here, huh? What do you think so far?”
It was difficult to divert my attention away from Carolyn and David. However, I was raised to be polite, so I turned to face him and answered his question.
“It’s fine. I don’t have a job yet, but other than that, things are okay.”
He took a swig of his drink. “What sort of a job are you looking for?”
“I’m a teacher.”
“Oh yeah? My sister’s a teacher. She teaches fifth grade. What do you teach?”
“Well, nothing right now, but I’m looking for a job in high school English.”
He smiled, and I noticed he was actually kind of cute. He had a clean-cut look about him, with brown hair and a close shave. He was good looking enough to be a model actually, but his appearance was better suited for a J.C. Penny circular than the Abercrombie catalogue.
“Wow,” he said, “you must be brave. I could never deal with teenagers everyday.”
I shifted in my chair, further away from Carolyn and David, trying to block out their continuing laughter. “I get that comment a lot when I tell people what I do. But truly, it’s all relative. Sure, there are bad days when you work with kids, but at least I don’t go to work everyday feeling like I’ll get fired if I don’t make some quota. I think teaching is a lot less scary than say, selling something.” From behind me I could still hear their giggles, but it was getting easier to ignore. I took a swig of my beer. “So what do you do?”
“I sell things,” he said with a laugh.
“Really?”
He laughed again. “Really. Well, actually, I sell time for a radio station. You know, advertising time? It’s not so bad.”
“Yeah, and I would think there’s something almost cosmic about that, selling time.”
He noticed my drink had left a wet spot on the table, so he took his napkin and reached across to wipe it up. “I work for an 80’s sta-tion. There’s nothing cosmic about that.”
“Do you have certain quotas that you have to fill?” I asked.
“Well, sort of...” Max was beginning to explain, when David interrupted.
“So hey guys, I think we’re going to get out of here.” He gestured towards Carolyn as he said it.
I had to risk it. Even if it meant Carolyn would be angry with me.
“Guys, could you excuse us please, for a moment. I need to talk to Carolyn alone.”
She gave me another glaring look, but said nothing. David hesitated, but Max came to my rescue.
“Sure,” he said. “Come on Dave, let’s go outside for a sec.”
Carolyn sat slouched in her seat as she watched the two of them leave, purposefully not looking at me. I waited until they were gone, and then I asked her.
“Carolyn, what in God’s name are you doing?”
She still would not look at me as she answered. “Oh, don’t get moralistic on me. You have no idea what my life is honestly like. And weren’t you the one who said we should go get a drink in the first place? That I shouldn’t be at home, waiting around for Charles?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t mean....” How to finish this sentence? “A few hours ago you were afraid to leave your apartment for fear of hurting Charles. Now you’re going to cheat on him?”
She turned to face me in anger. “Faith, who said I was going to cheat on him? Do you actually think I would do that?”
Actually, I did think that she would do something like that. She basically said so herself when she was trying to convince me to go after Ethan. But delicacy was necessary at the moment. “I don’t know, but I can say that David out there thinks that, or at the very least, he is hoping for it.”
Her gaze shifted down, so that she was now staring at her drink, as if it somehow held an answer to the dilemma she was facing.
I continued. “Look, I’m not going to judge you. I think that maybe you’re upset and you’ve had a couple of drinks, and you’re not thinking too clearly. That’s all. I don’t want you to do something that you are going to regret.”
“Right,” she
It was difficult to divert my attention away from Carolyn and David. However, I was raised to be polite, so I turned to face him and answered his question.
“It’s fine. I don’t have a job yet, but other than that, things are okay.”
He took a swig of his drink. “What sort of a job are you looking for?”
“I’m a teacher.”
“Oh yeah? My sister’s a teacher. She teaches fifth grade. What do you teach?”
“Well, nothing right now, but I’m looking for a job in high school English.”
He smiled, and I noticed he was actually kind of cute. He had a clean-cut look about him, with brown hair and a close shave. He was good looking enough to be a model actually, but his appearance was better suited for a J.C. Penny circular than the Abercrombie catalogue.
“Wow,” he said, “you must be brave. I could never deal with teenagers everyday.”
I shifted in my chair, further away from Carolyn and David, trying to block out their continuing laughter. “I get that comment a lot when I tell people what I do. But truly, it’s all relative. Sure, there are bad days when you work with kids, but at least I don’t go to work everyday feeling like I’ll get fired if I don’t make some quota. I think teaching is a lot less scary than say, selling something.” From behind me I could still hear their giggles, but it was getting easier to ignore. I took a swig of my beer. “So what do you do?”
“I sell things,” he said with a laugh.
“Really?”
He laughed again. “Really. Well, actually, I sell time for a radio station. You know, advertising time? It’s not so bad.”
“Yeah, and I would think there’s something almost cosmic about that, selling time.”
He noticed my drink had left a wet spot on the table, so he took his napkin and reached across to wipe it up. “I work for an 80’s sta-tion. There’s nothing cosmic about that.”
“Do you have certain quotas that you have to fill?” I asked.
“Well, sort of...” Max was beginning to explain, when David interrupted.
“So hey guys, I think we’re going to get out of here.” He gestured towards Carolyn as he said it.
I had to risk it. Even if it meant Carolyn would be angry with me.
“Guys, could you excuse us please, for a moment. I need to talk to Carolyn alone.”
She gave me another glaring look, but said nothing. David hesitated, but Max came to my rescue.
“Sure,” he said. “Come on Dave, let’s go outside for a sec.”
Carolyn sat slouched in her seat as she watched the two of them leave, purposefully not looking at me. I waited until they were gone, and then I asked her.
“Carolyn, what in God’s name are you doing?”
She still would not look at me as she answered. “Oh, don’t get moralistic on me. You have no idea what my life is honestly like. And weren’t you the one who said we should go get a drink in the first place? That I shouldn’t be at home, waiting around for Charles?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t mean....” How to finish this sentence? “A few hours ago you were afraid to leave your apartment for fear of hurting Charles. Now you’re going to cheat on him?”
She turned to face me in anger. “Faith, who said I was going to cheat on him? Do you actually think I would do that?”
Actually, I did think that she would do something like that. She basically said so herself when she was trying to convince me to go after Ethan. But delicacy was necessary at the moment. “I don’t know, but I can say that David out there thinks that, or at the very least, he is hoping for it.”
Her gaze shifted down, so that she was now staring at her drink, as if it somehow held an answer to the dilemma she was facing.
I continued. “Look, I’m not going to judge you. I think that maybe you’re upset and you’ve had a couple of drinks, and you’re not thinking too clearly. That’s all. I don’t want you to do something that you are going to regret.”
“Right,” she
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