Alex and Annie: A Bad Jokes Spinoff

Chapter 14 (Alex): Show Up

Without saying anything, after looking at my face for a few moments, Annie opened her door wider to me, and I walked into her apartment. I'd come right from work because I couldn't stand another day of her ignoring me. I missed Annie.

"Will you talk with me?" I asked her, then added, "Please?"

She didn't answer right away, but she wasn't kicking me out yet, so I took that as a positive.

"Start talking," she told me.

"Annie, I talked to my sister and she pointed out some obvious things to me. Well, things that should have been obvious but I missed. She told me I wasn't being fair when I asked you to train me. You were right to call me out on it. And just because I say something doesn't make it so. Me wanting something doesn't mean I get what I want, especially if I try to take the shortcut and just say this is happening without being willing to do the work to make it happen. Am I making any sense?"

I wasn't sure if anything I was saying was making sense. Annie's face wasn't helping me, either. Her eyes remained on me, but her face was set, as if to say, You asked for this meeting so run it. Don't stop now.

"I know I've gone at this, us, ass-backwards. I'm sorry about that. Telling you I wanted to find a girl like you to have a relationship with was just wrong on so many levels and in so many ways that I can't believe I said that. I'm sorry I said it and I'm sorry I hurt you when I said that."

Nothing from Annie, but that was OK because I didn't want her to give me anything at this point. I wanted to earn it. Deserve it. Work for it.

"I hurt you, but that was an important lesson for me because I learned that hurting you hurts me like nothing else can. It makes me feel like my entire world is off kilter, and it won't be right again until I can make you stop hurting."

Without saying anything, she crossed her arms over her chest, and I about panicked, going through everything I'd said and seeing if there was anything bad so far. I couldn't pinpoint anything that would have made her angry to this point, so I was at a loss. Shit. Shit. Think, Alex.

"So, I want to see if you'd be willing to start at the beginning with me. With me asking you out to dinner so we can talk."

"Just talk, Alex?" Her look was purely skeptical, and I didn't blame her considering that we'd been having sex almost since the very beginning of us.

"I don't expect anything else, Annie. Just dinner between two people who are attracted to one another and are willing to explore things to see if there's more there."

"No more telling me we're in a relationship because you decided we were?"

"No. No. Not at all. We'll consider this our first start. Our real beginning."

"We'll see about that. What night are you thinking of?"

"This Saturday. Around eight."

"When do you need an answer by?" she asked me.

"Saturday. By seven fifty-nine. And fifty-nine seconds."

That made her mouth twitch just a bit, and I wanted to do a victory dance. I'd almost made Annie smile like I used to.

"OK, I'll call you to let you know what I decide."

She was kicking me out? I hadn't finished what I wanted to say.

"Annie, I have a few more things to say, please." 

She gave me the classic side eye at that. It made me want to kiss her, but I knew my lock picks might end up somewhere bad if I tried that at this point.

"All good things, I swear."

After a minute of considering my words, she nodded.

"I'm taking you seriously, Annie. I just want you to know that. I'm done with being stupid and putting this on you to make us work. I'm done with bulldozing my way into your life. If you give me another shot, I'll do the heavy lifting from here on out so you can see I'm committed to you, to us. That I can handle being in an adult relationship, which I realize, based on my past behavior, may be hard to believe, but I'll prove it to you."

"OK, thanks for stopping --"

This woman couldn't wait to get rid of me. I'd really fucked this up because she used to not want me to leave. I was happy her apartment didn't have an ejector seat to send me on my way because I had no doubt she'd use it on my ass.

I held up my finger in a wait a minute gesture.

"Last thing, I promise. What I'm about to say I realize depends on you saying yes to our date, but if you do, just know that it'll be a man -- me -- standing outside your door on Saturday. Not an asshole like I've been, not a clueless idiot like I've also been, not a puppy in need of training, but a fully grown man. And I'll be doing my best to get things right so you can see how much I want to pursue a relationship with you. I want to be like the males in nature who have to do their best and be their best to win the female's attention because they recognize her worth and want to put their best efforts forward so she'll pick them."

"A male in nature," Annie repeated faintly. She didn't seem mad, which was good; in fact, she seemed slightly amused, but I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.  

When I'd talked with Rory, she'd brought up the whole nature scenario, telling me that animals in the wild had it right. A male had to be better than the other males if he wanted to have any hope of wooing and winning the female. She wasn't going to fall for some half-assed effort because she had more than one male attempting to catch her eye and could pick the most impressive one in the bunch.

"You need to bring your A game, Alex," Rory had said. "Except...it's not a game and you can't treat it like one. If you're serious about Annie, and I think you are, you have to prove that to her. Show her how much she means to you. And I can't speak for all women, but it's not the big gestures necessarily. It's the attention to details. It's the little things. Listen to what she's saying because hearing somebody is one of the best gifts there is. It shows her that you value what she has to say."

"That's easy to do. Annie's the most interesting person I know."

Rory's eyes softened. "Alex, don't mess this up. I think she's it for you like Xane is it for me."

"I want to get this right, Roar. More than anything."

"Well, Gracie and Justice and I want you to get it right, too, so we don't have to rescue you from any more stage four and five clingers." She bumped me with her shoulder. "And also because we love you and want to see you happy. We all liked Annie a lot."

"She's the best there is," I said.

"Then show up for her, Alex. Show her who you really are and stop being a dick."

"So, I'm going to do my best to show you that if you do pick me, Annie, I won't let you down or hurt you ever again."

"OK, Alex. I'll call you tomorrow and let you know what I decide."

"I'll be looking forward to it," I said.

But I didn't know if that would be a lie because if Annie called to say no, I wasn't looking forward to that at all.

And it was a very distinct possibility.