Crushed by D I Jolly
The front door opened and Johnny moped his way through it, letting it close behind him. His jacket slipped off his slumped shoulders and fell to the floor, and he stepped out of his shoes without breaking stride leaving them behind him like Nike brand footprints in the hallway.
He continued on through the flat and into the kitchen where he sat down without a word and put his forehead against the table, then let out a long, loud sigh.
Josh, who had been sitting at the table with a book and cup of coffee, decided to continue as he was, and took the sip of coffee he was half way through taking when his friend walked in, and although he continued to stare at his book, he knew that to even try to read would be a mistake. His quiet chilled evening alone was now well and truly over. Still, he continued to hold the book in place for effect, as he took another sip of coffee as he waited to see of Johnny would do anything other than sigh loudly. A minute passed in still silence until Josh decided he was bored of this game and said, book still in hand.
“You’re home early.”
Johnny let out another groaning sigh but nothing else. Josh then took his final sip of coffee and said.
“So, how did the date go?”
Johnny turned his head without lifting it off the table so that he now lay with his cheek where his nose had been and pointed his eyes up towards his friend.
“She’s married.”
Josh’s face screwed up in confusion and the book finally hit the table.
“What? Why did she agree to go on a date with you?”
“I don’t know, maybe she thought it was just a friends thing, or I don’t know.”
“How did not you know?”
Johnny let out another loud sigh before saying.
“She doesn’t wear a wedding ring, and we actually never really spoke that much. I kind of just admired her from afar, with the occasional funny small talk moments if we both happened to be making coffee at the same time. But we’d never really had a conversation.”
It was Josh’s turn to let out a long breath. He hadn’t been 100% on board with the idea of Johnny asking out a co-worker, but they were in very different departments and he knew his friend wasn’t a creep or toxic, so when he announced that he was going to ask if she wanted to have a drink with him after work one day. He’d not tried to stop him.
“So what happened, did she show up with the ring on, or tell you?”
Johnny turned his head so that he was once again facing the table and said in a now slightly muffled voice.
“Her husband came with her.”
Josh ran his hands over his face and through his hair as he swore. Then reached out a hand and patted his friend on the shoulder for support.
“Oh man, that sounds rough.”
“Yup. It gets worse though. When he wasn’t at the table, she was really flirty, touching my hand and brushing my hair behind my ear, but then when he’d come back, she leaned back with her hand on his knee.”
“Oh, oh my God.”
“Yeah, I think I probably need to get a new job now. Also, I may have panicked and let her husband believe that I have a boyfriend.”
Josh’s voice instantly changed from shocked and surprised to flat and angry.
“What?”
“Yeah, well, he asked about my living situation and life, nice guy actually, friendly and asked good questions, but I wasn’t sure what to do, so I kept saying things like, us, and we and, Josh and I, and kind of misunderstood when he asked how long we’d been together, thinking he meant how long we’d lived together. And then he told me that it was beautiful how much the world had changed and how accepting it was now, compared to when we were all children.”
“Oh for fuck sakes.”
“Yeah, yeah, they also invited us over for dinner Saturday night.”
Josh’s eyebrows went up and his blood wasn’t sure if it wanted to drain from his face in horror or rush into his face in rage. Meanwhile Johnny finally found the strength to sit upright and seeing the look on his friend’s face said quickly.
“We’re not fucking going. I mean, of course I said we would, but we’re not going, no way in Hell.”
“Good. I’m not pretending to be your life partner just so that you can sleep with a married woman.”
“Yeah, no, or like maybe they’re swingers? Or it’s an open thing? I don’t know, I went through a lot of weird scenarios on my way home and, no.”
Josh hadn’t considered the idea that it might be a group activity and his mind too started to think up new and different really uncomfortable sitcom style insanities, until he let out a long loud sigh and said.
“Yeah, yeah I think you’re right, you have to find a new job.”
Johnny groaned and lay his head back down on the table.
“Why didn’t you stop me?”
Josh reached his hand out again to pat his friend on the shoulder.
“Yeah, sorry buddy, who knew, but hey, you asked out someone you liked, they said yes and even if it’s a complicated twisted logic, she apparently was interested in you, so that’s a win. Sort of, not one you can actually do anything with, but a win.”
Johnny sat up again looking a bit confused but then his face brightened.
“Hey, yeah, you’re right. I mean she’s really attractive and normally I just presume women like that won’t be into me, but she was, sort of. That’s… something.”
Josh smiled patted his friend for a final time as he got up to put his cup in the sink.
“It sure is. I’m going to bed, don’t stay up too late, you, unfortunately, have work in the morning.”
Johnny’s face soured and he winced at the thought of seeing the woman again so soon, then groaned, got up and also took himself off to bed.
Loved it . Made me smile
Loved it . Made me smile again
Thank you. 🙂