Two-Way Monologues

“Where the fuck are you?” Carter asked Adrian over the phone. It was late on Thursday night and he hadn’t seen his friend/roommate in almost two days.

“Obviously I’m at Anya’s.” Adrian rolled his eyes. Technically, he was outside of the apartment on the fire escape having a smoke while Anya took a shower.

“Isn’t she sick man? You do know we have another show this weekend and if you’re sick it’s going to blow.” For someone who was always kidding around, Carter could affect an extremely stern tone of voice when he wanted to.

“It’s fine, I’m not getting sick.” Adrian took a deep drag of his cigarette.

“Good, you better not. How is my little Anya? Tell her she needs to get better soon so we can hang out.” Carter inquired, his voice returning to normal again.

“She’s still pretty sick but she’s no longer walking around like the living-dead. So what’s up with you?”

“Good, for real, tell her I miss her. “ Carter told him. “Lucas and I were going to watch the game tonight and we were wondering where you were. We even went to the grocery store to buy snacks.”

Adrian took one last drag before tossing his cigarette out. He climbed back in through the window in the common room. “Shit, I almost forgot about it.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Carter snickered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Adrian asked.

“I’m just suggesting that since you began your epic love affair, you haven’t been around much.” Carter told him. “If we didn’t have rehearsal, I’m pretty sure none of us would really see you.”

Adrian sighed. “Are you being serious?”

“It’s not a huge deal, like I’m not gonna cry about it, but yeah, dude, we don’t chill like we used to.” Carter laughed. “When’s the last time we had one of our Beers and Boxer Shorts Wednesdays?”

“Alright, yeah, it has been a while.” Adrian sighed again. “I’m coming home in a bit, uh, I’ll probably miss the start of the game but I’ll be there.”

“Okay, I’ll try not to piss in my pants with excitement.” Carter hung up and Adrian collapsed onto the couch, tossing his phone aside.

Almost ten minutes later Anya came out of the bathroom wrapped in her thick bathrobe, looking much more refreshed. “Are you okay?” She asked when she saw him sprawled out.

“Yeah I’m fine, are you okay?”

Anya smiled brightly. “I think I’m starting to feel a lot better. You’re an expert at tending to the ill.”

“What can I say?” Adrian shrugged his shoulders. “My mother is a doctor.”

“Yeah, well what would Dr. Giovanni think of your secret smoking habit?” Anya sat down on the edge of the couch, near Adrian’s feet.

“How’d you know?” Adrian’s face showed his shock. He had tried to quit smoking shortly before their graduation but he was prone to backsliding when he was stressed, when he was bored, when he was around people who were smoking, when he was drinking… essentially any time Anya wasn’t around.

“Dre, considering you started smoking in high school, I thought you would at least know the first rule of keeping your habit a secret is to hide your pack. The second rule is to try not to smell like cigarettes. Shall I continue?” Anya patted his leg. “I’m not as oblivious as I sometimes appear.”

Adrian laughed. “Why haven’t you said anything about it then?”

“You’re an adult Adrian.” Anya slid down onto the couch, letting him stretch his legs onto her lap. “If you’re gonna smoke, clearly you’re going to smoke. I wish you wouldn’t but I can’t force you to stop.”

Adrian nodded, he appreciated her respect.

“But have you ever noticed how a lot of your cigarettes seem to be broken when you take them out?” Anya laughed as Adrian’s face went from confusion to understanding. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“You’re a tricky one.” Adrian laughed with her.

“I’m just looking out for you.” Anya laid her head back against the couch, feeling tired again.

“Maybe you should get back in bed baby.” Adrian suggested. He sat up put a hand to her forehead; she was much cooler than she had been earlier in the week but she was definitely not 100%.

“Yeah, I guess it will be another early night.” Anya agreed. “That doesn’t mean you have to go to bed. You don’t have to stay with me either, you haven’t been home in a while and I’m sure Lucas and Carter are starting to get antsy.”

“Did you hear my conversation with Carter?” Adrian asked curiously, even though he knew she had been in the shower.

