A World Away

Chapter 4

The night that I visited Evelyn at the café, I received a letter that was slipped under my front door. Her beautifully intricate cursive was printed on the front of the envelope and it instantly peaked my already excited mind for our day together that was to be soon. And according to her letter, she was free the next day. Her request was different from what I had expected, but at the same time it was what I anticipated her request to be like.

I woke the next morning to the sun shining faintly through my window. My clock had said it was nine thirty which meant that I had exactly ten hours before I was to meet her at her home and take her to the place of her choice. Tonight was to be the night.

I put on a clean pair of swamp-green trousers and braces and a crisp, white button-up to start my day off right. Then I brewed a warm cup of black coffee I picked up from the store and after finishing the last drop I left the building to meet the boys at the pub.

I walked in the warm sun and under the soft cover of clouds craving that same feeling in the fields that first morning on the way to Philly. I figured that maybe one day I could take her there and allow her to experience it for herself. We could experience it together. I think she'd like that. 

Ten minutes later, I had finally walked through the doors of the pub and arrived to see my friends sitting down at a table already chugging their mugs of beer down. Henry was the first to acknowledge my arrival since he was the one who stopped drinking first out of the three of them. 

"I was wondering when we were gonna see your love-sick face this morning. Today's the day, Ad. It's time to show us the man you are," he said boldly.

"Correction! Gentle-man, my dear Henry. Adam, here needs to show the amazing Evelyn that he can be a true gentleman for the night," Thomas added.

"I'm pretty sure I can do that, guys. Some faith would be nice since this is only the second time I've done this," I admitted unashamed.

"Why Adam, how in God's name could you hide such a crucial life experience from us, your compadres? Your friends? Your battle brothers?" Edwin dramatically asked. His charisma was admirable, but in times like these, it was wasted on men like us who see right through the charm and the hidden drama queen inside of him. We'd never take him seriously this way.

"Does it really seem that important to you?" I asked condescendingly.

"Well, now that he's brought it up, I wanna know. So spill O'Connel. What happened the first time you approached an object of your affection?" Thomas inquired on behalf of the three of them. I sighed in exasperation and finally decided that it didn't hurt to admit my failure. The past is the past. We can only look forward to the future.

"I was sixteen years old. There was a girl in my neighborhood who I'd had my eye on for a little while named Annie. She wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she was cute, so I took a chance on her. I ended up like most of the guys in my neighborhood all head over heels for the prettiest doll on the street, but she wasn't really interested in any of them. One of my pals convinced me to try asking her out for a night out on the town, and I did. I went right up to her one day and just said, 'You know we've been talking for a little while, and I think you're pretty swell. Do you wanna go out on a date?'" I stopped right there while my memory was slowly processing the ending of the story.

"And then?" Edwin asked.

"She said yes. And then the next day I learned that she already had made plans with another man on the same day and did it with another man just that morning."

"Oo. Harsh, man. Sorry 'bout that," Henry said.

"It's alright. Past is past." I lifted up my mug that Henry had brought over in the middle of my story. "Here's to a better love life in the future."