Faith the Friend

Stormy came over last night for our friend date. (Don’t worry. I didn’t sleep with him or even make out with him.). The pizza arrived about five minutes after he did. I handed him a chilled beer and told him to make himself comfortable on the couch.

“Are we really going to watch Project Runway!?” He whined.

“Yes.” I said turning the television on, “Pizza’s here. I’ll be right back.”

When I came back Stormy was grudgingly watching the end of the rerun of last week’s Project Runway episode.

“I got pepperoni and some garlic bread.” I said flipping the box open on the coffee table and handing him a plate.

We sat back and watched the opening montage for the new episode in a comfortable silence.

“Can I ask you a question?” He asked after awhile.

“Sure.”

“Are you really not getting back together with your ex?”

“Doubtful.” I said flatly.

“Huh.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. You just put a lot into that relationship. It’s hard to think it’s totally over.”

“Well it is. In fact I’ve been dating several guys since the break-up and it’s been great.”

Stormy looked like he was thinking about how to respond but then he shrugged.

“Nice.” He said nonchalantly with an approving nod.

“Now can I ask you a question?” I asked.

“Okay.”

“How is living with Rose, really? And why weren’t you honest about it yesterday at lunch?” I asked grabbing a piece of garlic bread.

“Well,” he said slowly chewing his pizza, “Steve and Suzy are pretty good friends with Rose because all three of them are huge gossips.”

“I’ve noticed” I took a sip of beer, “Although I always knew that about Suzy.”

“I didn’t want to say what it was really like because I knew it’d get back to Rose and living with her is already…tense.”

“Why?” I asked curiously.

“Because. All of my stuff is still in storage. I feel like I’m just staying there, not like I actually live there. Everything in the apartment except for my bathroom stuff and clothes are hers.”

“So you don’t feel like you have your own space?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“I thought Rose had a roommate? What happened to the room they used to live in? Couldn’t you have your own space there?”

“Well I could,” he said darkly, “But it’s like Rose forgot I was moving in and bought a bunch of office furniture so the extra room is hers.”

“Ouch.”

“I know. It just sucks. She freaks out over everything.”

“Like what?”

“Like she got pissed about a week after I moved in because I bought some beer and put it in the fridge. She doesn’t want me to buy ‘stuff like that’ now that I live with her.”

“Whoa. What does that mean exactly?” I asked.

“Basically, anything that she doesn’t approve of.”

“But Rose drinks. We’ve been to the bar together after work.” I pointed out.

“I know. But she’s, like, really weird about her home. She doesn’t want any alcohol in the house and Steve just convinced her to go vegetarian last week. I brought home some steaks for us to grill up and she locked herself in our bedroom for three hours sobbing hysterically before she’d tell me what I did wrong.”

I stared at Stormy because I didn’t know what to say. After a brief silence:

“Um. Maybe…she needs to be on some kind of medication.” I suggested.

“I don’t know. All I know is that when you invited me over I was excited simply because it meant I wouldn’t have to be around her. And she put up a huge stink about it, too. When I get home she’ll probably yell or cry some more.”

“More?”

“Oh yeah. I told her yesterday when we got home from work and I ended up sleeping on the couch.”

“Sorry. If I’d known-”

“No. Thank you! I needed to get out of there for a few hours.”

We sat and watched the television until a commercial break.

“Do you want some ice cream?” I asked.

“Sure!”

I handed him the bowl of ice cream a few minutes later and Stormy dug in.

“You know,” he said, “That Tim guy is awesome. I wish he could just live with me and give me hugs and say encouraging things.”

I giggled.

“I knew you’d like it.” I said.

“Shut up. Don’t tell anyone else about this!”

“Okay. Okay!” I said, “Not a soul.”

Too bad he doesn’t know I have a blog and didn’t say anything about typing it.

: )