The Shadows Of Yesterday

The Shadows Of Yesterday {7}

"Ah, yes, pretzels are how I determine that in a man," I said, but helped myself to one. "Sorry, I know this isn't exciting. I was working on my next piece for the paper or I would've called you earlier to go into town."

"Is it gonna be a follow-up to that piece you wrote about music videos?" he asked.

I paused mid-reach for a pretzel bite. "What?"

He nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh, Harley had the latest paper in her dorm, so I asked if I could look through it to see your column. Uh, I guess that sounds kinda creepy now, but I swear I wasn't trying to be. I just wanted to see what you wrote about."

"Can't say I wasn't curious about your claim to fame, Ar-Lowe," I said.

His smile grew. "Hell yea! The name needs work, but we were drunk when we picked it, and we thought it was freakin' hilarious. S'alright, though, the content makes up for the ehhh name. Did'ya like it?"

"Didn't understand a damn word, but you seemed to have fun on it," I said.

Arlo laughed. "Dude, I was struggling to keep up with your writing. All that symbolism shit was going way over my head, even when I watched the music videos you were talkin' about. But you seemed to know your stuff. So I guess we're even there."

"Well, thanks for checking it out, but I just review things or write analysis pieces," I said. "I doubt it'd be very interesting for you to follow."

"Nah, it's kinda cool," he insisted. "And your music taste is...well, I thought it was shitty at first, but then I watched the music videos a few times and the songs grew on me a lot. I was totally jamming out to one of them earlier today and Brooks was making fun of me."

"Hey, at least someone appreciates my music taste," I said. "My roommate was just telling me how shitty it is."

Arlo laughed, but then his eyes slid past me and he groaned. "No! No, go away, I'm finally being smooth."

I glanced over my shoulder, then had to do a double-take. Harley was there, looking amused at Arlo's horror. But behind her was an absolute mountain of a man, hunched over awkwardly as if trying to make himself unnoticeable.

"Oh, calm down," Harley said. "I was doing some research, and Chief came because he needed help with his homework. I said we could grab a drink while we did it, and then I saw you." She smiled a t me. "Hi, Jeremy."

"Hey," I greeted.

"Greet, hellos are out of the way! Time for goodbyes," Arlo said, waving them away.

Harley looped her arm through the big guy's, pulling him forward. "Chief, this is Jeremy. Arlo's trying to woo him, and failing miserably at it."

"I am not failing! Or, well, I wasn't until you showed up," Arlo grumbled.

"Hey," I greeted yet again, at a loss for what else to say to a man that looked like he could cause a category eight earthquake if he tripped.

Chief glanced nervously at Harley. "Hey."

"We'll leave you two alone now. I'd hate to ruin Arlo's wooing chances," Harley said.

"Please stop saying 'wooing'," Arlo said miserably. "Chief, mind hookin' me up with the game plan again so Nicky and I can analyze it ahead of time?"

Chief nodded, relaxing a little when Arlo beamed a grateful smile at him. Harley tugged on his arm, pulling him away from us.

"That was...a very large man," I said when they were out of earshot.

"Oh, yea, Chief's a big dude," Arlo agreed. "He's a star on the rugby team. Super nervous guy, though. That's Harley's boyfriend. He was a selective mute as a kid and it's still hard for him to talk to people, so Harley tries to help him come outta his shell by introducing him to people she thinks'll be nice to him. Congrats on making the list."