Jennifer

I rushed home, checked on Jessica and the boys, and as quickly as I could, made a mad dash upstairs to Alphonso’s apartment. The time of day told me he would be locked away in his room, working on his sketches. I would have to do my now infamous acrobatic act where I lean myself over the outside railing as far as I could while I pounded on his bedroom window.

A mere three minutes later, he opens the front door, looking like death.

“Jeez, you look terrible.” I said, as I made my way in his apartment. “I have news, huge news, so pull yourself together!”

Maybe he was actually asleep this time.

“How many times have I told you to ring the doorbell and not pound on my window like we live in the ghetto or something.”

I threw my purse down, sat down on his sofa, while I waited for him to take his cue and sit next to me.

“You never answer when I ring the doorbell!”

He made his was to the sofa directly across from me.

“Then perhaps you should take a hint!”

I did not have time for this.

“Guess what!”

“No.”

“C’mon, just guess!”

“Jennifer, you just woke me up out of a dead sleep I will not play these….”

“CHRISTIN IS PREGNANT! I just saw her in the store, and we were trying to avoid each other, but there was really no way, so we had like a hot second of awkward conversation and then she told me she was pregnant, and OF COURSE the douche of a guy is not around. We should do something!”

It took Alphonso a good few minutes to register what I was saying. Perhaps it could have been because I was talking incredibly fast, or perhaps he felt like I did. It is time to reconnect, let bygones be bygones and be there for her while she is getting ready to go through the most hardest time of her life.

“She is pregnant? Christin is going to have a baby? Should we have a dinner or something in her honor, I can have it catered!”

I got up from the sofa in search of a snack.

“We are not having a dinner in her honor. This is not like a coming out Debutante party or something. We will call her, and maybe take her to lunch, or invite her over. We will be supportive. Also…..I have some dumb work bowling thing I have to go to tomorrow after work, can you do my makeup?”

__________________________

Saturday night found Alphonso in my apartment trying to work his magic on me. I honestly do not know why I even cared at this point. I would think jeans and some sort of flannel would be sufficient to spend a few hours of bowling in. And those shoes, those horrible shoes. I did not have an outfit that in any way could make those shoes work.

There had been a slight change of plans. Alphonso would watch my boys in my apartment. Jessica had to work late, and Sean, a long with myself, was expected to show up at this “Let’s bring back team morale!” bowling event.

I would meet Sean at his house and he would then drive us both to the bowling alley. I had no idea where it was, and being that I am a horrible driver at night, this just made the most sense. Until, it quickly did not.

Sean still lived with his mother. He lived near Wild Waves which is a pretty cool water/amusement park here in Federal Way. The only problem, I was not that familiar with the area, and I had never been to his house before.

My nerves were getting the best of me. It was dark, there waere all these side roads in his particular neighbourhood, I was feeling light-headed due to the fact that I was on another one of my famous”diets” and the last thing I had to eat was around 9am in the morning. An apple! I figured I would grab something from the bar at the bowling alley, because really, the bar food was the only thing I was looking forward to.

As I pull up to his house, I saw Sean and Jessica standing outside in what looked to be a pretty heated argument. I know this because she was throwing his cd’s out of the car. Great. This was the last thing I needed. I did not want to be late since this was a work related thing, but I was counting on Sean to be the driver. I get out of the car.

“Hi guys? What’s going on?”

And then I was blindsided.

“What are you doing here?”
“Umm, Jen, you’re probably going to have to go without me.”
“Are you sleeping with him?”
“I just forgot to tell you.”

Holy crap I just entered the world of crazy, and usually, that is a world I am all too acquainted with. I was out of my comfort zone on this one.

This was the gist of it. Jessica wanted to hang out with Sean tonight, Sean, being the idiot that he is, somehow neglected to tell Jessica that he was committed to this ridiculous bowling night “to bring up team morale!” When Jessica saw me pull up, she figured I was the reason Sean lied to her. Which I wasn’t. As I previously stated, he is just an idiot.

Now I am annoyed. Like really annoyed. It was wrong of Sean to put me in this position because Jessica and I were not only good friends, but roommates. I told Jessica there was no way I would ever be interested in Sean, because he is an idiot. I told Sean he needed to fix this and make it right. I told both of them to just calm down and talk it out, and I would let Joe know that Sean had an emergency come up, and he would be unable to make it to the ridiculous bowling night. Lucky bastard.

I left those two standing on the front lawn and I made my way to the bowling alley, without quite knowing exactly how to get there.

I was about twenty minutes late, but I made it. My nerves were gone and to be honest, all I wanted to do was make a quick appearance, get something to eat and leave.

As soon as I walked in to the bowling alley, I saw all the familiar faces of work. They took up two tables, everyone looked like they were in a pretty good mood. Who knew? Perhaps there was something to this “Bring up team morale” thing.

Joe made his way over to me, as I was finding a spot to put my purse down.

“Good to see you Jen, glad you were able to make it. Is Sean with you?”

I gave him a look.

“Sean had an emergency come up. He will not be able to make it tonight…….so…..am I allowed to have a drink? I mean this wont go against me if I have a quick drink will it?”

He looked at me, gave me a quick little laugh and said “We are off the clock, you’re good.”

And with that, before I knew it, I had a long island iced-tea in my hand.