Friends Don't, But We Do

1. Summer Again

"I'm back, when can I see you?"

I roll my eyes. He can't see me, but he probably knows I'm rolling my eyes at his comment. "Nolan, I told you I'm not busy. You're the one who said you can't hang out."

"Hey, my flight got delayed. That wasn't my fault," he argues over the phone. "But I'm home now. What are you doing?"

"Nolan, it's almost midnight. I'm in bed."

I can't help but giggle a bit at his eagerness. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see him too but I'm tired. I had a long day at work.

It's been months since I saw my best friend in person- back in January when he played the Jets, our hometown team. And even then, it was only a short meeting since his family was also in attendance.

"Aw c'mon, we can just drive around and catch up," he says. He's very persuasive, and now that I'm wide awake I would love to hear about his adventures in Philly this year. I sigh dramatically into the phone before agreeing, "alright fine, but you're driving."

"Great, I'll be over in ten."

I throw on a sweatshirt and my sneakers and go to wait outside my apartment. It's early May, and while it's getting warmer during the days, it's still breezy at night. I shiver as I wait for his car to pull up.

When I woke up this morning I wasn't expecting to see Nolan again. But now that I am, all the memories of our friendship come flooding back. During hockey season when he's away, it's easy to forget how much fun we have together.

When I see headlights pull into the small parking lot, I smile immediately. Seeing him drive a fancy car like this never fails to make me laugh, because I could never picture him driving anything other than that stupid 2005 Ford Escape.

As I approach, he's out of the car and meeting me halfway. He looks great, every time I see him his hair is a little bit longer and his muscles a little bit bigger. "Teegs, I missed you!" He announces, squeezing my body tightly and resting his chin on my head.

"I missed you too!" I say back, just as excited. "How was your flight?"

He tells me that it was alright, just long. As we get into his car, he asks me to tell him about work. I groan at the mention of it. I hate my job. I work at a law office. I want to be a lawyer,  but don't have the money for law school. So instead, I found the first office hiring someone without a degree requirement. I'm basically a secretary, and the senior lawyers aren't even helpful when I ask them advice on how to get into law school.

"What? Is it worse than before?"

I shrug. "Not really."

"Is that lawyer guy still a dick to you?" He laughs, probably at the stories I've told him about one of the senior partners. Mr. Howard is only ten years older than me but is a little bit condescending. He has me doing things like his personal assistant other than the office secretary. "A little bit," I laugh, "That guy Chris asked me out again though."

Chris is a paralegal at the office. He's nice, we get along alright at work.

"Did you say yes?"

I shrug again and Nolan laughs at my lack of assurance. I'm not the best at making decisions. "I mean yeah I did, but it could make things weird at work."

"Why would things be weird?"

I take a few minutes to explain why dating my only work friend could end up bad for me, if we end up breaking up or even just not ever get serious. Imagine being stuck in an in between phase with a guy that you see everyday.