“Nope.” Anya shook her head. “But we’re talking about your twin and your best friend. They’re bound to miss you and I bet you’re starting to miss the male bonding.”

“Something like that…. Yeah, I told him I would come watch the game with them. Are you okay with that?” Adrian asked her. Kendra wouldn’t be home for another couple of hours and he was reluctant to leaver her alone for too long.

“Adrian,” Anya squeezed his arm. “I’m almost twenty-three years old, I’m pretty sure I can manage being alone.”

“It’s not that, I know you could, I just feel bad leaving you when you’re so sick.” Adrian pulled her onto his lap and held her close. Anya snuggled up against him and pressed a kiss to his neck.

“You are by far the most thoughtful person that I know Adrian, but I assure you, I will be fine. You’ve taken great care of me and I’m starting to feel better anyway. Besides, I’ll probably just fall asleep in a few minutes.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” Adrian kissed the top of her forehead. “You’ll call me if you need anything, right?”

“You know that I will.” Anya kissed his lips quickly before standing up. “Now go home and play nicely with the boys or else they’re gonna start saying that I’ve got you whipped.”

***

“How’s the little woman?” Lucas asked as he flopped down next to his brother on the couch.

“She’s feeling better.” Adrian took a sip of his beer, his eyes fixed on the television. “What have you been up to?”

“Nothing much.” Lucas shrugged. “I went to the movies with Kate yesterday.”

“Yeah?” Adrian glanced over at him. “How’s that going?”

“I’m not that into her.” Lucas shrugged again. “You know?.”

“Yeah.” Adrian nodded. “She’s kinda…”

“Yeah.” Lucas nodded.

“Last call for another beer?” Carter yelled from the kitchen.

“Yeah, hook me up.” Lucas yelled back. “This ref sucks, he’s not calling any fouls.”

“Nah,” Adrian pointed at the replay on the screen. “That wasn’t a foul, he walked right into him.”

Carter handed Lucas his beer before settling down into his favorite chair. “Now this is more like it. Dudes in their element.”

“Free to scratch, burp, and pick.” Lucas agreed.

Adrian laughed, he had to admit, it was nice.
***

“Anya? Dre?” Kendra tapped softly on Anya’s bedroom door when she came home from work.

“Come on in Kendra.” Anya called from bed. After Adrian left she got dressed in her pajamas and crawled into bed with her laptop, hoping to get some work done.

“Hey, how are you feeling? Kendra came to sit on the bed.

“I’m okay.” Anya put her computer aside and turned on her side so she could face her friend. “What’s going on with you, I feel like we haven’t gotten a chance to talk in days.”

“Well…” Kendra nodded. “I guess we’ve both been busy and then you were sick. Where’s Adrian?”

“He’s at his place watching the basketball game with the guys. But really, what’s been going on with you? How’d your presentation go?”

“It was okay.” Kendra shrugged. “I’m not doing as well as I would like in that class. It’s funny, I did okay in college, you know? Not perfect but I did okay, but I thought I would be amazing in fashion classes.”

“Well, it’s probably just taking you a little while to get adjusted to the different style of learning.” Anya assured her. “And you’ve always been hard on yourself anyway, you’re doing fine.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Kendra nodded, thinking about it for a minute. “I guess we’ll see what happens next month.”

“What’s happening next month?” Immediately after Anya asked, Kendra’s face changed and she knew she was supposed to know the answer to that question.

“You really haven’t been around, have you?” There was a slight edge to Kendra’s voice and Anya racked her mind for the answer to her own question. After a tense moment, Kendra answered. “My student fashion show.”

“God, sorry Kendra, of course.” Anya shook her head, feeling awful about hurting Kendra’s feelings. “It’s marked in my planner, really, it is. I’m just out of it right now, I can’t remember anything.”

Kendra seemed convinced and nodded her head in understanding. “Yeah, maybe you should get some more sleep.”

“Yeah.” Anya responded awkwardly, she had a feeling that Kendra was just looking for a reason to leave and that hurt to think about.
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