Mind the Gap (In Too Deep) (13 page)

I was complaining about not being able to find my keys when Gretchen
said, "Oh I forgot, Joel had to move your car last night." She looked over her shoulder. "
Joel!
" she yelled. She waited for his response, but he was checking on the sleeping baby and hadn't heard her. "He probably put them on the little hooks by the kitchen door where we put ours."

I walked past the bar to the back door where I indeed found my
key ring on one of the five hooks that hung there. It was a catchall area, and I glanced at the coins and other trinkets that made it out of Joel's pocket. There were a few business cards scattered about, and before I could stop myself, my eye fell onto one of them. Josh Rand was written at the top along with the title of Geological Engineer and a logo for a place called Carol Construction. It was blue with gold and white. His blasted cell phone number was clearly printed on the card, and my hand itched to pick it up. I literally wiped my palm on my pants to give it something to do besides pick up the dang card. I looked back at my friends who were paying no attention to me at all. I gave in. I took the card and put it into my pocket as fast as I could. Joel had Josh's phone number already. What did he need with a business card? He'd never even notice it was missing.

Chapter 16

Josh

I didn't know what to make of th
e past weekend. In some respects it had been a great couple of days, but I was inexplicably left with a void that wasn't there before the weekend started. I could understand why Brit would want to keep her distance since she lived so far away, but it still stung a little bit that she was so unaffected by everything that went down between us last Friday night. I wondered if my truck or MMA stuff had really offended her that much, and if so, why had she let things go so far between us?

I plugged my phone into my stereo, and listened to her song while I was waiting in the driveway of a vacant house for Ethan and Emily to show up. I wanted to start walking the property, but Emily insisted I wait for th
em so she could see my reaction. I assured her my reaction wouldn't be anything worth getting all excited about, but she made me promise to wait nonetheless. It was a house they'd seen before, and Ethan wanted some advice before making an offer. Just about all of my friends called me when they wanted to buy a house. I knew a lot about foundations and construction because of my job. I could tell from the driveway that it was nice. It was in a good neighborhood, but you could see at first glance that there would be room for improvement. That didn't surprise me at all. Ethan was smart with his money, and it'd be just like him to make a project out of a house and resell it for profit. Before I could even finish Brit's song, Ethan and Emily showed up with Sal in tow. Their realtor was fine having Sal along, since they were on the verge of making an offer and they told her Sal needed to check it out.

"What do you think?" Emily asked, getting out of the truck, smiling and wide eyed.

"I have no idea," I said. "I've been sitting in my truck with my eyes closed so I wouldn't spoil the surprise." She came in for the hug, and I returned it, giving her a few pats on the back before extending my fist to bump Ethan's.

Their realtor was stuck in traffic, so we walked the perimeter, checking the place out. It was a Spanish sty
le house on a small, fenced lot. It seemed from the outside to be solidly built, and Ethan and I talked about several things that would be easy upgrades. He and Emily both seemed excited about buying a house and living together in general. I never thought I'd see the day when Ethan Erickson wanted to shack up with a girl, but I liked Emily and was happy for them both.

When the realtor arrived, she informed Ethan that someone else was in the process of making an offer on the house, and if Ethan really liked it, he needed not only to act quickly, but to also come in close to
the asking price. Emily was wary about doing anything too quickly, but Ethan liked the place and didn't want to miss out on it. I overheard them talking about it while I meandered around the house checking things out.

"I don't want to be rushed into something just because someone else is interested," Emily said, "and how do we even know she's telling the truth? It's been on the market for three weeks, and
all of a sudden
there's an offer?"

T
he realtor was outside on her cell phone, unable to hear Emily voicing her doubts. 

I ro
unded the corner to the empty living room where Ethan and Emily were standing. I wanted to weigh in before the realtor came back. "I'm not trying to sway you either way," I said, "but if you don't make an offer, I probably will."

