Bad Sex & Good Scotch: A Reunion Story

Chapter 16 - Now

Daniel’s departure had been uncomfortable, even for me, and I was rooting against him. He had assumed that Carrie would leave with him, but instead she told him she’d meet him back at the room.

“When?” he asked, a little petulantly.

“When I’m done,” she answered. There was no malice in her voice, but no understanding, either.

He nodded, then told me, perfunctorily, that it was nice meeting me. “Likewise,” I replied, equally perfunctorily, shaking his hand once again. His grip was looser than it had been the first time. The fight having gone out of him.

“He seems great,” I said after he left, in a tone that approximated sincerity.

“Oh, he is!” she enthused. “He is so supportive. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

I smiled warmly. “I’m glad you’re doing so well.”

“Sounds like you are, too,” she said reassuringly. I had no idea how she had reached that conclusion. I had told her very little about my life, substituting witticisms for actual information.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I guess. I just...” I paused, swirling the Scotch in my glass as she looked at me with concern, having heard a whisper of melancholy in my voice. “I wish that we’d walked away friends.”

At that, she lunged forward. It was like a giant rubber band had been holding her back and, now, it had snapped. “Me, too!” She put her palm on my forearm. “The way I treated you — so stupid!”

“Eh,” I said with a shrug. “We were teenagers.” I tossed this off casually, as if I hadn’t carried the scars of that relationship with me my entire adult life.

“Yeah. I kept toying with the idea of contacting you on Facebook or something, but...” 

“I know,” I said. And I did. I had thought of contacting her, too, but I was afraid it would be seen as a defeat.