No More No More

Cigarettes II

"Well, where is he?" Janet demands, sitting down across from me on my bed.  It was the afternoon, she was talking about Danny.

        "Home, I'm assuming," I say, raking a brush through my wet hair.  Janet had showed up like five minutes after I had gotten out of the shower.  "Unless he got kidnapped by aliens while driving."

        Janet looks at me skeptically.  "When did he leave?"

        "Last night."

        I swear that Janet just swore under her breath.  "Why?" she asked at a normal volume.

      I shrug.  " 'Cause that's what you do after a date: you leave."  My sarcasm right now is really somthin' else.

       I did not sleep with Danny, nor did I want to.  I just met the guy for God's sake!  Janet smiles.  "Well, I've got your evening planned for tonight as well; wear something nice."

       And that's how my days went.  Janet would find me a blind date, sometimes she and James would join us, most times we were alone.  Whenever I'd go on a date (I didn't have an option to not go.  Sometimes I'd be lucky and Janet wouldn't find anyone), Janet would show up sometime the following afternoon and ask for the details.  I'd tell her we talked and stuff and then he went home.  She was obviously hoping for some nitty-gritty dirty stuff, but it didn't exist.

--

I was free on June the tenth, two days before Aerosmith was scheduled to leave.  Whenever I didn't have a date, I'd hang around with Tom or Joey or Brad.  Sometimes all three, sometimes only two, and sometimes Steven was thrown into the mix.  Each time I saw him, I had to mentally scream I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! so that I'd remember not to talk to him.  I think he got the message I was mentally yelling and I think he mentally yelled it back.

       Tom knocked on my door early in the afternoon.  I didn't get out of bed to answer it (what?  So I'm still in bed!  Its only like noon!), and my mom got it instead.  Tom, if you've forgotten, was one of my friends before Aerosmith came to be.  He was in Joe's––well, at the time he was Anthony––band, the Jam Band.  Anyway, we go way back so it wasn't strange for him to show up at my apartment like this (back in the day, of course.  Now it was a bit unexpected).

        He came into my room.  I pretended to sleep.  "Hey, we're leaving in two days," he said.

        I roll over to squint up at him.  He grins back.  It's Tom and only Tom.  No Steven.  Fine with me.  "Were gonna go out for like a celebratory dinner type thing tonight for Europe and stuff... It wouldn't be the same without you.  Terry'll be there if you're interested..."

        "Yeah?" I ask, not really interested.

        Tom nods.  "I recommend you come.  We all want you there."

        I narrow my eyes, suspicious.  "Define 'we all'."

       "Me, Brad, Joey, Terry, Julia..." he trails off, as though only a few of the 'we all' was an acceptable answer.  It wasn't.

        "Okay...?"  I swing my feet out of the bed.

        "You're coming?" Tom asks excitedly.

        I sigh.  "I've got nothing better to do; Janet's hooking me up with blind dates.  Yeah, I'll go."

        "Excellent!  Wear something nice."

        I frown.  "How nice?"

        "I said celebratory dinner!  It's fancy and expensive so wear something nice!"