It was exactly three weeks after the false Facebook post incident, and I was walking out after my shift, when Brandon called me from the pool deck. I went towards him but maintained a safe distance, just in case he decided to kick water at me. "What's up?" I inquired.
"Can you give me a ride home?" he asked. "Mama Fuchs took my car today because hers is in the shop." He always referred to his mom, as well as mine or any of his other friends' mothers, in that way, and I couldn't help but grin every time; it was a creative, albeit unusual way, to call his mom.
"Yeah, I'll drive you home, just hurry up," I said, going back to the office. I knew Brandon would probably still have to shower and change, meaning that I would have at least fifteen minutes to wait. Sitting down at one of the chairs in the office, I started flicking through my phone aimlessly, until I heard the door open and Quinn strolled in. "Heading out?" I smiled.
"Yup!" he grinned back. "How come you aren't already gone?"
"I'm driving asshole over there back to his place," I chuckled, nodding in the direction of the pool deck, where Brandon was just heading towards the men's changing rooms. Quinn laughed too as he spotted him.
"Well, since you're here, I figured I may as well ask, wanna go to the bar this Thursday?" he inquired.
"Not Thursday."
"Why not?"
"Because Black Friday is this week," I said. "And my family is planning on getting some stuff for it, so we're gonna be up super early on Friday morning. I don't think I would be able to do that if I spend all Thursday evening drinking."
He laughed again. "Fair point, how about Wednesday then? Unless you've found a date to that party yet?" he finished hopefully.
I shook my head. "No luck yet," I said. "Not for lack of trying, though, believe me." I purposely neglected to mention that all my efforts so far had been half-hearted; it wasn't that I didn't want to find a date to the party, it was just that either I didn't feel any of the girls I had asked would want to go, or that I personally didn't want to go with them, and as such I didn't want to give any of them a false impression.
"Well, hopefully we can change that," Quinn said kindly. "Anyway, I have to get going home, I'll see you around ten in the evening on Wednesday!" I waved as he went, and then went back to my phone as I waited for Brandon. Talking to Quinn about the party again had given me an idea, and I quickly logged onto Facebook and started scrolling through my friends list, hoping to find anyone in that list who I hadn't asked yet, and who I felt I would be okay with asking. Brandon had suggested I ask some of the girls from work, but I had quashed that suggestion almost instantly, reminding him that even if I did that and one of them wanted to come, they wouldn't be able to because of the inservice scheduled for the same evening.
I had nearly reached the bottom of the list, and almost given up, when I saw a name that rang a bell. Jenna Vitali. I paused for a moment as I looked at that name, she had worked here at the Y for a little over two years, and had started a year after me. However, after she had quit I hadn't really been in contact with her much, apart from the occasional chat every few months or so. I pondered for a moment, and then decided there was no harm in asking. After all, Jenna and I were friends, and if she didn't want to go or was unable to go, I was no worse off. 'Hey Jenna, how's it going? Mind if I ask you something?' I typed, sending the message off to her. I went back to scrolling through my news feed but, to my surprise, she replied back right away.
'Hey Akash! Haven't heard from you in a while! I'm good, how about you? What did you want to ask?' she had typed. I waited for a few moments and quickly formulated a reply, deciding to simply go for the jugular.
