I Kept My Promise - #ModernLoveContest

Chapter 2

I couldn't quite place what Richard Debacker thought was going to happen. He mentioned he was planning on moving away at the end of the summer to get a masters degree in Maritime Law. He would text me all day with silly quick bits and questions.

What's the craziest thing in your house? I had told him my whole family is artists.

I sent him a picture of a dead monkey prop my mom had made for a production of Sunset Boulevard. Thing would scare the living shit out of me every time I came home through the garage.

Wow.

Yeah, the prop stories are the funniest because everything is so taken out of context. There was this time my Mom went to Home Depot to get supplies for a production of Jesus Christ Superstar and the guy asked her if she needed help. She said she needed the biggest nails available. And when he asked what her project was she admitted, "I need to crucify Jesus Christ." This is the kind of chaotic energy I grew up with.

I think unusual childhoods make for interesting people, and interesting is the best.

What's the craziest thing you ever done?

I used to do tattoo bets and now one of my friends has an altered Statue of Liberty on his arm with my face on it

Oh no, 'used to' implies it happened multiple times.

I mean I won most of them

What happened when you lost?

See, if I told you that, it wouldn't be a secret anymore. Only people who've seen me with my shirt off know that

Mount Rushmore with your friend's face on it?

No, but a similar vein of stupidity

Lincoln memorial with his face one it?

That would be cool, but no

Okay, but I'm going to keep guessing until I find out

Before my vaccine, a month earlier, I had just moved out of my parents house and returned to Boston after a year of social distancing. I hadn't seen any of my friends in person in 13 months. The year before, my friend Becky got rejected from the emergency room because she was still technically breathing and testing was so bad they couldn't prove she had Corona. She's 28 with asthma.

The apartment is a big brownstone in southend, big enough that I never really see my roommates and I can go days alone, with only sometimes doing zooms with my co-workers.

I liked having a sassy marine in my back pocket.

I asked him what he did for fun out in Buzzards Bay at the Maritime School. He admitted everyone was younger than him since he started college after the military, so he wasn't friends with most of them.

I would invite you to come hang in Boston, but I have to do at least one video call to check your serial-killer vibes. We had been texting for well over a week at this point, which typically on Hinge, a guy either makes a plan to see you within 48 hours or you're ghosted forever.

He scheduled our call during his tutoring session. You can even use the zoom link the students use.

The nice dangly earrings were off and I put on a 3 year old sweater. The last guy got lipstick, eyeliner and 3 point lighting in my room so my face looked clear.

I'm not about to infiltrate the Maritime Academy. Sounds dangerous. I made a zoom link for us instead. I make them a lot as an admin for my work. He was being careless, but I would rather not be the one to get him fired 2 weeks before he graduated.