Help her. Those were her exact words. She wanted him to help her. She wanted him to help her be more like one of his girls. What did that even mean?
Ten years after they first met in that chemistry laboratory in high school, he and Skye had surprisingly only acted on their attraction for each other that they've had in various times of their lives just one time. They never acted on their attraction again after prom; they only acted like it was not a big deal. Jeremiah figured that Skye must have completely moved on from her crush on him because she had never brought it up again, and he never felt her have more than friendly feelings for him even after they decided to rent an apartment together. After his momentary bout with his attraction to his best friend during prom, he decided that it was for the best to just remain that: best friends. He wanted her to remain in his life in whatever capacity she can offer him, and if that was only strictly friendship, then he would settle for that. He rarely saw her their first two years at their respective universities. He was busy with basketball, she was busy being her usual academic genius self.
Even though they had separate lives to live, they still made it a point to call each other at least once a day and to have a weekly Sunday dinner together. His popularity took off in college where he left off in high school. His obviously good looking face and fit body made him quite the ladies' man at the university. He still dated the ones who were his "type" in high school, the pretty girls with sexy bodies who were game for anything when it came to dating and definitely knew what they wanted in bed. But every now and then, when he got the chance to actually be the one to do the asking and not the other way around, he would find himself asking a shy, quiet girl out, girls who were more like Skye. Maybe he missed her more than he realized, maybe he was looking for someone to fill the void, but he refused to believe it was because Skye meant more to him than just a friend. He had to forget he loved her as more than a friend if he didn’t want things to be seriously awkward between them.
So when he decided to move out of the dorms and into an apartment, he purposely sought her out. He carefully planned to look for apartments in between Malibu, where she attended university and Westwood, where his school was located. He brought up his plans to move one time over Sunday dinner while they were sipping on the hot broth of their pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup with thinly sliced brisket, marrow, and tendon pieces cooked in the savory broth.
"S, I've been thinking..."
"Uh oh, that could be a dangerously lethal combination. Jeremiah and thinking, hmmm," she nudged him.
"Ha ha, very funny," he nudged her back. "Anyway, I've been thinking of renting an apartment over the summer. I'm tired of living in the dorms."
"Okay, well, it will offer you more privacy, especially since you're out with a different girl every week, I presume," she casually told him without looking up as she scooped some noodles using her chopsticks.
"Well, I'm thinking of moving in with this one woman in particular..." he trailed off and looked at her meaningfully.
She dropped her chopsticks with a bang on the table and faced him. She touched one hand on his forehead and neck, checking for a spike in his body temperature. "Really? Seriously? Jeremiah, are you sick? Where does it hurt?"
"What are you doing, S?" he laughed.
"Are you in a serious relationship? A relationship so serious you're thinking of moving in with this woman? Why haven't you told me anything? Are we keeping secrets from each other now? I need to meet this girl, maybe I can still knock some sense into her," she babbled on. "Or maybe congratulate her for doing what I thought was impossible...straightening you out!"
"Well, you better get yourself checked out at a mental hospital then, because the woman I'm talking about is you, silly."
"What? Me?"
"Yeah, you. You're the only woman I'm in a serious 'relationship' with," he air quoted the word relationship. "You're the only woman I can imagine living with and the only one I know who will be willing to put up with my crap."
"Jer, you do realize that we go to school 30 miles apart, right?"
"Right, that's why I found this perfect two bedroom apartment right in the middle. Or if you want, it could even be closer to Malibu, I'll keep looking."
"No, don't do that."
"I remember you telling me that you wanted to move out of the dorms, too. So why not now? And why not together?" he told her honestly.
"Okay, but I just don't want to inconvenience you. LA traffic is the worst thing in the whole wide world, and I just don't want you to move far from Westwood just because of me."
"S, it won't inconvenience me. You won't inconvenience me. It was my idea, after all, so how could you possibly inconvenience me? School's getting tougher now that we're upperclassmen, so I actually need your help in my classes," he winked at her.
"Uh huh, your dirty, devious plans come out."
"No use hiding the truth," he shrugged jovially.
“I guess it’s okay with me…it would be nice to split the rent with someone…”
"Sweet!" Jeremiah slung an arm around Skye's shoulder and gave her a peck on the cheek.
"But this doesn't mean I'm going to be running around after you, picking up your dirty clothes, that you will NOT throw any which way all over the house, by the way, doing your laundry, or doing your dishes."
"Yes, mom," Jeremiah chuckled.
"And if you bring someone home, please let me know ahead of time. I don't want to hear things I have no business hearing, you got that?"
"Yes, mom," he repeated. "Same rules apply to you."
"Don't worry, I will abide by my own rules."
She picked up one egg roll and stuffed it in his mouth before he could say anything more.
*
“Skye, what do you mean help you be like one of my girls?” Jeremiah goaded her upon entering their apartment.
“I mean teach me how to be desirable. Tell me what a man wants in a woman. I don’t know, I guess I’m too plain? Too boring? Too naïve? Too childlike? Not confident enough? Not outgoing enough? Not pretty enough? I don’t know! I want the man I like to like me back. It’s as simple as that, Jer. What attracts you, huh? Short skirts? Long hair? High heels? Let me know, please…”
“Skye…” he spoke her name with much apprehension. “What if we don’t even have the same type of woman?”
“It doesn’t matter. All you guys are the same in the beginning, aren’t you? Jer, you’re in advertising. Pretend to sell me. Pretend Dylan is your big time, very important client. How will he buy what you’re selling? How will you sell him on the fact that I’m the woman he’s been dreaming of but doesn’t yet realize? What are you going to do? How are you going to brand me? What are my important features? What is my selling point? What differentiates me from all the other girls out there? Jer, come on! I need your help, please?” she looked up at him with those eyes he could never say no to.
“Skye, I don’t like the idea of ‘selling’ you,” he pursed his lips and told her grimly.
“Well, it was just an analogy…I was putting it in terms that you would understand.”
“If this guy is smart, he would like you for who you are, not for who you’re trying to be.”
“Well, being myself is not good enough, apparently,” she looked down into her clasped hands that were resting on her lap.
“You are, S,” he kneeled in front of her she sat on the couch and held her hands.
“Why won’t you help me, huh? Jer, I just want to experience how it is to fall in love, to have someone there who loves me just as much as I love him, someone to share my dreams with, someone to plan my future with.”
“And you think it’s this Dylan guy?”
“We have a lot of things in common, yet at the same time, he is my complete opposite. I think we would be able to complement each other in many ways. He can help me broaden my horizon.”
“And what’s in it for him?”
“I can…bring him stability. Be his home. He travels a lot so I can be that one constant in his life. And what’s more…I can love him unconditionally. That’s just the type of person I am. Call me wide eyed and gullible, but it’s the truth. When I love, I love with all my heart.”
Jeremiah leaned forward and embraced Skye. He held on to her tightly, he was that afraid that he would lose her. He was already starting to. He was losing his best friend, and he was helpless. He kissed the top of her head before resting his cheek against her temple.
“Skye, I think you should just be yourself. You do not want to be like one of my girls.”
“But they get the guys.”
“The wrong kind of guys.”
“So you’re saying you’re the wrong kind of guy?”
“Yeah, look. I can’t even be in a committed relationship. I can’t even be content with just one.”
“You just haven’t found her yet, the one woman with whom you’ll fall in love with. Once you do, you’ll stop looking. You’ll be content. Just you wait and see,” she smiled at him while she cupped his face in her hands.
“Yeah…” he sighed.