’s hand.

“Yes glad she decided to give me a chance after going out with you.”

“Bye Hunter.” Hunter pulled me in for a quick hug. “Bye Jessica.” With that Hunter was off in his car and Richie and I headed to ours.