Thou Shalt Not(33)

“What kind?”

“It’s called posole. It’s actually really good. You should try some.”

“Is it spicy?”

“Yeah, it’s got a little kick.”

“Perfect.”

I heated up a small amount to let her try some, and she was almost as impressed as I was. However, she had no frame of reference to compare it to like I had.

“Wow. Who did you say made it? This is goddamn delicious.”

“A lady named April. She’s probably going to be the one who takes over Robin’s class.”

I didn’t bother telling her that I had only known April a week and that she was already texting and making me soup. Minor details like that seemed easy to leave out.

“Well, make sure you stay friends with her then. I can see myself wanting to eat this again.”

I still needed to shower before we went out for dinner, so I excused myself to the bathroom.

Immediately, I checked my phone to see if she had responded. She hadn’t. I was tempted to text and apologize, much like she had after wondering if I was bullshitting her.

But instead, I chose to shower quickly. The couple of spoonfuls of soup had reminded me how hungry I actually was. The reception food had been of the finger variety, so I avoided it altogether and had chosen to talk to people in place of eating.

There was still no message when I got out of the shower, as we were driving to the restaurant, or as we sat down at the table.

Holly loved seafood, and seeing as how living near the beach in Florida offered a plethora of options, we often chose the restaurant with the nicer views. We had settled on a place called Pelican Pete’s. The restaurant was facing the Gulf of Mexico, and the back dock of the restaurant offered stunning views of the sun setting over the water. We had picked the right time for dinner as we were being treated to a particularly beautiful sunset.

She ordered Mahi and I ordered the scallops. I excused myself to the bathroom, in hopes of seeing a text from April, but I was disappointed once again.

Just text her one more time, I told myself. She did it a few times earlier. What do you have to lose?

But when she texted back, it was immediately after sending the first one, not over an hour later. Now you just look desperate if you send another one.

I wasn’t even sure it was all that important that she texted me back, truthfully. The world wasn’t going to end if I just let it go. And if I sent another message that got ignored, then I would really feel like a jackass.

Often I found myself going against my better judgment, and often I found myself regretting it. This time, I turned my phone’s vibration mode off, and put it back in my pocket. I wouldn’t be texting her back this evening unless she responded. I felt good about my decision.

I walked back out to the dock where our table was, and Holly was on her phone. A pelican was perched behind her up on the railing that went along the dock. From my angle, it looked like the bird was going to take a gulp out of the back of Holly’s head. For some reason, this made me laugh. But as I sat down at the table, I realized from Holly’s tone that things were not good.

“Is it Kyle?” I mouthed silently.

She shook her head.

“Brad, what the fuck?” she said loudly.

A few of the other patrons at nearby tables glanced over at the sound of loud profanity, but none seemed to be too offended.

Brad was Holly’s youngest brother. I think he was nineteen or twenty, and was currently attending a local community college and rooming with a friend and the friend’s family. He was doing okay for himself, but as the oldest, Holly always worried about him. She called him pretty regularly, checked up on him often, made sure he was studying and not slacking too much.

“So, you’re out? Just like that?”

She leaned her head forward and rested it on her fist. If her face hadn’t looked so upset, she might have looked a little like The Thinker.

“Well, I know you don’t, but now you have no choice, do you? You fucked up, Brad. You fucked up.”

She was shaking her head, and I don’t think it was voluntary. Then she sighed and her tone changed.

“But, it’s not the end of the world, okay? Just be there in an hour. I might be late but you will just have to wait.”

“Because I’m out to dinner, all right? Just get your shit together, and I’ll get there when I get there.”

With that, she hung up and made like she was going to slam her phone into the table.

I thought about asking “Is everything okay?” but it was obvious that it wasn’t. People often asked dumb shit because they didn’t stop to think about what they were saying, but my mom always taught me to think before I spoke. If only she had taught me to think before I hit send on a text message.