A Year to Remember (8 page)
“I had a very good time meeting you, Sara. I would love to see you again.”
“I’d like that, too.”
“I’ll call you then. Good night, Sara,” he whispered, making my knees go weak.
“Good night.”
As I drove home, I wondered how long he would take to call me to ask me for another date. Considering he was a gentleman, I assumed I would hear from him within forty-eight hours. I couldn’t wait to see him again.
MARCH 23, 2012
DETROIT, MICHIGAN
WEIGHT: 183
STATUS: SINGLE
“I can’t believe he didn’t call,” I complained to Missy on the way to the movies.
“I told you the morning after your date he wasn’t going to call. I can’t help it if you didn’t believe me.”
“He seemed really into me that night. I don’t understand where I went wrong.”
“Sara, I told you, you didn’t do anything wrong other than believing the creep. It was a ploy designed to get you to buy him an expensive dinner.”
“Why would he bother?”
“Because he can and because he’s a man,” Missy said as she pulled into the parking lot of the movie theater.
“It’s not like he got me to sleep with him.” I tried not to think about the fact that despite agreeing to the four-date rule, I probably would have brought him home, if he’d asked.
“Thank God for small favors,” Missy muttered under her breath.
Meanwhile, I hadn’t met any other prospects from JDate. I’ve gotten a few emails, but they didn’t pan out. The majority of men wanted to communicate by computer for a while rather than meet in person. A couple of them even insinuated they preferred sex by text rather than the real thing. What was this world coming to?
At least tonight, I was getting out of the house. Since my date with Steven, I’d spent my free time sitting on the couch and binging on sweets.
Missy and I had a thing for science fiction. We saw every
Star Wars
and
Star Trek
movie, even the ones that made us physically ill to watch. We wouldn’t classify ourselves as Trekkies or anything, but we’ve considered going to Comic-Con in California.
Tonight, we had tickets for a sneak preview of the new
Star Trek
movie.
Since I had already blown my diet this week, I ordered a large popcorn, licorice, and a Diet Coke. Missy ordered a bottled water. Even though she didn’t need to watch her weight, she didn’t like popcorn or sweets. Instead, she’d bring her own snack, usually a small bag of pretzels or an apple. Sometimes, I wished I could be more like her.
While standing in line, I heard a familiar voice.
“Oh my God! I can’t believe it!”
Missy paled. We turned to Lori, the source of the voice.
Lori had been our third wheel all through college. First, she lived in the same dorm as us. When we moved off-campus, she followed us to the same apartment building, hoping we’d ask her to share an apartment. Missy and I wouldn’t let anyone come between us, not another friend or even a significant other. We were as close as sisters, except we never fought with one another. I used to feel a little guilty about how we treated Lori, but she never seemed to mind.
She changed physically since we last saw her. Her long dirty blond hair was now dyed to dark auburn and cut in a pixie style, which suited her heart-shaped face. Lori seemed more relaxed than she had in college, when she always appeared anxious and nervous. I sensed her self-confidence.
I never discovered why Lori stopped calling us for plans and started refusing my invitations. It happened suddenly, without any catalyst or argument.
“Lori, how are you?” I gave her a hug, but Missy just stood there, not saying a word, her teeth clenched. I wondered if Missy knew more about why we’d grown apart than she previously let on.
“I’m well, thanks. How about you? Did you become a psychologist like you planned?”
“I did. Are you a lawyer?”
She giggled and shook her head. “No, I realized I only wanted to become a lawyer because it’s what was expected of me. I’m an artist and I run an art gallery.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you even liked art.”
Lori gave Missy a furtive glance. “I wasn’t very accepting about myself back then. That’s why I hitched my wagon to your star. I didn’t know how to be myself until art school.”
“I’m glad you did. You seem very happy.”
“For the most part, I am,” she agreed, nodding enthusiastically. Then, she grew quiet until she realized she hadn’t introduced her friend standing next to her.
“I’m such an idiot. Missy, Sara, this is my friend, Grace. Grace, this is Missy and Sara, my best friends from college.”
Grace, a small and unassuming girl, shook our hands but didn’t say a word.
“Are you guys seeing the new
Star Trek
?”
“Of course,” I replied. “Do you want to sit with us?” I added before I recalled the earlier tension between Missy and Lori. Oh well, I couldn’t take it back now.
“Sure, if you don’t mind.”
The four of us made our way through the crowd to find four seats together. I took the aisle since I always have to run to the ladies’ room at least once during a flick. Missy sat between me and Lori, and Grace sat on the other side of Lori. I hoped Missy wouldn’t feel too uncomfortable. She still hadn’t said a word, a miracle unto itself.