Emily's head whipped around, and she looked at me waiting to hear what I saw in the place. "
Why do you say that?" she asked. "Are you looking for a house? I thought you signed a lease at your apartment."

I let out a little laugh. "I did sign a lease," I said. "And no, I'm not looking for a place, but I think there's potential to make a little money off of this one, and if you were planning on passing—"

"We're buying it," Ethan said. He looked at Emily. "Josh agrees we should do it. We're doing it. He's right. We should just do it. Let's go tell her we want to make an offer."

"Don't do that just because of what I said," I told him. "I'd never even consider it unless you officially decided to pass, I was just being honest that I think it's a good investment."

"I know that, Bro, it's just that I think you're right, and I don't want to miss it on account of the people the realtor told us about." He looked at Emily, asking her to see it his way.

Wearing a big smile, she stuck her hands in the air and shrugged. "It's your project anyway," she said
. "I'm just along for the ride."

"Quit playing," he said. "Don't act like you're not excited."

Her smile widened. "Okay so I'm a little excited."

Ethan
made an offer on that house that was accepted that same night. There was indeed another couple interested, but the sellers opted to go with Ethan because he was paying with cash and would be able to close sooner. They set a tentative closing date for two weeks, which would put them in the house before Thanksgiving. Ethan said they'd probably still stay in Joel's guesthouse until Brit needed it in December. He wanted to get a few of the construction projects done before they moved in. I couldn't help but focus on the fact that he implied Brit would be moving into Joel's guesthouse.

I asked him about it and he said they needed to be out by mid December so Brit could move in
after graduation. He said she thought about changing her mind in favor of riding out the Holidays in Seattle, but then reconsidered, saying she was ready to get down here. I was happy to hear that she was looking forward to the move. For some reason, I took that as confirmation that she didn't hate my guts.

****

That Saturday I went to a Muay Thai seminar at my gym. I worked out until I was utterly spent and sore. I was pretty sure I'd be feeling like I was in a car accident for a few days following the class. Ethan came with me. Now that he was done with competitive swimming, he'd been doing more MMA. He didn't do it as regularly as I did, because he still made time for weird things like scuba diving and rock climbing, but he came to the seminar, and I was glad he did. We were similar in stature, and made excellent training partners.

I had plans to go out with a few guys from work that evening
after the workout, but I was so exhausted I cancelled plans with them in favor of a few bottles of Old Rasputin in the comfort of my own living room. I needed a comfortable chair and some television to space out on. I sent Ethan a text that night to see how he was making it. He said he'd probably be regretting it in the morning, and both of us agreed that it was the most fun we'd had in a long time.

It was after 1AM,
and I had been watching one of my all time favorite movies called The Big Lebowski for the past hour or so. I was just about to turn it off and head to bed when my phone lit up on the coffee table in front of me. I picked it up to inspect the screen. It was a text from a number I didn't recognize. It was listed as Washington, which automatically made me think of Brit.

Person from Washington: "Hey. I know it's late. I'm sorry. I'm just jacked on caffeine and I'm bored." 

The only person it could be was Brit, but I couldn't figure out what would possess her to text something like that or where she would have gotten my cell number at 1AM. Another text came in, answering at least one of my questions.

Person from Washington: "It's me, Brit."

Me: "Why are you so jacked? And how'd you get my number?"

She didn't respond for a full five minutes. Right about the time when I thought she might not respond at all, my phone lit up again.

Brit: "Sorry if you're upset that I have your phone number. It wasn't very hard to obtain. Sad that I had to go asking though."

She included an
emoji that was a smiley face with its tongue out. I read the message a few times. I was pretty sure she was saying she wished I'd given her my number when she was here a week ago. This was all very confusing to me because she didn't act like she wanted anything to do with me after we slept together.

I decided to go for a clean slate.

Me: "Well I'm glad you're resourceful. You never answered my question about being so jacked in the middle of the night."

