Dream's Intuition

Chapter 4 - Drinks

CHAPTER 4

            Around the corner from work I would meet a good friend for drinks.  I have known Robert a long time, I met him at the pub at my first year of University.  Even though I had transferred after my first year, we kept contact with each other through emails, and when I came back we would still meet up every once and a while.  He is one of the only people that I keep up with. 

            I open the door to the pub and I can see him sitting in a booth near the back.  He is in a suit, which I personally do not find to be his best look,  I missed his student apparel, jeans and slogan shirts, and, of course, the piercing.  Most of his earrings are gone and he took out his tongue ring, “unprofessional” he once stated and there was truth to be told in that statement, he does work for a bank …

“You look good,” he smiles as he sees me approach.

“Courtesy of Kay, you don’t look to bad yourself.  I don’t know how you do the whole suit thing, I must admit I enjoy my comfort.”  He laughs, and I blush.  We order a pitcher and start to catch up. “So how’s work?”  I ask.

“Great, I signed another year contract which is good because then after that I might go back home for a bit and everything, not that I hate it here, I have my friends here and Jen.”  Jen is his girlfriend, they ‘hooked up’ when we first started University.  He was working at the pub then and while it was only a fling, it turned into a steady relationship and here he sits four years later with the same girl.  I would be impressed if he didn’t cheat on her all the time.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to get out of here.  Once I can afford Toronto I’m gone.  There is nothing to do, and everybody is in everyone’s business.  I hate the lack of privacy and way too much gossip.  That‘s why I can‘t hang out with your group anymore, too much drama.”

He laughs at my obvious disgust with the juvenile characters of his clique, “hey now.”

“No, no, no, I mean they are nice people and everything, I just can’t deal with this, I’m over it and I’m too old.  I left that behind in high school.  But who cares anyways, what else is new?”

We talk about everything else, about hockey, about where we want to be in a few years, to our individual take on marriage and commitment.

“So how is Kay doing?”

“I don’t really know, she hasn’t been home in a few days but I’m sure I’ll get an ear full when I get home tonight.”

“Well she is a pretty girl so bet she has a lot of guys lined around the corner.”

“Yeah she’s something else.  She’s crazy and quirky and God she’s a handful but hey what can I say?”

I have a few more drinks and pay the bill.  He says he’ll get the next one, which I’m sure he will, unless Jen finds out we have been hanging out and in that case it will not happen again for a while. 

            I catch the dreaded city bus, I swipe my bus pass and take a seat near the back of the bus away from the woman wearing rubber boots and raincoat, even though raining it had been sunny all day.  The ride home is long and full of gostles as the streets are full of potholes and bumps. 

            I get off at my stop and walk the two minutes to my apartment building, as I approach the front door things begin to become more abstract and all I can go on is shapes and pray that I am correct in my assumptions.