Hemmy kept up 50% of his bargain, and overtly said a happy "Hello!" to me when I walked into the diner yesterday at approximately 3pm. A couple of ciggies with Kristin and Carie. Kristin ventures, "So, I heard you were hanging out with Hemmy at 212 the other day." She gives a quick glance at Carie.
"Yeah, it was pretty cool. I asked him about that phone call, he said 'I just thought it'd be funny.' Whatever. Oh, and we played pool. He's a really good shot, you know that?" I can't be sure if she's satisfied with my answer; she looks like she wanted the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So I was off to the gym for a grueling 65 minutes of cardio + 30 hanging leg lifts (for lower abs).
But not before Anthony and I talked.
It was so surreal... I was in the large aerobics classroom. It has mirrors for walls and a corner where giant plastic swiss balls are stacked in plastic pipe shelves. I saw him as soon as he came in, and thought he was going for the abandoned jump rope next to me, but he sat down and started talking about the acquisition.
"I don't have anything lined up... it makes me think I shoulda interviewed with PFE."
"Hey, don't feel bad. I was talking to the Boss today, and his opinion is that PFE just went thru the motions of pretending to be interested in any of us PHA folk. I interviewed for a position with their consumer healthcare division and haven't heard shit."
We chatted for a little longer, my Ihateyousomuch resolve getting melted away each time he looked at me. Laughing. Smiling in that way he does. It's actually easier for me when we ignore each other; I feel stronger, less vulnerable, less worried about being inclined to do something stupid (like text msg him after my workout with "It was nice talking to you" to reopen floodgates).
And he textmsgd me back with something somewhat unintelligible, because Anthony is no Shakespeare (or even Dr. Seuss) when it comes to writing.
And then he called me to clarify his mangled message, and I ended the conversation with, "Well, I'm on my way into the shower, so I'll call you later."
"I understand, you got your own thing going on."
"Or you can call me."
"I just did call you."
"Well then I guess I'll call YOU!"
And I was in the shower, getting ready, and then off to Hank's. I'd contacted Hank earlier in the day, because contacting Hank to hang out is something I almost always do when Ritchie and I have parted our ways. It has nothing to do with us parting ways, it just happens. Maybe it's because Ritchie always professed to dislike Hank for being so "corporate" (never mind that I've been wearing suits for about 6 years now). Or maybe it's because I so wanted to drink in Morristown, even though my only companion would be a dude; hanging out with 1 guy at a bar really cuts down on my visible availability factor, you know? But I gotta say I like hanging out with Hank. He smiles and laughs so infrequently that it's almost terrifying when he does it. In fact, he didn't really start cracking up until he revealed his red right work hand.
"Man, NOBODY fucks with me at work! I just got done firing 5 people. Because they were incompetent!" Laugh laugh drink!
"YOU are a scary, corporate emo-loving motherfucker!"
"I know!"
Now, I think it would be cool to drink with Boof, so I textmsg him with "Come to Famished Frog"--and he never shows up. But I'm on my way back to Hackettspatch, sans Hank because he totally pussied out ["I have work tomorrow" - "So do I? What's your point?"] when who calls me to see where I'm at but Boof--and I cruise control it to Charlie Brown's. It sort of sucks there, even though Rothenbeck, Shan, Carducci and Creepy James are there, but Boof and I ... chat. Today, I feel pretty guilty about the topic we chatted about, because it was too flirtatious for my own good. It was pretty uncool, now that I think about it. But during the entire night, I just wanted someone / something / anything to keep me from thinking about Anthony. The topic = why Boof and I don't hook up. I cannot tell him the real reason why; I instead tell him that if he ever wanted to do this, we'd have to wait a couple of years. This ensued with him guessing why I was holding back.
"It's because I'm ugly."
"Oh, please, let's be real, now."
"Um, the age thing?"
"Nope."
"Because of a mutual guy we both know?"
"No, let's drop it."
"Because of Hemmy?"
"No. And by the way, your pinkie swear doesn't mean shit."
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't tell me about what he said." I actually don't know if Hemmy said ANYthing about ... anything... but I figure this angle is a nice test to see if Boof will slip up and let something loose.
"The only thing he said about you was that he wasn't going to have sex."
Hm, perhaps Hemmy kept up 100% of his bargain, I can't tell.
"Allllright."
"It's because I crashed my car that you won't hook up with me."
"NO, cut it out!"
As much as I enjoy his attention, I don't want it to go any further than joking around because I feel like I'm betraying Carie.
Boof and I head off to QC to pick up a footlong roastbeefncheese because neither one of us have eaten since noon. We head back to 212, scarf it down, and I realize I'm still ravenous.
"Boof... I gotta bounce... I'm still starving."
I go home, I hit the tunafish salad (gone in 60 seconds), and then the Atkins pumpkin spice pancake batter to make some horrid looking but great tasting low-carb pancakes. Before I pass out, Anthony creeps into my head again. I cannot stop myself from txtmsging him with "Do you ever miss me? Like I do you?" and know that I won't get a reply any time soon, because it's 3am.
But I pop awake at 5, some annoying documentary is on TV. A bunch of "bad" kids relaying their trysts with drugs, alcohol, suicide, sex, and robbery. It's dated; most of the guys have mullets, most of the girls have hair like Bon Jovi (in the 80s). (OR, this documentary was filmed very recently in NJ. I couldn't tell.) But I see that there IS a text msg from Carie, which reads,
"Ran into Ritchie tonight and I have the 411."
I don't know if I want to know.
But this morning, I heard a voicemail message from Anthony that said, "The answer to your question, ... is Yes."