(Parts 1-5 can be read by scrolling down. My link button hates me, sorry)
I was glad that Jeff had forgotten his phone. He'd have to come back over to get it, which meant he would definitely show up to go to church with me the next day. I hadn't been able to talk to him much at the party. I wanted to know what was going on in his life.
I chattered incessantly as we drove north. It was a long drive and I was excited for him to meet the youth group I was leading. I loved those kids, I told him. I was glad that they let me stay with them after the youth pastor (who also happened to be my ex) left. I don't think I could have handled losing them too, I told him.
"So…I'd been thinking about you. Anthony told me that he saw you on campus and, well, he said you looked terrible. No offense. I wanted to check on you but I didn't know where you were or anything" he told me.
And then I was honest with him. I told him how bad it had been. I told him that I was going to therapy.
We spent the rest of the day together. And the day after that. And the day after that. He'd meet me after work and we'd hike the mountain and I would marvel at how easy the friendship was when I wasn't heartbroken over him.
"So, do you kind of like Thiago?" he asked me, adding another Scrabble tile to the board. I sighed. I wanted to like Thiago. "Kind of" I answered.
The next day he showed up at my house with a computer. "Your computer sucks" he told me. I protested. "You can't just go around giving people computers, Jeff" I said. "I built it a few years ago. It's not a big deal. But it's better than this computer that you have from…how old is thing anyway?" It was from 1995 actually, but that was not the point.
My dad wandered into my room after Jeff left that night. "I think he likes you" he told me. He was wrong, I informed him haughtily. We were just friends. He leveled a look at me. "That boy just brought you a computer. He likes you. Besides, I've always thought you should date Jeff." I'd known the latter. Jeff was the only guy he'd ever let drive his car. And also, he'd told me plenty of times. "I like that Jeff, he'd say, I think you'll end up with him."
I was leaving work when I saw his name flash across my cell phone screen. "That movie you want to see comes out Friday night. Let's go" he said. I eyed the phone suspiciously. "Madagascar? You'll go with me to see Madagascar?" I asked him incredulously.
I didn't think it was a date until he apologized for being late. It'd had taken him longer to get home from the golf course than he had thought. I hadn't known he was golfing that day. I asked him if he won. "I don't know, he answered, I left the guys halfway through to come pick you up."
I was quiet on the ride to the theater. He left his golf game early so that he could take me to the movies. And not just any movie. A silly kids movie that I only wanted to see because I love Ben Stiller. Maybe he thought this was a date. Should I ask him? No. We walked to the ticket window. He wouldn't let me buy my ticket. We walked through the velvet ropes at the entrance. He touched the small of my back as he guided me through the crowd.
His hand rested on the shared armrest, touching mine ever so slightly. I held my breath for most of the movie. He didn't try to hold my hand. Not a date, I decided as we headed back to my house.
