Joel has been in love with Audrey for the entire two years that he's known her, but she's been in a relationship with his best friend for just as long.
Until now.
When Joel stops by her apartment for a friendly check-up, Audrey invites him in for a...
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I knock on the door to apartment 4C that I know so well. I was familiar with the door before today, of course, but I now know the wood grain like the lines on my palms. A neighbor passing me in the hallway who is shooting me a look as if I were a stalker has finally forced me to knock.
Audrey opens up and raises her eyebrows. "Joel, hi."
She looks fucking breathtaking, even though she's only wearing a regular pair of jeans and a light white and blue polka-dot blouse.
"Hey, Audrey," I say and try to sound nonchalant even though my entire body is unseasonably hot. I've already taken off my jacket and draped it across my arm, but I'm still sweating. I should have gone home to change first, not show up here in my office clothes. But I couldn't wait. Oscar told me on the phone this morning and I've been obnoxiously giddy and antsy ever since.
Audrey looks down the hallway carefully and I immediately guess why.
"Oh, no, just me." Upon hearing this, her shoulders relax.
"I, uh, heard. And thought I'd stop by to see you. I mean, to see how you're doing." God, what the hell happened to my brain's speech center? It didn't use to be this bad when I would see her.
"Oh, that's kind of you. I've been packing up some stuff. Oscar's picking up a box this weekend when I'm on that company retreat. Better we not run into each other for a little while."
Although I notice she hasn't answered my question, I leave it be for the moment. I grimace awkwardly, pressing my lips together.
"Um... do you want to come in for a cup of coffee?" she offers and even though I'm not sure if she really means it, I smile at her widely before I quickly and gratefully accept.
I take off my shoes right away after the door falls shut. When I look up, Audrey is in the process of haphazardly making her bed.
"Oh, please don't bother for me," I quickly say. She pulls her beige cardigan tighter around herself and I hate that I'm making her feel this way. She's always been confident and relaxed around me and it's one of the many things I love about hanging out with her. At least my intervention seems to have stopped her from trying to straighten the entire studio. As final actions, she pushes an open cardboard box aside which, I'm willing to bet, is the one she's using for Oscar's things and picks up a book she has left on the dining table. Remembering what she has invited me in for, she strides across the room to the kitchenette next to the door and opens a cabinet.
"Your usual?" she asks, referring to black coffee, and pulls out the ceramic mug with the black lab puppies on it that remind me of my late childhood dog Janey. I've taken the same 'usual' and mug at her place for two years now, but I still like that she always remembers. In fact, Audrey once told me she never offers the labrador mug to any other guest but me which doesn't fail to make a warm feeling spread in the pit of my stomach when I think about it now. I'm such a sap, I think as I sit down at the table.
