I was walking to Jeff's apartment, in sort of a hurry. It was a nice day. The wind was blowing enough to cool you off and I found my way in the shade of the buildings and the trees of downtown San Jose, California.
Jeff had called me and told me to rush over. It was supposed to be something important, and Jeff always had something going on, so I was making an effort to get to his place as soon as I could without running and working up a big sweat.
It was Cinco de Mayo, and Jeff had talked like he had some really good pot or maybe he had a couple of college girls over. The way he put it, "something had just landed." I figured it was girls. We used to double date a lot and Jeff was always a lady's man. He went out of his way to meet women and the girls really liked him, or at least college girls did.
They really did like him, and I could never figure out exactly why they liked him so much. Maybe they thought he was cute or maybe it was his personality. He was nice, after all, and I guess he was "fun." Maybe that's why I liked him, he was always up for some fun, and he'd usually find itβor create it himself.
He was definitely a creative guy. I think his major was art and design or something. He was from SoCal, and he was unconventional, to say the least. He was always doing something new, something different. I guess it was in his genes. His whole family was probably like that.
Mine, on the other hand, wasn't. My Old Man had wanted me to be an engineer, or worse, an accountant. It just wasn't in me. I tried majoring in that stuff, but I was just plain bored to death. I finally settled on political science. It's boring, too, but I guess I can always go to law school. At least my Old Man would be happy with that. The only problem is that everyone in California is a lawyer. The guy at Starbucks has a JD and so does my landlord. Anyway, I guess I'll end up doing something boring no matter what. I swear, if it weren't for Jeff, my life would be pretty boring.
I knocked on the door of Jeff's apartment, and his roommate answered the door and then, without saying a word, sat down in front of the tv, to watch some more sports. I stood there, looking around, looking at the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink and just taking in the little one-bedroom apartment, which Jeff shared with his roommate. Then Jeff came out of the bedroom, looking as trim and athletic and as short as usual.
He told me to come in the room right away and not say a word. I had to be quiet. He even shhhhhed me right before I went in.