Alex, Zane and I had been "dating" for a couple months now; everything was really going great between us. Alex and I had also been discussing letting Zane move into one of our spare rooms, he'd been staying over most nights anyway. Besides his one bedroom apartment was on the other side of town and he was paying a lot more for the place than it was worth.
I left work early today completely bummed out; one of my favorite, used to be local, then went big but didn't last, bands was playing at a club downtown tonight. By the time I found out about it tickets were already sold out. I'd been listening to the local rock station for the past week straight trying to win tickets; Yeah, right. The DJ gave away the last pair less than an hour ago. So I finished up what I was working on and left for the weekend. Alex had to leave this morning on a business trip so I'd planned on spending the whole weekend alone, wallowing in self pity, when my cell phone rang. I glanced down and the screen said "Zane"; smiling, I flipped it open.
"Hello?"
"Hey Honey, what are you doing?"
"Driving" I said flatly.
"You sound down, what's the matter Hun?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing really, just feeling a little disappointed."
"Is it because Alex is out of town? I told you that I'd stay over to keep you company."
"Well, yeah that's part of what's got me down, and Hullabaloo is playing at the Pit tonight and I can't go see them."
"Why not?" he asked.
"They've been sold out since the tickets went on sale. I've tried winning tickets, but that didn't work out either."
"Come by my place on your way home, maybe I can make you feel better."
I could hear the smile in his voice.
"Yeah, OK, I'll be there in 15 minutes."
"Don't sound so thrilled Honey, damn."
"I'm sorry Zane, I'm being petty."
"S'okay, see you in a few."
I hung up the phone and made my way to Zane's apartment. If he was planning on having sex with me to make me feel better, it was so not going to work.
Pulling up at Zane's place, his almost cute downstairs neighbor was outside. Two weeks ago she's come up and asked us to come to her birthday party, that night. We had some time to kill so we went. I felt so sorry for the kid, myself, Zane and Alex were the only ones there; her mom was a drunk who was never home, her dad, she said had left about six years ago. Thea was a senior in High School, blonde hair, blue eyes, a little too pale, but she was the kind of girl most people never really notice. At 18 years old she didn't have the curves most 16 year olds have. Her hair was about mid-back, and straight, very blonde, but also plain, no highlights, just a solid pale blonde. With a little help, it could look like spun gold and pure silk. On her face, she wore a pair of really thick framed glasses that would have been more at home on the face of an old man; her clothes all looked borrowed, nothing fit her.
The night of her party I'd asked her what her plans for after graduation were. She stared at me like I'd grown a second head. A couple days later I talked to my boss and Monday morning I would start training Thea as my personal assistant. Thea was running up to me as I walked up the walkway.
"Honey, thank you so much for getting me this job."
I smiled, "Wait till you've been there a couple weeks; I should be thanking you, you'll be taking a great deal of stress off my shoulders."
"Are you going up to see Zane?" she asked.
'Why else would I be here?' I though, but said, "Yeah."
"Wow, he is so cute! Honey, I wish I was lucky enough to have a boyfriend like that, I mean, you've got Alex, and he's great, but Zane is so adorable."