Brit: "
I know, I'm sorry, it was a terrible time to text, I just had a really good gig tonight and I'm all pumped about it. I should've probably stayed out a little longer to wear myself out, but I felt like coming home. My roommate's not here, so I was wide-awake and maybe a little scared. I stole your business card from Gretchen's last week, and it was just sitting here staring at me. Anyway, I couldn't think of anyone else to text. Sorry"

Me: "Don't be sorry. Tell me about your gig."

Brit: "It was at this bar we've been playing at regularly. I don't know, I feel like we're sounding good as a band right now, and every time we play we're getting better and better."

Me: "That doesn't surprise me at all. I'm looking forward to having you closer so I can come
watch you play."

Brit: "I won't have a band when I move, so it'll probably be a while before I try to get a gig. Unless it's
a solo gig at a coffee shop or something."

Me: "I love coffee shops."

Brit: "Haha. Especially their restrooms."

I smiled at
the memory of cornering her in that dark hallway.

Me: "You know it
. I think everyone should experience dark coffee shop hallways. Btw, why are you scared?"

Brit: "I hate being alone in the dark. That's why I'm so glad I'm moving in at Gretchen's instead
of finding a random apartment."

Me: "I heard about that. Ethan and Emily put an offer in on a house yesterday."

Brit: "I know, Emily told me. She's stoked."

I got up to piss, and when I got back, I had another text.

Brit: "Why are you up so late? Been out?"

Me: "I'm sitting motionless in a recliner while my body recovers from a
Muay Thai thing I had at the gym today. I'm spacing out watching Big Lebowski."

Brit: "Calmer than you are, Dude."

She was quoting from one of my all time favorite movies, which was incredibly hot.

Me: "I can get you a toe by four o'clock this afternoon, with polish."

Brit: "You don't want to go there with me, mister. I'll win. I know the whole thing by heart."

Me: "That's hot."

Brit: "You're funny."

Me:  "Do you have any art for sale? I want to buy something for my apartment."

Brit: "I'm looking at one I've been working on for a long time. It's almost done, and it's probably the best thing I've ever done."

Me: "Sounds like something I've got to have. How much?"

Brit: "I didn't say it was for sale."

Me: "
You told me about it when I asked if you had anything for sale. That's the same as saying it's for sale. How much?"

Brit: "I hate taking money from people, especially friends."

Me: "You've got to get used to it. How much for the favorite painting?"

Brit: "I don't know. I'll think about it. You probably wouldn't like it anyway. It's all rainbow, fractal, tie-dye, and I know that's not really your thing."

Me: "Stop trying to talk me out of it. You said you love it and that's good enough for me. Rainbow, fractal, tie-dye is my favorite color anyway. I was hoping you'd say that. Name your price, and bring it down with you when you move. Do you need help moving, by the way?"

Brit: "I'll consider it spoken for, then, if you insist. It's big, though, so be prepared for that."

Me: "I have nothing but open walls, but I guess you knew that already. Let me know if you need help moving."

Brit: "Thanks! (For the painting and the offer about moving.) A couple of my friends from up here offered to help me out, but it's nice to know you're willing just in case they
fall through."

We had a few more exchanges before she told me she was sorry again for texting so late, and wanted to let me go so I could get to bed.
Our whole string of text had been more friendly than romantic, but at least she was opening a line of communication. For the past week, I'd been assuming she regretted sleeping with me and would probably go on ignoring me forever.

I asked her if I could use the number to text her again sometime, and she said
she thought I'd never ask. That made me smile. The last text she sent was a video from her gig earlier that night. It was footage someone in the audience had taken of her on stage with her band. I watched it all the way through before sending one last text saying she was a rock star. She sent an emoji of a blushing smiley face and wrote, "Aw shucks."

I didn't respond to that last one.
I watched the video of her song one last time before I put the phone down. Then I fell asleep smiling at the thought of Brit knowing quotes from The Big Lebowski.