“Yeah, see my couch right there? That’s where your bedroom is.”
“Oh, I’m sorry if I disturbed you.”
“You didn’t; I was up anyway. Now, why don’t you play that song?”
I took the guitar from his hand and set it on my lap. I positioned my fingers on the strings and began to play. He took my empty coffee cup and filled it back up. He set the cup down in front of me as I strummed the song he wanted to hear.
“Who taught you how to play?” he asked as he leaned up against the wall.
“My father,” I answered as I strummed the last chord.
“What song is that?”
“A song my father used to sing to me. It’s called ‘Little Girl of Mine’.”
He looked at me with a blank expression. I handed his guitar back to him.
“Your turn.” I smiled.
“No! I’m not playing right now,” he growled and walked back into the kitchen.
I didn’t know what to say or think. One minute he’s being nice and the next he acts like I’m bothering him. He’s like a woman with severe PMS. I got up from the stool.
“Thanks for the coffee, and tell Sam I stopped by,” I said with an attitude.
He didn’t say a word to me; he just stared out the kitchen window with his hands pressed against the counter. I opened the door to walk out, and Sam was standing there.
“Hey, Lily. Good morning,” he said with a confused look on his face.
“Tell your friend in there he needs to learn some manners when it comes to women,” I snarled.
I walked back into my apartment, and Sam followed behind me.
“What the hell happened?” he asked.
“He’s just rude, Sam.”
Sam walked over to me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Listen, Luke’s really a great guy once you get to know him. He’s had a really rough year, and I’m trying to help him.”
“Yeah, well, so have I, but I’m not rude to people.”
“Trust me when I say to cut him some slack. He’s probably just nervous around you because you’re so beautiful.” He smiled.
I looked at him with a perplexed expression.
“I want to ask you something,” Sam said. “Can you give me Gretchen’s phone number?”
I looked at him again and shook my head as I put my hands up in front of him.
“Wait–wait–wait. Why do you want Gretchen’s phone number?”
Sam twisted his face. “I want to ask her out on a date,” he replied.
“A date?” I asked totally confused.
“Do you have a problem if I go out on a date with your best friend?” he asked while giving me a weird look.
“You’re gay; why would you want to date Gretchen? What about Luke? I don’t think he’d appreciate his boyfriend going on a date with a woman.”
Sam took a step back. “Whoa, wait a minute; you think I’m gay?!” He laughed.
A horrified look swept across my face. “Aren’t you?” I asked carefully.
“You thought Luke and I were a couple?!” he said still laughing.
“Oh my god,” I said as I turned away in humiliation.
Sam grabbed me and hugged me. “You’re so cute, Lily. I haven’t had a good laugh in a long time.”
I stood there with my nose pressed against his chest. I patted him on the back. “I’m glad I could amuse you.”
“Now, about that phone number.” He smiled.
“Hand me your phone,” I said as I held out my hand. I keyed in the numbers of my phone, Gretchen’s phone, and Giselle’s phone. “Just in case you ever need to get a hold of me when I’m not home.”
Sam smiled as he took his phone from me. A few moments later, my phone went off. I walked over to the counter, picked it up, and saw that I had a text message.
“Now you have my number if you ever just want to talk.”
I looked at him and smiled. “Get out of here, and go call Gretchen. She thinks you’re hot, but don’t tell her I said that.”
Sam winked at me and laughed as he left my apartment.
3
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Luke
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I was sitting on the couch when Sam came through the door and started in on me. “What the hell’s your problem, Luke?”
I looked at him as I took a sip of my coffee. “What the hell are you talking about, Sam?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Why do you have to be such an asshole to Lily?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said as I got up and walked to my bedroom.
Sam followed behind me. “Bullshit! You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Leave me alone, Sam,” I warned.
He walked out of my room and went into the bathroom, mumbling under his breath. I opened my drawer and noticed it was almost empty. Looking over to the corner of my bedroom, I noticed my laundry basket was heaping with dirty clothes. I can’t even remember the last time I did laundry. I picked up some clothes that were lying on the floor and shoved them into the basket. I picked up the basket and set it by the front door while I went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. Sam came out of the bathroom just as I was walking out the door.
“By the way, Lily thought you were gay!” he shouted.
I stopped and put the laundry basket down. I turned around and looked at Sam. “What do you mean she thought I was gay?”
“What part of ‘she thought you were gay’ did you not understand?” He smirked.
I rolled my eyes, shut the door, picked up the laundry basket, and I headed down the hall to the laundry room. As I approached the doorway, I saw Lily putting clothes into the washer. She saw me and stopped what she was doing.
“Hi, do you need to use this?” she asked while pointing to the washer.
“Yeah, but it’s fine, I can do laundry another time,” I replied.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how I was an asshole to her this morning and how she must have mentioned it to Sam, otherwise he wouldn’t have went off on me like he did.
“You can throw some of your clothes in with mine. We can split the cost.” she offered.
“Didn’t you just move in yesterday?” I asked.
“A couple of days of ago,” she replied.