“Well, all the guys talked about their girlfriends. Why shouldn’t I?” Then she asked, “Why did it bother you?”
“Because I wasn’t getting any! You acted like you never cared and you never even tried to impress a guy and you were doing it! Anyway, I called to say I was sorry and to let you know what happened and that you were right. Now I’m going to call Cindy and see—”
“Justin, please don’t! Please?”
She sounded more upset than I was, and with a sigh I asked, “Sam, why the hell do you care? You cared about it being Jen and now I see why, but Cindy isn’t going to break my heart. I know what I’ll be getting, and that’s laid.”
“Justin, we’re friends, right?”
“You’re my best friend, Sam. You know that. That’s why I called. I … I needed to vent and tell someone what happened.”
“I’m glad you did. Now I am going to ask you a favor.”
“I’m not waiting, Sam!” I shook my head as if she could see me. “No way.”
“Justin, you’re mad, hurt, and frustrated. You don’t want to do it like this.”
“I—”
“Let me finish. It’s only nine o’clock and it’s Saturday night. Neither of us have to work tomorrow, so how about I come over and hang out for a while?”
“Sam, no offense, but you’re not the girl I’m looking to spend tonight with.”
“I … I know that. You’ve made it clear I’m not that girl.” She sounded put off, but kept going. “Like I said, tonight you’re angry, and you should at least calm down. So how about this? I’ll come over and on the way I’ll stop and grab some popcorn and a couple of cheesy horror movies. We’ll just hang out and have some laughs.”
“Sam—”
“I promise no ‘I told you so,’ no ‘you should have known better,’ and I promise I won’t try to talk you out of Cindy.”
“You won’t? Not sure I believe that.”
“I promise. If you want to talk about it, we will. If not, just you and me eating popcorn and making up dialogue for the crappy movies. Just like we used to do before you started dating Jen.”
“Yeah, but—”
“And tomorrow, once you’ve calmed down, if you still want to call Cindy, then go ahead. But I’m asking you to at least take one night to think about it, and I’ll keep you company so you’re not stewing over it. How’s that?”
“I … I don’t know, Sam.”
“Please, Justin? Consider it a favor to me.”
I closed my eyes and thought about it.
She had a point that right now I was pissed. If I did have Cindy over, it might not be as much fun as it should be. I’d waited this long. One more night wouldn’t make a difference. After brushing her off for Jen so much in the last six months, I did owe Sam something.
“Okay. You’re right. I’m probably better off with a friend than a slut right now.” I laughed. “Too bad I couldn’t find a friendly slut!”
“Yeah, too bad. Guess you’ll just have to settle for me.”
“I’m not settling,” I told her, feeling much calmer. “I’d rather spend time with you right now anyway, Sam. You’ve never let me down and I appreciate you coming over.”
“That … that means a lot, Justin. More than you know. You’ve helped me as much as I’ve helped you, you know.”
“That’s what friends are for, right?” I laughed.