I am the type of person who gets easily bored. This causes problems in relationships - not so much for me, but for the men I date. I seem to have a tolerance limit of two years, and Brian and I have been dating for two and a half.
Well, in theory. Really, the relationship has been over for a rather long time, but sharing an apartment together in the young, hip (read: expensive) part of town, we simply haven't gotten to the point of him actually moving out yet. That's coming soon. The lease will be up in a month. I know it's going to be difficult because everybody knows everybody else in this area of the city. Which means we have a number of mutual friends and it's only a matter of time before Brian finds out what I've done.
Like I said, the relationship has been over for some time. We haven't been intimate in seven months, and now that it's summertime I find myself getting hot in ways that have nothing to do with the July heat.
One evening, I was in a neighborhood pub lamenting this fact to Marc, one of our mutual friends. He had been Brian's roommate when Brian and I first began dating, so I'd known him for some time and was comfortable discussing details of that nature with him. God knows how many times I had to hear him tell me stories of his ex (what a bitch she was!). As Marc sat sipping his usual gin-and-tonics and I downed yet another bottle of ale, we agreed that my relationship with Brian was, in fact, over and there was nothing to do but convince Brian to leave.
We sat quietly for a few moments. I peeled at the label on the bottle and Marc played with his straw, causing the ice to clink against the glass. He placed the glass on the table and stared at me. "What?" I demanded.
"Can I ask you something?"
I got an uneasy feeling that I knew what it was going to be. I had begun to realize some time ago that Marc was developing a crush on me. I began to scrutinize the label. "No," I said, "you can't."
"All right, then," said Marc, and with that the awkward moment passed.
In the days that followed I had the dreaded conversation with Brian, who took it much better than I had expected. Life pretty much went on the same as it always had, except that Brian was staying at home more often (which I found incredibly annoying) so I began going out more, and staying out later.
One particularly nice weekend Brian and I decided to have some friends over for a cookout. Marc was among the invited guests. There was tons of food, beer and booze. I was in charge of the grill while everybody else listened to music and played on the computer or talked. Especially James, who never shuts up. After everyone had eaten their fill, Marc and I went out to the balcony to get away from James' jabbering jaws. We sat and talked and drank and laughed at James, who would occasionally poke his head out to speak some drivel, which was blessedly drown out by the strategically placed stereo speaker. After a while, Brian left with most of the party to go to a bar. Quiet now that James had left, Marc and I returned inside. Only two other guests remained, Brian's brother, Sam, and his friend. Sleepy from the food and beer, I decided to take a nap, but asked Marc if he wanted to meet up later to go to the bar. He agreed and I fell asleep.
When I awoke later that evening, I was surprised to see Marc was still there. I freshened myself up a bit, and we left for the pub. I had taken the last bottle of beer from the refrigerator before we left and dumped a shot of rum into it. Marc and I laughed the whole way down the alley about the silliness of two adults sneaking about with a single bottle of beer. "I don't think I've done this since I was in seventh grade!" he said. "Yeah, but it's got the last of the rum in it, so give it back!" I laughed.
We arrived at our destination to find that the other members of the afternoon's party had gone elsewhere. Other than the bartender, a friend of mine, we had the place to ourselves. After several rounds of drinks, Marc left for home. I stayed on, doing shots with the now off-duty barkeep. When I realized that I was getting a bit tipsy, I, too, decided it was time to go. I started for home, but decided Marc's apartment was closer. To my relief, despite the late hour, he was still awake.