So far for my day planning I was now 0 for 2 (and for those of you who don't know sports, that's an analogy for zero out of two tries). I then called our good friend "Antoine". He said he'd want to see the movie as well, even though he's never heard of it (which I thought strange, but oh well). Oh yeah, just so you know, we were going to see "The Sixth Sense". Now I know I've already seen it, but it's a good movie and like I said before, I need to see the little things. Now I know Tina has work, so I didn't call her. And Jason? Well, we'll worry about him later.
I had lunch today. Sure, it doesn't sound too special, but I was really hungry. It was baked chicken my mom had prepared before she left to play golf (she's taking a holiday from work), and it was "finger-lickin' good" (literally. There was a lot of sticky marinade)! So what did I do with my afternoon? I used the computer for about four hours straight. I'm not proud of it. It's just the truth. At about 12:30 or so I got a call from . . . the "other guys". He called and wanted to know if I wanted to come over. I almost said yes, but remembered I had phone calls to receive. I declined sadly, and said I might come later if they call early enough. One minute after that, the shrill little Panasonic awoke again. It was Pete, regarding the earlier call. I told him my situation etc., and once again said, "
maybe I'll see you later". So there I was, playing Worms 2, quietly singing "All-Star" to myself (I named this team of worms the "Mystery Men". Ya know).
Okay, so I wasn't playing games the whole time. Just . . . most . . . of it. I once again state that I wasn't proud of this. I did a little bit of writing, in fact. I don't know, just as a hobby or something. I was writing about my summer, it's ups and downs, and so on and so on. I don't know. It'll probably end up sucking. We'll see . . . and I was talking about . . . . . oh yeah, the movie. Well, it's almost 5 o'clock. I guess "
I bettah caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall somebahdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" (Wrestling.) So, I started with Tina.
"Hello?" she asks.
"Hey," I say (ooh, another rhyme!).
"Oh hey," She repeats.
"So, about this movie . . ." Tina kicked in quickly,
"Yeah, I guess we should all meet at 22nd St. Station at about . . . 6:30?"
"Sounds good," I reply.
"Alright, well start calling around and call me back." She says.
So I began "calling around". First I called Tony, and got his machine. Now THIS message was stupid. I think it went along the lines of,
"Tony! Where are ya? Well, if you're still going to see the movie, we're meeting at 22nd St. at about 6:30, so if you're coming, be there. I'll be home 'til about 6, so if you get this message by then, uh I guess, call me . . . . . . . bye." Pathetic? Very. So whom do I have to call now? I need to call . . . . . . . . . . . . Phil! Shoot, I almost forgot about him. I also almost didn't have his number. Luckily he gave it to me somewhat oddly via ICQ. I called, and his dad picked up. Now this is definitely where he gets his sense of humour.
"Hello?" asks the man I know so well in his white fedora.
"Hi, is Phil there?" I ask.
"Yeah, he sure is," replies his dad.
"Okay.
May I speak to him?" (Note the "may I").
"I'm absolutely sure you can."
"Okay, you can't do that. I specifically said "may", not "can". You can't do that!" I exclaimed. Okay, I didn't say that word for word, but I wish I said that.
"Oh, this sounds like Ernest . . ." he says slyly. "Hold on, I'll get 'im." I finally got to talk to Phil.
Well, I found out that he was all for the plan and that he'd tell Tony about it too. Now that hit me pretty hard, because moments earlier I just left a really bad message at his place. So they were set. Now also notice that Jody or Robyn hadn't called back yet. I tried Robyn's place again, but once again to no avail (again). So now there was just one more number to call: Jody.
Hoo boy, like this wasn't tense enough. I don't know. Is she . . . avoiding me? I mean, say perhaps I DID get "weird" on her, and she just didn't want to call again, or the fact that I never see her on ICQ anymore. Is she putting herself private and with me off that list? Or maybe . . . she just didn't get the message? I pressed the first six numbers, paused to take a deep cleansing breath, and pressed the last number.
"Hello?" came a voice I guess must have been her mother. It had that mature sound in it.
"Hi, is Jody there?"
"Just a sec." There was a pause, and that wonderful voice I had not heard in SO long came alive in my mind (okay, that was sappy, was it not?).
