The familiar sting of the hard rubber ball against his hand as he returns Manny's serve brings him back to himself. He's in the Bronx, huffing to keep up with Manny who's already got nineteen points to Jess' ten. He's never been as good at handball as his friend, and it's only getting worse as they get older. He jumps for the ball, hitting it right into the groove at the base of the wall, a killer shot. Manny can't return it, so Jess scores. Nineteen to eleven. At least I'm keeping it interesting.
"Nice shot, Jessica," Manny says, tossing him the ball with a relaxed snap.
"I can't let you take all my money without at least a little fight," he laughs. He scores three or four more times and then loses gracefully. Manny fills Jess in on his new job as an art teacher at a middle school in Riverdale. They play another round and Jess actually manages to win some of his money back, but then they play a third and he loses it again. They're at the end of their fourth round and it's twenty to eighteen when a hard serve from Manny sends Jess lunging for the ball. He misjudges the distance between the speeding orb and his hand and it hits him right in the eye with an explosion of pain. "Shit!" He sits down hard on the concrete, clutching his face.
Manny comes running over, concerned. "Let me see, let me see," he's crouched down, his hand on Jess' shoulder.
Jess' eyes are squeezed tight and he can't move his hand yet. "Give me a second." He takes a deep breath and then another.
He moves his hand, Manny breathes in sharply with a hiss. "That's going to be quite a shiner. Can you open your eye? Is it okay?"
He blinks, slowly, tearing, smarting, "Yeah, I can see, I think it's okay, just hurts like a motherfucker."
"Sorry baby girl, I didn't mean to play so rough," Manny grins.
"Nah, it's my fault, I missed it by a mile. Maybe I need glasses."
"I told you to wear goggles when we play," Manny says.
"You don't wear goggles."
"Yeah, but I'm better than you," Manny grins. "You want to come back to my place? Antonio's making dinner, he'd love to see you. We can put some frozen peas on your stupid face."
"Sure, sounds good." He takes a pull from his water bottle and tosses Manny the keys to the Ambassador. "Here, you drive, my face hurts."
"You still driving this piece of shit?"
"Hey, have some respect, that piece of shit's been with me since 2002, she's my second oldest friend."
"It's a fucking environmental hazard is what it is."
"Hey, Catherine runs like a dream, I completely rebuilt her and you know it. She's even got a fresh coat of paint since the last time you saw her."
"For someone with a shitty past you sure hold onto things, don't you?"
"It's called loyalty, pal," Jess shoves Manny playfully.
Jess can smell the sancocho before Manny even opens the door. Manny's apartment is tasteful and homey, modern furniture contrasting with a warm 1970s color palette and walls cluttered with movie and theater posters, family photos, and a wide range of eclectic art. "Cariño, estamos en casa!" Manny calls out as they walk through the door.
"Hey hon, hey Jess!" Toni sticks his head out of the kitchen.
"Hey Toni, good to see you," Jess kisses Toni's cheek.
"Ay Dios! Manuel what did you do to Baby Jessica? Did you throw her down the well again?"
"Hey, it's not my fault this blanquito can't hang on the court. "
"Well, get him some ice at least. For Christ's sake, it's already swelling up."
Manny brings Jess a bag of frozen veggies wrapped in a paper towel and Jess holds it to his throbbing face.
"You want a beer?" Manny cracks open a Pacifico and offers it to him.
"Better not, gotta drive home."
"Where've you been keeping yourself, Jess? It's been too long, we haven't seen you since Manny's birthday and you never come dancing with us anymore."
"Just working, mostly, we've got a big summer of titles coming up and I'm always busy with manuscripts and I have a new book out at the end of the summer. I miss you guys too."
Toni frowns, "I was hoping maybe you were dating somebody and that's why we hadn't seen you. What happened to that nice boy you went out with last year?"
"Who, Noel? He was cute, too young for me though, we didn't really have anything in common. I have a second date tomorrow if it makes you feel any better."
"Jessica, you're holding out on me!" Manny complains. "You didn't tell me about any dates, spill!" he orders.
"I ran into this girl I dated in high school a couple of weeks ago and she asked me to meet up for drinks. We went out on Wednesday and, you know, a lady never kisses and tells, but I'm seeing her again tomorrow night."
"Wait, a girl from high school? Jess, no, no, no. Please tell me you are not seeing Rory!"
Jess shrugs. "Okay, I'm not seeing Rory."
"Who's Rory?" Toni asks.
"The girl our Jess spent a decade pining over. His Daisy Buchanan."
"Look," Jess says, "I didn't mean for it to happen, I just ran into her and she asked me out and it just… clicked , you know. We're going to go on some dates and try to get to know each other again as adults, no pressure."
"I think it sounds romantic," Toni says, reaching over and patting Jess' forearm. "Star-crossed lovers, didn't work out the first time, twenty years later you run into one another. It's like a movie. I'm pretty sure it is a movie. Wait, what's that movie, you know, John Cusack, high school reunion…ah shit, what is the name of that movie?"
" Grosse Pointe Blank ?" Jess supplies.
"Yeah, you know, except you're not a hitman, I don't think. And you're cuter than Cusack."
"No way, he's got that sheepish sleepy thing going, very cute."
"Yeah but you've got that little crooked smile and you take better care of yourself," Toni gestures at Jess' biceps.
"Sure, it's romantic, if by romantic you mean masochistic, self-sabotaging, doomed, promising nothing but bitter heartbreak," Manny says darkly. "And Cusack's cuter. Jessica's too mopey."
"Manny, I'm not eighteen anymore. I'll be okay. If it doesn't work out I'm no worse off than before, still a thirty-eight year old bachelor. And Cusack's mopey too. The original mope. Say Anything , Better off Dead , High Fidelity , big time mope."
Manny sighs. "I'm sorry baby girl, I'm not trying to be mean, I just don't want to see you get hurt. Again."
"She didn't hurt me the first time. Or, I don't know, I guess she did, but I hurt her first. Or maybe she hurt me first and then I hurt her and then, whatever, it doesn't matter, there was mutual hurting and immaturity and daddy issues. Ultimately it wasn't her, though, I broke my own damn heart." He sighs, then continues: "But you know, we're older and maybe wiser now, I've certainly done a fuckton of work on myself and let's be honest, it's not like I have a penelopean amount of suitors breaking down my door."
"You could, you're handsome enough, successful enough—
"But gosh darnit people just don't like me."
"You got it backwards," Manny huffs. "Fine, I know I can't stop you anyway, but don't say I didn't warn you."
"Warning acknowledged."
"Girls, you know I don't like it when you fight. It gives me heartburn, like Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson Heartburn ." Toni brings the pot of sancocho over to the table and ladles it over rice until their bowls are brimming with the spiced meat and veggie stew. They all dig in, too occupied with the delicious meal to chat beyond heaping praise on the chef.
Jess wonders if Manny's reaction is justified. Is he doing something so stupid, so doomed? Or is just doing something, anything, to push the plot forward? Time yet for a hundred indecisions, and for a hundred visions and revisions. He wonders if he should re-watch Grosse Pointe Blank .
They invite him to stay and watch a movie but he begs off to go home and lick his wounds. He lies on his sofa with a zip-lock bag full of ice cubes on his face and facetimes Dee Dee and listens to her cry about Ellie while she eats the Ben and Jerry's that Aunt Lorelai dropped off as a "wallowing care package." He falls asleep on the sofa at eight thirty, fully dressed, listening to Goo .