Halfway through the film, Missy excused herself to use the restroom. A few minutes later, Lori followed. Completely engrossed in the movie, it didn’t occur to me to think their absences were related.
Grace moved over to sit next to me and whispered in my ear. “Do you think we should go find them?”
“I’m sure they’re fine. Why would we need to find them?” I had already missed a few minutes earlier in the film when I ran to the bathroom, and I didn’t want to leave again.
“You know, because of what happened between them.”
“What happened between them?”
“Uh, nothing. Forget I said anything, okay?”
I nodded, as I attempted to guess what secret Missy had been keeping from me all these years. Could Missy and Lori have been lovers? If so, why wouldn’t she have told me about it? She knew I didn’t understand why Lori had grown distant from us all those years ago. What else was she keeping from me?
They returned together after a few more minutes, and I leaned over to fill in Missy on what she’d missed. She didn’t seem to care, even though she kept her eyes on the screen. I could tell she was lost in her thoughts.
When the movie ended, Missy abruptly ran off to use the restroom again. I said my goodbyes to Lori and Grace and exchanged phone numbers with Lori in order to make plans to get a drink and catch up.
By the time Missy returned, Lori and Grace were gone and she pretended as though nothing strange had occurred.
“Great movie, huh?”
I couldn’t keep myself from confronting her, as hard as I tried. I should give her the opportunity to explain, but my curiosity got the better of me.
“What’s going on between you and Lori?”
We got into the car and began to drive toward my condo. Apparently, we were no longer going out for a drink tonight.
“Nothing,” Missy replied, her eyes on the road ahead.
“Grace seemed to think there was something.”
“Grace doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
I couldn’t believe my best friend, who I trusted with my deepest, darkest secrets, wouldn’t share.
“You’re lying to me. Missy, were you and Lori lovers?”
She stayed silent for a long minute. “No.”
“Do you know why she stopped hanging out with us?”
Missy turned to me. “It was a long time ago, Sara. Just forget about it, okay?” She resumed her focus to the road and turned on the music.
I didn’t want to fight with her. I didn’t even know how to fight with her. In the end, I decided to give her more time to confide in me with her secret before tackling the subject of Lori with her again.
We said goodnight and gave each other our usual hug, but the tension remained. Whether we wanted it to or not, something had changed in our relationship tonight.
I stayed in bed on Saturday morning, refusing to face the day. The angel on my shoulder demanded I get out of bed, eat a healthy breakfast, and use my free time to exercise. The devil on my other shoulder whispered I should stay in bed for another few hours.
The devil won.
By the afternoon, I made it to the shower. I threw on a robe and started my coffee maker, checking my email as I waited for my caffeine fix.
Not surprisingly, I had no messages from anyone on JDate. I checked my spam box and prepared to erase all the messages with the click of a single button, but the title of an email caught my eye. Clicking on the message “Metro-Detroit Speed Dating,” I read about an upcoming singles event.
Tired of spending your nights alone?
Ready to meet “the one” but not sure how?
Come to the Metro-Detroit Speed Dating Event.
Open to anyone aged 25-40.
Saturday, March 31st @ 7pm.
The Underground, Royal Oak, Michigan.
$20 plus cash bar
Register at www.meetajewnow.com
Sponsored by Jewish Federation
For the next hour, I researched speed dating, since I really didn’t know anything about it other than what I saw on television. I went to the website to read more about it and learned the organizers of the event would match me with ten men for six-minute mini-dates. If one of my dates and I both indicated we’d like to get to know each other better, the organizers would release our personal contact information to one another.
Originally, the Jews came up with the idea of speed dating and then everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. According to the Internet, Rabbi Deyo of Aish HaTorah had created the concept in order to get Jewish singles to connect and marry. I myself have always had a strict policy of only dating Jewish men.
In high school, Missy and I had actively participated in a Jewish youth group. Her cousins recruited us in eighth grade, and we joined before knowing anything about it.
Then in December of our freshman year of high school, with nothing planned over winter break, we decided to go to a convention held at our local Jewish Community Center. The local chapters competed in sports and games, talents, arts and crafts, and various other categories. We met boys and girls from all over the Metro-area schools.
I grew up in a wealthy area of Metro-Detroit, and I never felt completely comfortable around the kids in my neighborhood. From the youth group, I met the boys from “the other side of the tracks” and for the first time, I felt as though I fit in. They didn’t care about designer clothes or what kind of car I drove. They didn’t get an allowance from their parents. They all had jobs to earn the money they needed to see a movie with their friends or take a date out to dinner.
