Chapter 3, Friends of Friends
Tommy Santos
I lay on the dorm’s couch, throwing a ball up in the air and catching it. I think about Bex, something I’ve been noticing this past few weeks. I feel like she’s a little shy or nervous about something, though I don’t know what it could be. Could it be the crayon story from a couple of nights ago? But she reacted like how I do when being told about embarrassing family events, so I feel like it’s unlikely. Could it be something she has yet to tell me? An embarrassing event or thing which could tumble the relationship like a Jenga tower. I feel like I’m just overthinking this, and I see that Flann, my best friend, also believes that too.
“Hey Tommy! What’s up?” He says.
“Um… Just a little confused right now.” I tell him.
“What is it? Is it over Bex or something?” He replies back.
“Yeah, you know I’ve been seeing her act a little shy about something recently. But I don’t know what.” I say, continuing to throw the ball back into the air.
Flann catches the ball in the air, I take a silent sigh and I sit upright on the couch. I wait to see what advice he has for me, I usually turn to Flann for complicated advice like this.
“So, what’s the issue exactly, did you tell her something that went the wrong way?” He exclaims first.
“Eh, I don’t think so.” I reply, “I feel like she would have mentioned that already.”
“Well Tommy, I know I tell you this a lot, but;” He says in response, “Don’t overthink simple things, you’ll feel more comfortable not overanalyze mundane thoughts.”
“Yeah, you’re right Flann…” I tell him.
As my chat with Flann starts to wrap up, I feel a buzz on my phone. I check to see who it is, it’s Bex! We agreed to meet here, hoping to introduce her to Flann.
“Well, she’s about to arrive in a short bit.” I inform Flann.
“Ah alright, should I prepare something for her?” He responds back.
“Not really, I say, I think I got it.” I say.
I wait a minute or two for Bex to arrive, having a plastic water bottle to give her. Hearing the knock on the door, I start to blush; knowing it’s her. I walk over and open the door, out there is Bex. I see she’s wearing her Weezer shirt, the same one from when I first visit her dorm room.
“Hi hon!” Bex speaks first, hugging me.
“Hi Bex!” I reply, “How are you?”
“I'm good, you know, just being lazy in bed on a school day off.” She says, while laughing.
We walk more into the dorm, heading towards the living room where Flann is. He stands up and starts walking towards us, he walks up to Bex starting to greet her.
“Oh hi! I’m Flann, Tommy probably mentioned me a few times.” He says.
“Yo, nice to meet you, Flann!” Bex says, while doing one of those special handshakes.
We sit on the dorm couch, and we continue our conversation.
“So… What do you want to do guys?” I quickly mumble.
We sit in silence for a few seconds, pondering a cure for our boredom.
“We can just channel surf, hon.” Bex replies with.
“Good enough for me.” Flann adds on.
We turn on the tv, and start scrolling through the tv channel, checking what is on right now. Checking the programs is like a large catalog of items on a supermarket aisle. We start to laugh at quick jokes we thought of while looking at show and movie titles.
“Hey look!” Bex exclaims first, “It’s a rerun of Los Romanos!”
“Should we watch that?” Flann responds with.
“Yeah!” I add on. “It’s a good show!”
We start to settle into the couch, Flann sitting on the right side of the couch; while me and Bex sat next to each other. I got into Los Romanos as Bex introduced me to it. It’s an older series, with the first season predating my birthday by a few years. Though the series is overall really good, minus the cliffhanger ending. According to Bex, apparently a movie was going to be the finale, but for whatever reason it’s been stuck in development hell. I don’t mind, there are several fan made finales I could find online. Anyhow, we continue to watch the show, all of us sharing a party size bag of chips. It was a fun afternoon, being with both my best friend and girlfriend. Having a blast with two of the many important people I have in my life, truly a nice and good experience.
Tommy Santos: The Next Day
I lay in bed, thinking about several things. Though, my mind wandered to a question: Should I go on another formal date with Bex? Nothing like the recent parties we both have been to, however. It’ll be the standard formal date where you go to a fancy restaurant, eat, then go to the apartment’s public rooftop before professing your eternal love to one another. I play around with my paddle board, being bored out of mind. I play with it for a couple of minutes, humming random songs to myself. I start to change from my pajamas to a casual outfit, some jeans, a red v neck, and a jean jacket. I head to my car in the garage, and start to hit the road. I head towards a flower shop, actually it’s like a strip mall for florists. I’ve been here with my mom and aunt several times growing up, I basically know the place like the back of my palm. I enter the establishment, and start to walk around. Most of the buildings were once warehouses, now converted into little venues for vendors to sell their plants. I walk around the place, looking at all the different kinds of flowers they have, roses, tulips, daffodils; it’s a wide range of products.
However, I start to ponder to myself, “Wait, what kind of flowers does Bex like?”
I decided to ask Bex the question.
“Hey dear, what are your favorite kind of flowers?” I ask.
I wait for a minute or so, then I see the little animation that plays when the other person is typing.
“Sunflowers!” I see Bex respond to me with.
“Thx” I reply to her.
Off I go to find her some! I bounce around the sellers like a pinball looking for the perfect batch of them. Some of the flowers had their petals not fully open, while others did. After looking at several bunches I found a beautiful batch with their petals fully opened. I pick them up, holding the sunflowers in my hand really reminds me of Bex. They give off the same energy I get from her sometimes, thinking of that makes me smile. Anyhow, I head towards the check out to the vendor, he’s a family friend.
“¡Buenos días!” I say to him, “Uh… ¿Cómo estás?”
“Muy bien, ¿y tú Tomás?” He says back
“Si, estoy bien.” I reply.
I place the flowers on the register table, and wait for him to tell the price.
“Eso va hacer, $6.99.” He tells me.
I pull out my credit card and pay for the bunch.
“¡Que tenga un buen día!” I told him.
“¡Y tú también!, ¡Tomas!” He says back.
Entering my car, I carefully place the sunflowers on the seat to hopefully not ruin them. Right before driving back to my apartment, I set up a reservation at a fancy Italian restaurant in the city. It’s a restaurant which Bex has dreamed of going to, Bella Fiore. I set up the reservation for Friday evening, two days from now. I’ll text her the plans when I arrive at the dorm in a couple minutes. Now I hope I don’t mess it up. Just two more days… Just two more days…