Carpe DiEmily (A Romantic Comedy Adventure)

two

Too bad he was unattainable.

But it was just as well. She had a boyfriend, soon to be fiancé. Tyler was harmless, no threat at all. It was nice to have a friend outside of Lenny, someone she could be completely honest with. In fact, she considered Tyler her very best friend. She’d never told him, of course, because that would be . . . well, weird. But she’d never felt so understood. She’d told Tyler things that she’d never revealed to Lenny, like how she’d felt alone in the world after her grandparents died or how she believed Si-Moan must surely have multiple STDs. She confessed she’d always secretly wanted to take country-dance lessons, and that she was terrified of plane travel. She told him how sometimes she felt like a ghost at her job, passing by unnoticed in the halls as everyone discussed their weekends. Today she’d hoped she was going to share her good news about her promotion, but instead she was sitting here in his chair, defeated and sniveling like a child.

Way to go, Emily. Way to make an impression. She swiped at her wet nose, embarrassed.

He glanced at her sympathetically as he began snipping her hair, the scissors moving deftly around her head. “Just keep doing your best, and they’ll eventually recognize your efforts.”

His tone and manner made her feel better. Typical of his straightforward, commonsense way of looking at the things, he always encouraged her to not take things so seriously.

“Lenny’s going to propose tonight,” she said. “I’m excited.” Her voice sounded so flat, so dull. She felt sucked dry of energy and enthusiasm.

Tyler raised an eyebrow at her as he clicked away with his scissors. “How do you know?”

“I saw the ring box. In his briefcase.”

“Bad girl.” With any other guy, this statement would sound effeminate, but with Tyler, it was tinged with masculine sexuality. She felt a twinge of attraction then immediately felt guilty. She couldn’t help it, though. He was every girl’s fantasy, gay or not.

“Lenny’s been dropping hints about marriage,” she said, “So I searched around for the ring. Sure enough, I found it, sitting right there under a thick legal brief.”

“What does it look like?” Tyler asked, combing her hair straight down behind her neck. Now that was a gay question. Only a female friend or gay man would be curious about the details of a ring. Emily was glad. It reminded her not to take her crush too seriously. She didn’t want anything to threaten her relationship with Lenny, and an innocent infatuation with a gay man was about as harmless as you could get.

“I didn’t open the box. I want to be surprised,” Emily said. She knew how ridiculous that must sound.

Tyler laughed. She loved his laugh. It was deep, melodious, like warm honey.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“You are.” He said it affectionately, and it gave her a good feeling inside. Tyler never judged her, no matter how ridiculous she sounded. He just looked at her with those green eyes, as if curiously sizing her up and liking what he saw, and then went back to cutting her hair.

Emily gave a sigh of satisfaction. “Things are going to work out like I planned.”

Tyler was quiet as he carefully trimmed her ends. Then he stopped and looked at her in the mirror, meeting her eyes with an intensity that surprised her. “I think you should be careful about over-planning your life. It can limit you.”

Her heart sunk at his tone. “How?” Did he see her as dull, just like everyone else?

 “Well, it’s hard to experience life when you’re too busy scheduling it. There’s a beauty in spontaneity, in letting things unfold naturally.”