Nervousness racked Phoenix’s whole body as she pulled onto Briar Court, his street. Something in the back of her head was nagging her to stop and not go any further, yet that same voice was pushing her to go on. She listened to the latter and slowly pulled up in front of his house. After checking herself in her rearview mirror, she went up the walkway to the porch, and rang the doorbell. The door opened and there he was. Just the sight of him made Phoenix tremble inside.
“Hey babe,” he said with the slow smile she loved.
“Hey Brad,” she returned the smile.
She stepped into the foyer and stood next to him. Standing five feet six inches tall, Phoenix felt shorter than usual next to his six-foot presence. They walked up the stairs and through the kitchen to the porch in an awkward, yet comfortable silence. They both sat and looked at each other, smiling.
Phoenix couldn’t believe she was there, especially with him. Of all the people in the world, Brad was the last person she thought would ever have an interest in her. Phoenix and Brad had met a few years earlier, when he dated Tina, a friend of hers. Since they were in the same circle of friends, of course when everyone went out they got to see each other and talk, her always admiring him from afar. There was even a time when a group of the friends went on a road trip, which left Brad driving, and Phoenix navigating for a good part of the trip. This was the turning point in their friendship, at least in Phoenix’s eyes. Brad and her were able to talk and get to know each other more than they had ever in the past.
It was only a few weeks ago that they had gotten closer. Brad had messaged Phoenix on the computer late one night and after that they talked, every night on the computer until two or three in the morning, and even a few hours after that on the phone. It was then that Phoenix realized that her crush on Brad wasn’t just one sided. Both had confessed their feelings for the other. So when Brad asked Phoenix to come hang out with him, she immediately said yes.
Phoenix was snapped back into reality when Brad lit a cigarette and said something to her.
“I’m sorry, what?” Redness crept up into her cheeks.
“I said you look great,” he replied taking a drag from his cigarette.
“Thanks, so do you.”
“Nah, I just got in from work right before you came. I still gotta take a shower. Do you mind waiting for me?”
“No that’s fine,” Phoenix said as he stubbed out his cigarette, and then followed him back into the house, into his room.
Brad gathered his clothes, and then went out to take a shower, leaving Phoenix in his room alone. She looked around his room, although she’d been in there before, with Tina, she never really looked at things. His walls were covered in posters, not of cars or nude women, but of wolves. Brad had a thing for the mysterious creatures, so much that he had a tattoo of a wolf on his left shoulder blade. Along with the posters there were a few sports trophies and pictures from his high school days.
“See anything you like?” Phoenix jumped at the sound of his voice.
“I like your posters,” she replied as he sat next to her on the bed, freshly showered and looking great.
“Thanks,” he smiled, “So what do you want to do now?”
“I don’t care, its up to you,” Phoenix shrugged, “I’m up for anything.”
“Well I was thinking we could go rent a movie, then hit a few bars and get a drink or two before we come back here and hang out. Sound good?”
“Sure does.”
“One thing though, before we leave,” Brad said slowly.
“What’s that?” Phoenix asked, clearly confused.
“I just wanted to get something out of the way.”
With that he smiled and leaned in slowly toward Phoenix. She felt his lips touch hers and a shiver went down her spine. It was a short kiss, but it was enough to leave her breathless. When they pulled away, both had a huge smile on their face.
“Okay now we can go,” he said with a sly smile.
Phoenix was speechless, so she followed him outside to her car. They went to rent a movie; neither was interested in the movie, but rented one nonetheless. They, then, made their way to Woody’s, a bar Brad recommended. Inside, Brad introduced Phoenix to his friends, Jenni and Mike, who bought their first round of drinks, a beer for them both. They stayed for about an hour, listening to the DJ, talking, and playing games, before heading off to another bar called Larry’s. It was there that Brad and Phoenix had a few more drinks, but also the chance to talk more than they had at Woody’s.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you, Phoenix,” Brad started, and then paused to take a long swig of his beer.
“Um, what’s that?” Phoenix looked down and fiddled nervously with her own beer bottle.
“Well, this is going to be hard to tell you but…”
“Brad! Just tell me!”
“Okay, well, in a few months I’m going to be moving to Los Angeles.” Brad said really fast, not making eye contact with Phoenix at all.
“What!?!”
“I got a job working out there through one of my friends. I just found out a few days ago.”
“Doing what exactly?” Phoenix was dumbfounded and a little sad, here she found this great guy, and now he was going to be moving away.
“Working on a film crew, doing gopher work at first, then maybe working my way up the ladder.” He replied, suddenly aware of Phoenix’s disappointment, “But let’s not talk about this now, lets head out to the Club.”
