Danny had just kicked out whatever her name was. She seemed like a very cool girl but he just didn’t want to get into this now. His head was pounding and he needed some water but settled for a stale beer that was stuck between the wall and the mattress on the floor instead. He ran his fingers through his long hair. They felt greasy and they smelt like smoke and sweat and old socks. He contemplated washing them for a minute but then decided it was cold enough to just put on a beanie instead. He realized he was out of cigarettes and decided some fresh air would be nice, put on his old leather jacket, found his keys under some unwashed jeans and boxers on the floor and headed outside. It was pouring so he took his hat off for a couple of minutes, this would be as good as a shower, he thought. People thought he was strange, a little dirty and too uninterested in them but he just thought of himself as an opportunist. Whatever happened, he embraced it. This time it was this nasty weather. On the way to the kiosk he picked up some eggs at the supermarket around the corner. He didn’t have any toast and butter either, so he got that too and he decided he wanted some shrimps and tomatoes for his eggs, so he got those as well. He didn’t save any money. He didn’t see the point in it. He loved his life and he loved spending every cent he earned. He didn’t plan anything, he didn’t expect stuff to happen. It was so much better to be surprised than to be disappointed. Once he got his cigarettes he enjoyed the walk in the rain even more, even did a little dance around the one way sign and by the time he got back to the apartment the hangover had gone. Whistling he put the bread into the toaster, prepared the eggs and threw in the tomatoes and shrimps and found some rosemary to sprinkle on top as well. He took out the toast and put in the butter waiting for it to melt. Life was great.
For days after Emily was completely freaked out. She would constantly check her phone and refresh her Facebook page every couple of minutes to check if whoever she had spent the night with had tried to contact her. Her heart started racing each time that little notification button was flashing red and she was close to a nervous break down each time she had new friend request. Every time the phone rang she jumped at the thought that it could be Jonathan to tell her he knew. By the end of the week she was a nervous wreck.
Marc woke up in the middle of the night in his apartment. He got up to go to the bathroom and tried falling asleep again but sleep just wouldn’t come. After about an hour of tossing and turning he thought about calling Olivia, but a glance at his watch that he had put on his bedside table told him it was too late for that. He got up, poured himself a glass of tap water and downed it leaning at the sink. He poured himself another one and splashed some water on his face. It was 2.30 in the morning. It was Saturday night. He had decdced not to go out tonight because they had been out the night before but now he was regretting it. If he had gone out he could have spent the night with her. Now he was here all by himself and it sucked. He went over to the sideboard and grabbed a bottle of Jim Beam. He had read somewhere that Jim Beams real name was Johannes Jakob Boehm, and he was trying to figure our where. But it didn’t matter. He just knew that he didn’t want to be at home by himself anymore. So he decided to do what he had done so many times before that: “Pretending to drunk dial Olivia”.
When the phone rang Olivia was just finishing her last drink at the bar, trying to find her wallet in her purse. She might as well look for her phone while she is at it, she thought. The night had been kind of lame but she couldn’t have stayed at home when all her single friends went out. That wasn’t right at all and would have sent the wrong signal. That she wasn’t one of them anymore, when she so totally was. But when she saw Marc’s number on her display a smile still passed her lips, so quick, so secretly, that no one would have ever noticed. But it was ok now she reminded herself. It was past 2, she could totally pass this as a booty call and get away with it. “Who is it?” Lisa asked. “It’s Marc”, she said rolling her eyes as if he was bothering her “What’s up?” She screamed into her phone over the music. Marc seemed drunk, but she knew that he wasn’t really drunk. It was what he did so he didn’t have to sleep alone. She knew all this but still didn’t call him on it. “I wanna see you” “Yeah alright I ll be there in a bit”. She hung up even though she knew he was not done but she didn’t want to let her girls know. Lisa was curious nonetheless” What did he want?” Lisa was a tiny, skinny girl, with tanned legs and freckles. She was your average girl next door, very pretty but not very special, still men went nuts over her. And she still couldn’t keep any of them. She has probably been in their lonely girls club the longest. Not that she would EVER call it that in front of them, but secretly that was her nickname for all of them, including her. Officially they were all just too pretty, too successful and too independent to really need a man in their lives. Most of the time Olivia was one of them. But tonight, she was really excited she has Marc to come home to.