The Ride Home
“I hate this fucking granola valley,” Tobe said. “Tonight sucked.”
“You’re just in a bad mood,” Julia said. “Let it go.”
Julia was giving Tobe a ride back to Alden. Julia was going to offer a ride to Ben and his friend but she didn’t see them when she was getting ready to leave. Or Richard.
Tobe fumed. Julia just stared ahead.
“Would you be happier if we went to McManus’s for a sandwich?” Julia asked.
Tobe shook his head. “No, not after I heard what goes into their food. I just want to get home and sleep. I need to study tomorrow.”
“But will you?”
“Hell no, I’ll go to the beer bash in Hartford
“I need to get a mock-up of the newsletter ready to present to Sabra some next week.”
“And will you do that?”
“No. Jonah needs the car, we’ll hang out. I was going to stay there tonight but I can’t reach him.”
“That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you…” No, Julia thought, please don’t ask. “Do you think Jonah would be interested in DJing with me? Together, as a duo?”
“I’ll ask him,” Julia said. “But he’s been so busy.”
“Just ask,” Tobe pouted. “You know I had a bad night.”
“Nathan wimped out.”
“Yes, again. He said he’d be there, and he didn’t show.”
“Maybe he and Ryan got lost together,” Julia said.
“Unlikely.” Tobe leaned against the seat and sulked. Nathan Fischer was graduating in the spring; Tobe didn’t have much time left to convince him that they were right for one another.
“Chicken,” Julia said.
“What?”
“I said, I think the drive thru is 24 hours at Kentucky
“Sure, what the hell,” he said. “I’ll become a vegetarian again tomorrow.”
Oak Room Confidential
Despite it still being sunny out at 6 pm, the Oak Room was dark.
“Sit by the windows,” Ben told Dave. “I can’t see in here.”
“You still have your sunglasses on is why,” Dave said.
Ben took the glasses off and put them in his front pocket. “My mind’s in a million directions today,” Ben said. “And I think I’m a little hung over.”
“This is what … the second time in your life?” Dave asked.
Ben shook his head. “Third. I got drunk this summer too.”
“Big man,” Dave said.
“That’s me,” Ben said. They put their trays on an empty table. “I didn’t get the sausage today, last week I bit into something I couldn’t identify.”
The woman sitting over at the next table glared at him. “Thanks a lot,” she said.
“I’m such a dick,” Ben said.
“Speaking of …” Dave said.
“No, and no, Big Ben did not get lucky, but…”
“Yeah?”
“Remember the couple I told you about? The South American guy and the other one my age? Arturo and Jeremy?”
“Yeah?”
“The lights went out and,” Ben leaned over the table and lowered his voice, “Arturo felt me up.”
Dave was quiet for a moment. “Jesus, why can’t I go to one of those parties?”
“You want a guy to stick his hands down your pants?”
“You know what I mean. I spent the night watching TV with Zack. I may as well be back home,” Dave said. “Was the Star Trek guy there?”
“Edgar? No, he wasn’t. I haven’t seen him anywhere and haven’t heard from him since I blew him off,” Ben said. Thank God.
“And how’s your friend Todd?” Dave asked.
“He didn’t make it back to campus with me, lucky jerk,” Ben said. He’d call Todd later for details. “Oh, and speaking of …”
Dave turned around toward the area of the room where Ben was staring. “What, is he here?”
“No, but his roommate’s right over there in the smoking area,” Ben said. “See him, that kid who looks a little weaselly? That’s Darin, and the woman with him with the bobbed hair? That’s Maria. They’re always hanging out together.”
“Are they nice?”
“I don’t know. She’s funny when I’ve talked to her, and she’s cool, but Todd doesn’t think too highly of them. I guess I wouldn’t either if they were always hanging around my room when I was trying to study or sleep.” There was something about Darin’s overbite that Ben didn’t like.
“So, you want to come hang out by the pond after we eat?” Dave asked. “I’m going to read for a while longer.” He indicated the copy of Misery in his front pocket.
“I didn’t get any studying done today and I need to. I need to start a paper which, by the way, is great because working at the Center allows me to have a key and I can use it in the off hours,” Ben said. “I can do all my papers there and not have to worry about the computer labs.”
“Come on,” Dave said. “Hang out for an hour. It may be one of the last nice days.”
“You said that last weekend also.”
“Well, it may have been, we didn’t know did we?”
Ben thought a minute. “All right, I’ll go. Maybe I’ll get lucky by the pond.”
#
“And there goes Todd’s little friend Ben … Benny … Bennaboo,” Darin said. “Why are we eating here anyway? You said you hate the Oak Room.”
Maria took a drag of her cigarette. “Don’t question me,” she blew the smoke away from Darin. “And I hate the weekdays here, not weekends. Why isn’t Lars here, wasn’t he supposed to stay over last night?”
“He was, but he said he wasn’t feeling well and he went home.” Which was bullshit. Lars just didn’t want to fool around. He was so moody. “I’ll fuck him tonight.”
“But Todd will be home,” Maria said.
“So what? Maybe he ended up going home with somebody like Jeffrey Dahmer,” Darin said.
“Well, that’s morbid,” Maria looked around. “I have to get off campus soon; I can’t stand looking at these kids anymore. Let’s go shopping anywhere that’s open.” She stubbed her cigarette out in the remains of her ziti.
“On the bus?” Darin asked
“I’ll drive,” Maria said, pulling set of keys out of her pocket and dangling them in Darin’s face. “We’ll find something.”
“Since when do you have a car?” he asked.
“Since always,” Maria said. “I don’t let many people know because I don’t want to be a taxi.”
“Then I’ll definitely go,” Darin said. “I’m ready.”
“Then get ready to walk because unfortunately I’m stuck in the D-lot and we need to trek almost a mile to get there.”
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