"Hello?" says Jody.
"Hey, I didn't know you worked," I started
"Yeah, I baby-sit during the day," She returned.
"Oh," I said. "
I had no idea." (Insert Connery accent there).
"Oh! It's you, Ern! Gee, for a second I thought you might have been someone else, and I wasn't sure . . ."
"Oh, that's no good . . ." I replied. I got a little laugh out of her.
Then I remembered the point of my calling, and asked her to "tell me that you're not doing anything tonight!" When she said she wasn't doing anything, I then asked her to tell me what she was really doing (small joke there. Was a lot funnier in real life. Hmm. Maybe not). Well, by the time I finally told her about the movie, I still didn't really get a straight answer. It was all pretty nice, though. I mean, what I always loved about talking to Jody was that we could always be so open and candid to each other. What I thought was really funny was when she told me that someone in the background kept bugging her about her melodramatics. Her excuse was "I'm supposed to be expressive. I'm a Leo!" I thought that was quite funny.
Well, I found out that Meg was over at the moment (so I guess Jason was off), and Jody said "hi" to her for me. Long story short, we talked for a while until she finally said that they would both go, but if they weren't at the station by 6:30 they weren't coming. So I guess that takes care of it all. I realised I had a real long way to go, and I still hadn't eaten dinner! I quickly grabbed a can of soup from the pantry and simmered it up. Hey, the slogan is "Chunky soup: The soup that eats like a meal", so I should be okay. I called Tina back, but found out she had a driving lesson and Jason didn't want to go, so they weren't coming. Figures. I then noted I had about 45 minutes to run 22 streets, so I quickly ate my soup, bolted out the door and started running. I ran for a very long time.
We all met at the station (I lived the farthest, so naturally I got there last), and we got to the theatre. I remember most of the walking was done with Jody and Meg talking to each other, and Tony and Phil talking to each other. And I was just talking (but no one listened, of course). Then every once in a while I'd notice Tony would kinda "slide" up to Jody and initiate a conversation with the oddest topics. But ya know what? I wasn't gonna let that bother me any more (res. #2, remember?). So a lot of the time Tony would find his way next to Jody and would just . . . ya know . . . be there. In fact, when we finally sat down in the theatre, the order of us from wall to isle was Meg, Jody, Tony (doh!), myself, and Phil.
Yes, so we sat down and waited for the movie. We all talked a bit, sang the songs that were on the radio (which was bad, because I'm a tenor trying to sing alto right now), ya know, the whole 9 yards (whatever that means). Of course, no one gives me any room on the armrest (typical), and we're stuck on a side instead of the centre. And then there was that horrible flirt of a friend Tony . . . . . Aaaaaaaaanyway, the movie was great . . . again. I remember I asked Jody in a familiar tone,
"
So, what did you think?" She replied in the positive. Everyone else agreed. It was, is, and ever shall be, a good movie. And just like the last time I saw it, when we reached the station to get home, the train came right to us.
So we were once again at 22nd St. Station, and we somehow came to the conclusion of going to Jody's house (go fig.). Yeah, I must say she has a really nice house! I mean, considering I only saw about 3 different rooms it was really nice. Everything was nicely spaced out and such, and it all fit together well. So there we were, watching rap on TV (I still don't know why), eating "freezies".
Somehow we got from there to standing around in the kitchen talking while REAL music was playing in the background. So while discussing our classes again (Jody grabbed her schedule), I found out that Jody & I were going to be in the same English class (silent shout of "YES!" heard audible throughout my mind). So we talked about whatever again, drank delicious, filtered water (we actually had to refill that thing a lot), and switched from leaning on the counters to standing on the counters. Then my watch alarm went off. You see, I set it so I don't forget to call home and get my mom mad at me. So I called home, got voice-mail, and left a message.
So we kept at it, just talking about whatever, it would go silent, I'd try to say something, and then someone else would talk and no one would notice me. Actually, I noticed that Phil noticed me a lot because he saw my predicament before, and knew about it. So with all this "no one noticing me", I'd start saying peculiar things, just to see if anyone was listening. Tony would be ranting, and I'd just go, "Yeah, so I had that dream where you're at school, naked, and . . ." No one noticed. God, I swear I could've just blurted out anything right there and then. I almost wanted to say "well, no one listens to me, and I guess it doesn't really matter if I'm speaking or not, so I guess I could just say now that I have a really big crush on Jody, and . . ."
