Broken Record

Chapter 6

“Tonight I'll dream while I'm in bed/when silly thoughts go through my head/about the bugs and alphabet/and when I wake tomorrow I'll bet/that you and I will walk together again/I can tell that we are gonna be friends/Yes I can tell that we are gonna be friends.” -The White Stripes, “We Are Going To Be Friends”

The next Friday Nick was pulling into his driveway after coming home from work — he was a pizza delivery boy and lost all his dignity because of it — when his phone started ringing. He picked it up as he stopped and held it to his ear as he put the car in park and smiled as he thought about how much his mother would yell at him for not being fully parked before answering (he liked to live on the wild side).

“Hello?” he said.

“Nick?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s Samantha.”

“Hey! What’s up?”

“Oh nothing,” she said, sounding unsure.

“Are you okay?”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Just cause it’s,” he checked the clock on the dashboard, “only eight o’clock and you’re usually with Luke tonight.”

“He had to work so we couldn’t meet up. That’s sort of why I called you actually.”

“Okay…” he said.

“Would you completely hate me if I had to cancel tomorrow?”

“Cancel tomorrow?”

“Like if I couldn’t hang out tomorrow.”

“But tomorrow’s Saturday.”

“I know,” she said.

“And we always hang out on Saturday’s.”

“I know.”

“Is a family member sick?”

“What?”

“Is your grandmother sick?” he asked.

“No.”

“Did your mom get into a car accident and you have to watch your sister?”

“No.”

“Did some uncle of yours that lives out of state get arrested and the family is going there to hold an intervention?”

“No,” she said.

“Then why the hell do you have to cancel tomorrow?”

“I-”

“No, really. You’ve ditched me so many times since you and Luke have started dating-”

“I know but-”

“And now you’re trying to cancel hanging out with me on our day. The day we always hang out. So tell me your reason. It better be a fucking good one,” he said.

“Nick, please.”

“Please what? Calm down for a second so you can tell me that you’re ditching me for your boyfriend? Is that it?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Well then I don’t care what in the hell you have to say. Goodbye.” He hung up and knocked his head against the steering wheel a few times before turning off the car and getting out.

…

The next day Nick didn’t wake up until almost one, which was odd since he could never sleep in. He realized it was probably because he fell asleep next to his record player at three in the morning. For some reason that cheered him up.