Amy silently sipped the last of the wine from her glass and looked aimlessly towards the phone.
“Should I call him?” she thought to herself.
How long had it been, she wondered, since she had called him and just chatted.
“Over a year probably,” she snapped her eyes into focus.
She reached out and poured the remaining wine into her glass. Licking the dripping wine from her finger, she placed the bottle on the table and reached over to the phone and began dialing.
“What is his number,” she stopped after dialing the area code, taking a sip of wine, before continuing to dial.
She felt her heartbeat quicken as the first ring echoed into her ear, then even faster when she heard the second. She couldn’t believe he wouldn’t be home, it was after six there. “Third ring,” she bit her lip.
“Hello,” her heart skipped as she heard his voice on the other end.
“Hello, it’s me,” she answered back.
“Amy? Is that you? I haven’t heard from you since Christmas,” he sounded happy she thought.
“I know, I’ve been busy,” she paused, “and remiss.”
She leaned back into the sofa feeling chest get heavy. Why had she waited so long to call him?
“It’s okay, the phone works both ways,” he laughed his nervous laugh. “Why do I have the pleasure of talking to you now?”
Amy realized she wasn’t paying attention to what he said, her mind drifting off from the wine.
“Oh,” she looked through her mind to see if she could figure out what he asked, “I’m doing good.”
She heard him laughing on the other end. She thought about how good it was to hear him laughing.
“Never mind, I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening,” she blurted out, “I was thinking about all the fun we used to have together.”
His laughing trailed off.
“We used to have the best times,” he said, she heard his breathing relax, “Great times.”
“Our trip to Disney World was a blast,” she giggled, “especially when you stepped off the tea cup ride and threw up on someone’s shoes!”
“That’s not funny,” he said so loud she had to pull the phone away from her ear.
“It was too,” she laughed, “I miss those times.”
There was a long pause.
“I miss you too,” he finally broke the silence, “all of you.”
Amy pulled the phone back up to her ear and looked down at the sofa.
“Maybe you can come and visit? I’m between jobs and class right now,” she spoke softly into the phone.
She felt a knot in her stomach slowly tightening as he paused.
“I should do that,” she thought he felt uncomfortable saying it. “I have some time off.”
The words trailed off.
She wondered if that was a maybe or a yes, or even avoiding saying no.
“Then it’s settled, you tell me when and I’ll be ready,” she answered back. Giving him the responsibility of the date made it his choice to come or not, she reassured herself.
“I’ll be there Friday,” she felt the knot in her stomach bulge, “at about 7, if I can leave work by noon.”
She bit her lip.
“Ok,” she answered slightly stunned. “Friday is two days away. I have to clean!”
He laughed again.
“I’m a student,” she answered his laughter sternly, “there is no time for cleaning.”
“Okay, okay,” he answered through his laughter, “you get to that cleaning, I have to go anyway.”
“Hot date?” she asked coyly.
“I’ve got to run, but I’ll see you Friday,” he changed the subject, “bye.”
“Bye,” she listened as the phone clicked off.
She laid her head back on the sofa and let her mind drift until she fell asleep.
*****
Amy stared at the clock as it ticked towards six. She felt both excited and scared, her feelings mixing chaotically.
She got up to clean the sink and laughed.
“How many times can I clean the sink,” she thought to herself before sitting back down and looking around her apartment. She thought about the last time it was this clean.
“Never”, she said though no one was listening.
She looked at the clock again, “6:10”. She reached over the table and grabbed at the corkscrew on the other side, pulling it towards her with her fingertips. She twisted it in her hands for a while.
“6:35,” she groaned dropping her head to the table. “If I was a bigger slob I would still be cleaning now!”
She reached out for the bottle of wine and held it in her hand admiring it.
“1990,” she shook her head side to side.
She remembered the man behind the counter; his silly way of saying “Boudreaux” like it was all fabulous and such.
“Booordeeew,” she tried to mimic him over and over. “Boooooordeeew, ze left banc among ze mangnifique hillside.” She started wheezing, have humored herself into a state of intense laughter.
She heard the knock on the door just as she finally had composed herself enough to breathe.
“I’m coming,” she tried to call out, still gasping for air. “I’m coming.”
“I’ll wait then, please by all means enjoy yourself,” he heard him call through the door. “I can sit down and wait.”
She reached out to the door handle and opened it.
“Stop that right now,” she tried to look up at him sternly. “That’s not funny.”
“But something was,” he looked down at her, “I heard you from my car.”
He tossed his duffle bag into the entryway and held out his arms.
“Don’t I at least get a hug for coming so far,” he waited patiently.
Amy felt a little uncomfortable, but slowly moved forward. His arms felt so strong encircling her. She pulled her body closer, turning her head and resting it on his chest.
“I missed you,” she looked up at him, pulling herself away.
“Me too,” he reached his hand down and brushed her cheek.
She stared up and looked at him for a while, thinking about how good it was to see him.
“I,” she paused, her eyes never leaving his, “bought us a nice bottle of wine and I cut up some cheese.” She nodded her head towards the kitchen. “Maybe we should eat, you’re must be starving.”
She reached her hand out and yanked on his sleeve, pulling him to the living room.
“Here, sit down,” she pushed him onto the sofa. “I’ll be right back.”
She walked into the kitchen and collected up the cheese, wine and glasses carefully balanced amid her arms and hands.
“Here, grab this,” she tried to speak through the corkscrew lodged in her mouth. “This,” she nodded to the plate of cheese.
He grabbed the plate and put it on the coffee table.
“Now this,” she nodded to the wine bottle lodged precariously between her forearm and breast.
She bit her teeth tightly into the corkscrew as his hand brushed softly against her nipple before grabbing the wine and putting it down.
”Anything else?” he looked up at her grinning. “Or do you have it under control?”
“Behave,” she handed him a wine glass and pulled the corkscrew from her mouth.
She reached out and grabbed the wine bottle, slowly turning her fingernail around and around it’s tip.
“Those things are weapons,” he looked at her nails.
“And foil cutters,” she winked at him pulling the foil from the top of the wine bottle and turning the corkscrew around and around.
She bit her lip and cranked on the corkscrew until the cork slowly started pulling from bottle.
“The guy at the store said something about ‘zecanting zis wine un hour before zu drink it’” she giggled, wiggling the cork from the bottle, “but I don’t know what that means, or really what he said at all.”
The cork popped free. She poured some into each glass, mopping the drip from the bottle with her finger and slowly pulled it to her mouth.
“Wait,” he grabbed her wrist gently, “for old times sake?”