Seriously, I almost did that (first off, don't think I'm just talking. I'm starting to say something, and then someone will interrupt me).
Well, I never said that, and Tony kept on with his . . . ways. I just tried not to think about it. I mean, I KNOW Jody CAN'T be into that whole immature thing. I hope. Aaaaanyway, it was almost 11, so Meg called for a ride. Seeing as Tony and Phil were along the way, they went with her. I simply said I'd catch a bus sometime, or "
hell, I'll just walk!"
So there it was. Just me and Jody. Just Jody and me. She asked me if I wanted a glass of water, and seeing as I was the only one NOT getting a drink before, I accepted. So we talked about whatever. Ya know; local sports teams, weather . . . crickets. This was a lot simpler. Every word was heard, and every follow-up followed. I mean, here was a master of the conversation right here. There were no stoppers coming from any of us. Personally, though, I think one of the most enjoyable things about talking with her is the fact that we always have something to say that ONLY we understand, or know about, or get. Like when we speak of times from OUR math class, or how we both might share a bit of useless knowledge, how we hate that damn how about the girls GAP commercial, or the time I just blurted out,
"I have a penis," then she seconded,
"And I don't." Then I finished,
"And here are the nominees for the best male performer." (It was the MTV Movie Award thingy with Mike Myers).
So we continued our chat back to the dining room (which is basically a tabled-off area from the living room), which meant we now had chairs. We sat, with her sitting on the end of a side, and me (taking my patented "reversed chair seating") at that same end. So we would've been sitting next to each other had it been a round table, but at least this way we had our own "personal space". Actually, I think this damn personal space thing I've got so no one feels to uncomfortable is killing me a bit. Once on a bus we were on a 3-seater area, and we both took ends. Then some old guy sat between us.
So apart from the corner, we were pretty close. We just started talking again. We soon noticed that Tony had left his keys. Jody said she'd call him in the morning. I kinda laughed at this, and thought about a "Seinfeld" I once saw. What happened was George would "forget" a personal item. When the person called about it, BAM, second date. That aside, we spent a bit of time discussing Jody's new possession. She had a little address book with her name/name history in it, and was reading it a little.
I found out where the name "Jody" came from. It's a feminine form of "Joseph", meaning "god will increase". I thought that was pretty cool. We then went into discussion as to why there were so few "AB" slots for names. I mean, this was really cool! It was a discussion about nothing, yet it all connected. Albeit it was all somewhat "oddballish", but we were just simply enjoying each other's time. I swear, I was falling for her all over again.
We heard a bit of rain hitting the roof, and I realised it was almost midnight. I still said "I could run it," but Jody just looked at me funny. I figured calling home for a ride wouldn't be that bad. So I called, and through a series of "middle-manning" with directions from Jody to my mom, so she figured it out. So the night was about to end in about ten minutes.
At that moment I turned and faced Jody. I looked deeply into her eyes and saw what was in my heart for so long. I said to her,
"Jody, you know I've always cared deeply for you." She answered solemnly,
"I know." I followed up,
"So . . . you know how I feel. How abou . . . . ." I never finished that sentence. We both came together like we had both dreamed for so long. We embraced for what seemed like an eternity, knowing that all the frustrations, all the mistakes, and all the difficulties. They all meant nothing now. The world didn't matter to us. It was our lives and our lives alone. Our lips met once again, and the entire room just seemed to swirl around, with the two of us as the centre of it all. I remember how the hairs on her neck sprang up instantly as I gently caressed them. This went on until I saw the car pull into the driveway.
Okay, so that never happened. I didn't tell her how I felt, although the little TV director/writer in my head said to. It just wasn't going to happen. I just wanted to point out two things: that this is what I wish happened, and that I could write erotica if I really wanted to (but I won't). So we wrapped up our conversation, and I stepped out the door, not seeing the step. I tumbled a bit, she laughed at my expense; it was great. I turned around and she says in that
way or hers,
"Bye Ern." I complemented that, saying,
