Asher's phone rang from his pocket. He flipped it open and propped it between his ear and his shoulder, his hands full of a giant stack of font books. "Hey Chava, is everything okay?"
She groaned into the phone. "I'm visiting home and they're driving me nuts."
He laughed. "Weren't you just there?"
"I visit every weekend," she said, a hint of annoyance at the edge of her words.
"Right." He set the books down on his desk and grabbed the phone with his hand instead. "What are they doing now?"
He could practically hear her eyes roll. "Ma wants grandkids."
Asher's heart sank. He knew everyone in the family expected him to settle down first. He wondered if Chava would ever find someone that could meet her standards. He wanted every happiness for her.
"Well, I don't think that's happening any time soon for either of us." He frowned at his phone as it chimed again. He had a new text. "Hang on, Chava."
He lowered the phone to see a text from one of his most recent online hookups. "Guess who's back in town ;)"
Asher raised the phone again. "Hey, Raisin, I'm sorry but I gotta run. Don't let them drive you crazy."
He heard his sister sigh. "Bye, Asher."
He sent a quick text back to the hookup, who was in his contact list as "Myspace, Brunette", and hurried to the elevator. As the doors slid shut, he realized he should text Goose too. He quickly typed "coming home, gonna have company. you might wanna go out for a couple hours" and sent the text. He felt bad that it was so last-minute, but he figured it was better than no notice at all. He sent another follow-up message. "sorry".
Goose replied a few minutes later. "Have fun, meet me @ Friar's if you're done early".
Asher doubted he would make it to Friar's.
