Something Had to Give (17 page)

“Hello!” I grumbled into the phone. I stood there annoyed with my eyes still half closed. There was silence before I heard giggling, which made me even more annoyed. I was prepared to hang up until I heard a voice that made my stomach drop.

“Uhhh, hey Cheryl. It’s uhh, it’s Eric. I’m guess I caught you at a bad time.”

“Eric?” I was so confused. Was I dreaming? I knew I didn’t give him my phone number. So how was he on my phone?

“Yeah Eric. You know the guy that sat with you last week and kept you safe.”

“Right. I guess I’m a little confused as to how you are on my phone right now. I didn’t get a chance to give you my number.”

“You sure didn’t get a chance. You ran away so fast when April showed up that I saw smoke coming from your shoes.”

We both laughed. “I saw her earlier today.” He continued. “I had to chase her down and convince her that I wasn’t a serial killer so she would give me your number. Here I was thinking I was your only bodyguard.”

I laughed again. “She’s just being a friend. Making sure you’re good people.”

“Yeah I get it. No need to explain. But you know I was kinda hoping you would let me take you to dinner. I understand though, if you’re scared.”

“Oh please! I’m not scared!”

“Great! I’ll pick you up at 7. Galloway hall right?”

“Yeah Galloway, but I can meet you somewhere.”

“Nope, I’ll pick you up. It’s no problem. I’ll see you then.”

He hung up before I had a chance to protest further. I stood there clutching the phone for several minutes trying to take in what just happened. I had a date and I didn’t know who to call and tell first; Shanna or April. What was I going to wear? Where were we going? I felt so overwhelmed that I jumped onto Amanda’s bed, pressing my face into her pillow so no one would hear me scream. Realizing she would probably have a fit if she knew what I was doing, I jumped off her bed but couldn’t help but laugh at myself. I put the phone back on the base and stood in front of my closet hoping something would jump out at me. I checked the clock and it was early! It was only 3pm, but I didn’t care. I wanted to look perfect.

When I finally decided on what I was going to wear, I decided to go ahead and start getting ready. I knew it was crazy to start so early, but I couldn’t take just sitting there doing nothing. It was a moment that I knew I was going to look back at and laugh at myself. I took my time getting ready, moving really slow trying to justify getting ready so far ahead of time to leave. By 6:45, I was downstairs in the lobby waiting and about 5 minutes later, I saw him pull up. Before I went out, I used the courtesy phone and called April to give her the make, model, and license plate of his car. I didn’t expect anything to go wrong, but we both figured it was best to be safe than sorry. When I hung up with April, I took a deep breath before going out to the car. “OK.” I said to myself. “Here goes nothing.”

When I walked out, Eric quickly got out of the car to open my car door. Wow, I thought, he’s really trying to be charming. I couldn’t help but notice how nice he looked. A complete turnaround from the day I saw him at the dining hall.

“You clean up well.”

“Yeah, well I do what I can.”

“Well, I didn’t know what to wear since you didn’t tell me where we were going.”

“Relax, you look fine.”

We listened to jazz music while making small talk in the car and before I knew it we were downtown Wilmington, going to eat at Elijah’s. He was really trying to impress me. Shanna had warned me of this. She said guys would be so charming in the beginning do whatever necessary to wheel you in. I knew I had to be careful, yet at the same time, I still wanted to have a good time. Fun was an underestimate of the time we had together. We sat at the restaurant and talked for over two hours. When we got tired of the waitress politely coming by to get rid of us, we finally left. Neither of us was ready to call it a night though. Instead we took a walk on the beach and by the time we finally called it a night I felt like I knew everything there was to know about him. It was such a perfect night that I went to bed that night feeling like I was floating on a cloud. “Please God” I said to myself, “let this be for real.”

A month later I was pretty sure my prayer had been answered. I felt like that month was one of the best of my life. My family was aware of Eric, but I was careful not to let on to how excited I was about our growing relationship. For one, I wasn’t sure if we were official and two, I knew that their response would be for me to focus on school not a boy. So, I decided to wait just a bit longer before telling them anything else. As happy as I was getting to know Eric, it was still in the back of mind that at any moment he could show his true colors and leave me looking like a complete idiot. While I did not feel comfortable talking about Eric to my family, April had become my confidant. She had become a really good friend to me and seemed fine listening to me gush and rant. Secretly I think she was so willing since she had given him my phone number and hoped that he turned out to be a decent guy. Interestingly, I found it hard to determine what April thought about Eric. On at least two occasions, she had eaten lunch with the both of us, but never gave an opinion of him when it was just the two of us alone. I figured either she felt it wasn’t her place to give an opinion or that he passed her test.

It wasn’t long before Eric thought it was a good idea to fix April up with his roommate and friend Daniel. When Eric mentioned the idea to me, I was a little unsure. However, I figured that since he had been around April a few times and had an idea of her personality, that he had someone decent in mind for her. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

“Absolutely not!”

April’s initial reaction to the idea should have been my first clue to drop the whole blind date idea, but a part of me felt like I owed her one for fixing me up with Eric.

“Why not?” I questioned, not exactly expecting to be met with so much opposition to the idea.

“I never have luck with blind dates. Besides, I’m not a charity case, I can meet someone on my own.”

“Oh please, no one is considering this charity. It’s just a chance for us all to hang out and have fun. And anyway, I let you fix me up with Eric, so why wouldn’t you trust me to do the same?”

“Ugh! Now comes the guilt trip. Do you even know this guy? What’s he like?”

“Well, I haven’t met him, but I’m sure Eric wouldn’t introduce you to someone that we wouldn’t approve of. Even if you don’t like him, just come out for the free dinner. It will be fun.”

