The Boy I Knew

We're Just Hanging Out

I stared at him for a second as he played pool. I opened his wallet. He had at least 5 different cards. I just grabbed one for his tab. He said to tip myself, and he had a stack of bills. It just didn't feel right. I folded the wallet back up and stuck it behind the bar where it was safe. Brandy comes up and grabs my arm. She pulls me close to her, and so our backs were facing against the bar again.

"What are you doing?" Brandy asked me. I looked at her confused.

"I'm....Working?" I said with a chuckle. She rolled her eyes and tightened her grip on my arm for a second to get my attention.

"No Camille, like with PJ." She said sternly. I looked at her with a confused face.

"Um, I don't know. I was just serving his drinks like I would a regular customer." I answered, shrugging my shoulders.

"Okay but are you ACTUALLY going to hang out with him after work?" She asks, looking me dead in the eyes. I rolled my eyes and scoffed.

"What if I do, Brandy? What if I do? What's the big deal. He just wants to catch up." I said, starting to get angry now. What I choose to do is none of her business. I mean, she's my best friend and looks out for me. And I would do the same thing. But she's automatically assuming the worst. He just wants to hang out. I mean, believe me, I know something could possibly happen between us. But I'm not just going to turn him down. He seemed really happy to see me. And although I still don't have any answers as to what happened between us, I wouldn't mind catching up with him.

"Camille, I know you're not that stupid!" Brandy raises her voice at me. I look around to make sure nobody heard. The music was loud enough and there's still a bunch of people here that nobody heard.

"You know he wants more than that!" She continued. I got even more angry and turned around to completely face her.

"You don't even fucking know that, Brandy! And anyway, I'm a big girl, I can make my own damn decisions. Now just leave me alone and mind your own business. I don't fucking need you telling me how to live my life!" I yelled. Brandy melted at my words and her face fell to the floor. Then she got a ruthless look on her face.

"Fine. I was just trying to keep you from getting your heart broken again. But it's fine. Go fuck him, get your heart broken when he leaves you the next morning and doesn't return your calls. Why should I give a shit, right?" She said shrugging as she pushed through me and walked away. I kind of felt bad, because she was just trying to save me from possible heartache. But she made me angry!

"Brandy you don't even know him anymore. You don't know his intentions!" I yelled back at her one last time. She rolls her eyes and turned back around to face me. She got in my face.

"Yeah exactly Camille. You don't even know him anymore. You don't know his intentions. I understand things were sweet in high school, it was all lovey-dovey puppy love bullshit. But he is 35 now. He could be a whole different person than you knew, like I've TRIED TO TELL YOU BEFORE!" She yells and walks away. I took a deep breath to relieve my anger and get back to work to take my mind off of our argument.

I was happy to see PJ. It will be nice to be able to talk to him again. I think that's what was so hard about how things ended between us. We never had closure. I went from seeing him, or talking to him on the phone every day, to never seeing or talking to him again. I thought he'd call me. It was hard for me to leave, but I knew we wouldn't drift apart. And then we did. I watch him as he plays pool and jokes with the guys he's playing with. He hasn't changed a bit, physically. Of course now, he's a man. We were just kids last time we saw each other in person. I'm a little nervous to see how tonight turns out. Talking and hanging out could easily escalate into something more. Oh Camille, quit jumping to conclusions. This could be an innocent encounter. PJ turns around after shooting and leans on his pool stick. He automatically looks across the busy room over to me. He smiles and winks. My heart flutters and I look away, embarrassed that he caught me staring at him. I look down and continue to serve drinks. I turn around to grab someone a beer, and when I turn back around, he's standing right in front of me. I slide the beer over to the customer, and then I look at PJ. He looks at me with a smile.