It had been 6 months since I last saw Sam. Just after paying my debt to help him quit smoking, things as one might imagine got pretty weird between the two of us. Now that he had made me not much more than a notch on his bedpost, and said some things to me with his jizz on my face while I was dressed in his ex-girlfriend's clothes that obviously made it uncomfortable for us to spend much time around each other.
We decided it was in everyone's best interest if I moved out and he tried to find another room mate. A mutual friend of ours, Tom, moved in with him a couple weeks after I left. Tom gave me updates on what Sam was up to. He still wasn't smoking, and he had finally found a way to get Emily to take him back. I was really happy for him.
Personally though, I was terribly lonely.
I replaced my normal Friday night out with Sam for Saturdays out with Tom. I decided it would only be courteous to give Sam some space, so Tom and I started meeting at another sports bar uptown called "Stack's". Tom's girlfriend Annie was the bartender here, so we would take advantage of her employee discount while trying not to talk about anything too risky while she was around.
"You buy the next round." Tom said as he sat down across the high table from me. Tom set an uncapped bottle of beer in front of me and few awkward moments of silence passed before Tom acknowledged my disposition.
"I still don't know why you two fell out...and frankly it's none of my business..." I looked at him as he decided whether or not he should finish that sentence. My eyes told him not to, but he did it anyway. "...but I really wish you two would find a way to get over it."
I took a swig from the beer, popped my lips and widened my eyes thinking to myself 'if only you knew what happened, Tommy boy...'
"You guys have been friends for ages. Whatever happened...whatever it is couldn't possibly be bad enough to cause this much shit between you two, right?"
I half-smiled at Tom and tried to change the subject, "Did you catch that baseball game last night?" I asked him outright.
Tom sighed, "I don't want to talk about the fucking game." He said frustratedly. Although I liked Tom, he had a way of being blunt that put some people off, "No bullshit, the three of us used to hang out together all the time, and now that the two of you are on the outs, it's making my life a miserable pain in the ass to go out. I feel like a child of divorce here between two parents. If you motherfuckers would stop the dramatics, we could all go back to having a good time."
"I'm sorry Tom, I know it seems stupid to you. I'm not really mad at Sam, we just haven't been getting along the same way." I replied trying to avoid specifics.
"Well what the hell happened between you two then? There's got to be some way we can all put it in the past." He asked sincerely.
I shook my head, "Maybe sometime, but definitely not tonight." I said just before taking another long swig from the bottle.
After managing to avoid the conversation for the rest of the night and Tom left with Annie at the end of her shift as usual on the promise that if there was anything he could do to help fix the situation, he'd be there for us. I thanked him and hailed a cab home for the night.
That following Saturday, Tom was out of town on a business trip, but I decided to go to Stack's anyway to keep Annie company during her shift. As long as I've known Tom, he had dated Annie, and she was just about the greatest girl a guy could ask for. She had curly red hair that she let flow over her shoulders, a body tight enough to show off, and always dressed amazingly.
On top of looking gorgeous, she was fun to talk to. 'The total package' is what some guys (including me) would call her. I'd thought a lot about what I would do if she ever became single, but Tom never let her go.
"Last call you drunks! Time to go home to your wives!" Annie shouted at the patrons who all grumbled back at her.
Then she walked over to me, "Didn't hit it too hard tonight, did we?" Annie asked me with a smile. I only had two beers the whole night.
"Nah, not too bad" I replied as she printed out my tab. On my two beers, I left her a $50 tip for having spent the whole night in a seat at her bar and I still didn't spend as much as I normally do on a Saturday night.
"You're walking me home, right?" She asked me over her shoulder as she picked up a few empty bottles at the end of the bar.
"With these old drunk perverts hanging around? Of course I am!" I said slapping the weird smelling old man next to me on the back with a smile and a laugh.
As the crowd shuffled out of the bar, Annie followed them, her pumps clicking on the cement as she walked. She looked stunning as usual with her red lipstick complimenting her red hair.
"Thanks for doing this, Tom and I really appreciate it." She said. After half-a block of quiet Annie continued, "You know, He's upset that you two are fighting."