“Fine.” She reluctantly agreed. “But, I’m driving my own car. That way if he’s a bust, I can leave when I want.”

I thought it was over the top for her to drive separately, but knowing she wasn’t really feeling the date, I didn’t push the issue. On the Friday night that we were to go out with Eric and Daniel, April and I drove over to their suite to meet them. They were both standing outside when we arrived and I was shocked when we got closer to them at how good-looking Daniel was. In fact, I felt bad that I actually felt a bit jealous of April. I could tell that April was also impressed with his looks since she no longer insisted on driving her car and agreed to ride in Daniel’s car with the rest of us.

Daniel seemed pleasant when he greeted us both and carried on light conversation as we stood outside talking briefly. I did notice that he was carrying a cup with him, but I did not put much thought into it. Once in the car, things got pretty interesting. Before pulling off, Daniel went to the trunk and much to my mortification got back in the car with a bottle to tequila to refill his cup. I was shocked and silently prayed that my eyes were playing tricks on me. Certainly, he was not going to drink while driving and put all of our lives at risk. Unfortunately, that is exactly what he did. He sped all through campus, not bothering to stop at pedestrian crosswalks and missed hitting someone on a bike by mere inches. Once off campus, his driving was even worse. After he ran the third stale red light, I hoped that a police officer would pull him over. It didn’t seem like that was going to happen, so all I could do was close my eyes and grip the inside panel of the door as memories of that frightful night when Jackie died came flooding back.

When we arrived to the Ale House my head was spinning. I was furious at Eric for one, thinking it was even a remotely good idea to fix April up with a drunk and two for not intervening on Daniel’s drinking while driving. We had to wait for a table and as we sat in the waiting area, I couldn’t even look April in the eye. I felt embarrassed and ashamed that I had talked her into going out with Daniel. He was so concerned about getting drunk that he probably wouldn’t remember her in the morning. I started to question who Eric was. I wondered how much there was that I didn’t know about him. Did he drink like Daniel and did he even drink at all? I had been so wrapped up in the good things that I knew about him that it was quite possible that I may have missed some red flags. Despite his drinking, Daniel seemed to be able to carry a decent conversation with April and to my surprise she seemed to be interested in what he was saying or either she had decided to make the best out of a messed up situation. Seeing them laugh and talk helped me to relax some until we were called for a table.

The night seemed to be looking up until we got to our table. Our waitress came almost immediately to get our drink orders. While Eric, April, and I ordered fountain drinks, Daniel ordered a margarita. We all looked up from our menus in shock wondering how in the world he was going to get past the age restriction. The waitress did as she should have and asked for his ID. He was able to present one that she found to be acceptable and went to get his drink. I hoped that would be his only one, but nothing had gone the way I had envisioned for the night, so it was not surprising that he ordered three more after chugging the first. With each drink he got more loud and obnoxious. When people from other tables started to turn around and look at us, I had enough and asked for checks. As we were leaving, Daniel stumbled off to the bathroom and it was the first time I was able to address Eric.

“OK! This is not the place, but I cannot believe you brought us out with a drunk. What were you thinking?”

Eric looked a mix between stunned and embarrassed. “I-I had no idea he was going to be drinking like this. He said he was only going to have one to take the edge off.”

I knew it technically was not his fault, but I was so mad I could not calm down. “There is no way we are getting back in the car with him driving. So either you tell him that you’re driving us back to campus or we will call a cab.”

“OK, OK! Calm down. I’ll talk to him.”

The ride back to campus was a lot of much needed silence. I rode up front with Eric while Daniel rode with his eyes closed in the back next to April. She remained in good spirits and sang along with songs that came on the radio. Even though Eric was driving us home at a normal pace, I still felt on edge and it wasn’t until we were back at their suite and parked that I felt like I could breathe a sigh of relief. It took a few firm shakes from Eric to wake Derrick up, but once he was up and out of the car, it was like he had never been drinking. “Wow” was all I could say. I had never seen anyone who was able to sober up that quickly. I was ready to make a beeline for the car when I heard Daniel invite April up to the suite.

“So, the night is still young, maybe we can hang out up in the suite for a while.”

What was even more surprising was that April agreed. “Sure, I can stay and hang out for a little while.”

What in the world was she thinking? I wanted to pull her aside and smack some sense into her, but instead I kept my cool. I was prepared to either walk back to my dorm or have Eric drive me home.

“Why don’t you stay too?” Eric suggested.

I was beyond irritated. I didn’t want to stay. I didn’t feel like being social and I couldn’t bring myself to pretend like I wanted to be around Eric at the moment. I had to suck it up though. I had gotten April into this mess and I didn’t feel like it was right to leave her there alone.

“Yeah, I’ll come up…just for a little while, right April?” I looked right at her as I said this hoping she would read the expression on my face and see that I didn’t want to be there for long.

“Yeah, like I said just for a little while.” April gave me a slight nod letting me know that we were on the same page.

I had been to the suite a few times previously but always during the week when everyone had classes and it was quiet. That night, it was a completely different story. It seemed as though all eight roommates were there and they had each invited other people over. There was absolutely nowhere for the four of us to sit. Even if we would have been able to squeeze in to a corner together, we wouldn’t have been able to hear each other talk over all the other noise. I felt like it was our cue to call it a night, but Daniel had the bright idea for the four of us to go to his room. I knew that wouldn’t work either since the rooms were pretty small, but again April agreed. Once again, I felt obligated to go along with the plan. His room was just as I expected: junky, smelly, and cluttered. As I stood there I looked around in amazement that someone actually lived there and thought it was ok to invite people in.

Eric tapping me broke my thoughts. “Whoa, deep in thought there huh?”

“Just a little.” I responded forcing half a smile.

“Let’s give them some privacy. We can go to my room where we can actually sit down.”