Friends Don't Let Friends...
Andrea and Colette were both on the squad with me at Columbia and had quickly become my best friends after we met at try-outs freshman year. All in different majors, we hardly ever got to see each other during the later end of each semester because our schedules were so busy. This afternoon however we had agreed to meet for coffee after class and catch up for a few hours.
"Since when do you pass up an opportunity to shoot up on caffeine?" Andrea smirked as I sat down with my white hot chocolate. Shrugging, I lifted the lid off so my drink would cool faster.
"I dunno, I just tried this one day and…I really liked it."
Exchanging glances that read nothing short of unconvinced, my friends got only a laugh from me in return.
"What, can't a girl change her mind? Besides, all that caffeine is bad for you anyway."
"Starbucks in general is bad for you." Colette reminded me. I only rolled my eyes.
"Like I'm going to take advice from Columbia's resident alcoholic."
"Hey, hey!" She tried to get in a word through mine and Andrea's laughter, "It's not alcoholism until after college."
"How many practices has she showed up to hung over?" I asked, playfully ignoring Colette as I questioned our mutual best friend with sarcastic casualty.
"I think it would be easier to count the ones she's showed up to sober." Andy giggled and I quickly followed suit. Beside us, Colette shook her head and narrowed her eyes my way as she sipped at her coffee.
"Just because you two haven't been laid in God knows how long, it's no reason to take it out on me." She snapped back. Andy immediately shut up, as did I. Except unlike my sexually frustrated friend, I was now blushing as I looked down at my hot chocolate.
"Katie…?!" Colette asked suspiciously, a mischievous grin in her voice.
"Well, I've been seeing this guy…" I admitted, no longer able to keep the secret I'd been harboring for a little over a month. It was amazing I'd kept my mouth shut for that long at all, given how happy Ryan made me. How head over heels I had become in such a short span of time.
"What?" Andrea exclaimed, "You never told us you were seeing someone! Who is it? It's Brad isn't it, from Chem lab? I knew you two would end up together, you guys have eye sex like twenty times a class period."
Shaking my head no, I felt mildly ashamed all of a sudden. How could I tell my friends I was dating a theatre geek? The theatre geek they'd met at the same open mic night I had. How would I ever explain to them how I was falling for this guy? How I had let him in and now my world was spinning around on an axis called Ryan Evans.
"It's not James, is it? I will be so jealous if you're dating our star wide receiver." Colette grumbled playfully.
"Actually, he doesn't even go to the U." I explained.
"I don't blame you." Andrea laughed.
"Where'd you meet him?" Colette asked, smirking at Andy's joke. We liked to make the comparison of Columbia's pool of available men to a polluted koi pond. Some days it seemed like the male species was God's way of telling a joke, only we weren't laughing.
"Same place both of you did." I admitted, wondering how much I was going to regret doing so even as the words left my mouth. "At the café on twentieth and Broadway, open mic night about a month and a half ago."
Both of their jaws fell simultaneously and I was met with wide, blinking eyes. For the first few moments, I really don't think they believed me.
"The…the blonde guy who got up on stage and…and sang?" Colette struggled through the sentence, trying desperately to come to grips with what I was saying.
"His name's Ryan Evans, he goes to Julliard." I tried to keep the conversation moving along, progressing steadily instead of imploding.
"Didn't see that coming…" Andy mumbled under her breath before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Guys come on, you only talked to him for a few seconds. He's really an amazing guy, he's super sweet and"-
"Kate, that's not the problem." Colette looked at me with an unfair but understandable amount of concern pulling down her face. If I had been in her shoes, I would have done the same. Friends weren't supposed to let friends date freaks. "Look, I can understand that you were attracted to him, I mean, he was really charismatic and he had a pretty cute smile but…" Her blue eyes turned to Andrea for help.
"But he's just not boyfriend material, I mean…he's a musical theater person. There's no way that can end well, you guys will never understand each other."
"Maybe not always but, that doesn't mean"-
"Are you even sure he's straight? I distinctly remember him wearing sequence." Cole jumped in again, her photographic memory working against me. I laughed a little, remembering my own issues with the subject.
"I would say so after Saturday night…and Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon, a good part of Sunday evening and even a little bit of yesterday." I clarified with a grin that made both of them shut up. "Look, why don't you come over one night for dinner. I think you'd really like him. He's not like the other theater kids…entirely…And the theater stuff, it's not so bad really."
"Not so bad? Listen to yourself! You don't even sound like Kate Brunswick anymore." Andy sighed, frowning before looking away and shaking her head. "I give it two months tops."
"Don't be like this guys, I really have it bad for him." I insisted, pleading with them to understand. To just let things go this one time. They didn't know him, didn't understand what it was like to look in his eyes and see a smile there just for me. They had no concept of how thoughtful he was or how much fun he could be. When I was with Ryan it was like there were no rules. We just did our own thing in our own little world, blind to what other people thought or felt about it. "Can't you just be happy for me?"
"I'm sorry." Colette shrugged and she shook her head no, "Take it from one of your best friends with a bird's eyes view of the situation. There's a reason we steer clear of the theatre geeks. After living with your sister for so many years, you of all people should understand that. I'm sure he's a nice guy Kate, but in the end, he's just gunna break your heart."
*I'm thinking of changing the name of this story (to Slow Dancing in A Burning Room or something, I'm not sure yet) and I might play with the summary a little bit. Sorry if it throws you guys off. This is my only HSM story though so just look for my penname in the e-mail alerts or update pages or however you keep track of stuff and you should be able to find it.
Thanks to the reviewers. I'd really appreciate it if more people reviewed. If its not good enough for you to review nicely then please tell me what you think I should fix.
-Rachel