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Chapter 3

How could Paula do this to me? What\'s so important that she couldn\'t come along, especially when she\'s the one that suggested a pool hall? I don\'t feel comfortable at all. I wonder what Bryan, Mai and Max are doing.
\"Are you OK, Ann?\"
\"Huh?\"
\"You look anxious about something.\"
\"No, I\'m fine.\" Like hell I am.
\"OK. But it\'s your shot.\"
The pool hall was a bit crowded and reeked of alcohol. Ian and I had played a few games in virtual silence. It\'s just weird hanging out with solely him. I would only see him when Paula was around too. Now, it\'s like two people forced into being friends hanging out. Not that I have anything against him.
I lined up my shot and sunk the three ball in the corner pocket with ease. Only one shot left.
\"Eight ball, side pocket.\" It was a straight on shot, so I had to make sure to put backspin on the cue ball to prevent me from scratching. Before I took my shot, I looked up at Ian. He was smiling and gave me a thumbs-up. It wasn\'t much, but it was enough to distract me. The cue ball rolled in right after the eight ball. \"Fuck.\"
\"That\'s Ian-3 and Ann-1.\"
\"Ian, take me home.\"
\"What? It\'s barely after 9:30. Aren\'t you having fun?\"
\"I would if Paula were here.\"
His smile instantly deteriorated. \"Oh. OK then.\"


The ride back was just as awkward as the pool hall. All I could do was look out the window and hope a time warp would occur just so I could get home a little bit quicker. Now I feel bad about not talking to Bryan and Max earlier.
\"Ann, I\'m sorry Paula couldn\'t make it.\"
It took me a full minute to think of how to reply. \"Why couldn\'t she make it?\" I made sure to keep looking out the window.
\"Huh? Oh, I don\'t know. She doesn\'t like to tell me anything. She called me up and said \'I can\'t make it\'. Maybe she had a deadline or something.\"
This time I made sure to look at him. \"A deadline regarding what? She hasn\'t had an art-related job in months.\"
\"Don\'t ask me! I don\'t know. You\'ll have to ask her.\"
\"I\'ll make sure to do just that.\" With a heavy sigh, I resumed looking out the window. The street lights whizzed past in such a hypnotic fashion, I nearly fell asleep.
\"We\'re here.\"
I jerked my head up when Ian spoke. Maybe I did fall asleep after all. \"Um, yeah. Uh...thanks for the company, Ian.\" I was about to step out of the car when I felt his hand upon mine.
\"I hope next time will be more fun for you.\"
What\'s going on? Why is he touching my hand? What does he mean by \'next time\'? Did he think this was a date? Oh, God. I have to get out of this car right now. \"Um...maybe.\" I freed my hand and briskly exited the car without looking back.


\"Come on. Answer the fucking phone already.\"
After five attempts and getting voice mail, I finally gave up and set my cell phone down. Paula wasn\'t picking up and I wanted to know what was so damn important that she had to miss tonight.
The only course of action now was to go online and talk to someone. When I logged in, I was hoping to find Bryan or Max, but neither of them were on. However, my gal Mai was.

<Ann37> Mai, are you there?
<Maigrrrl> I sure am Ann. What\'s up?
<Ann37> Well...


I awoke Sunday morning to my phone ringing right in my ear. It was eight A.M. and I just wanted to sleep in, but if it was Paula I wanted to make sure I caught her.
\"Hello?\"
\"Hi, Ann. I\'m sorry I woke you.\"
I sat up in bed when I realized who it was. \"Ian?\"
\"Yeah, it\'s Ian. I\'m sorry if I scared you off last night. I didn\'t mean anything.\"
\"Well, OK. What are we talking about?\"
\"I realized it looked like I was asking you out, but I swear it was purely friendship.\"
\"Oh. Don\'t worry about that. That\'s what I thought.\"
\"Whew. Again, sorry for calling you so early.\"
\"OK. Bye Ian.\"
\"Bye.\"
I hung up the phone, realizing I probably shouldn\'t have called him a desperate horn dog to Mai last night. But did he have to call this early? I\'m never going to be able to get back to sleep. Maybe I should try Paula again. Hey, if I can\'t sleep, neither should she.
\"Hello?\"
\"Paula!\" I practically screamed into the phone. \"What the fuck happened yesterday?\"
\"Hi Ann. Yeah, I\'m sorry about that. I had a deadline I forgot about. Local greeting card company wanted some preliminary sketches.\"
\"By today?\"
\"Yeah.\"
\"They wanted it by Sunday?\"
\"Yeah. What?\"
\"How come you didn\'t tell me about it?\"
\"I only got it a few days ago. Sometimes the turnaround is pretty quick.\"
\"Well, what\'s it about? Can I see them sometime?\"
\"Sorry, shot it off to them last night. Nothing interesting anyway.\"
\"Well, OK then. But still, I\'m mad you weren\'t there.\"
\"I\'m not a very good friend, am I?\"
\"Oh come on, Paula.\"
\"That\'s two weeks in a row I\'ve let you down.\"
\"Paula...\"
\"I\'ll buy you lunch...again. I\'m coming over there right now.\"
\"Paula, you don\'t have to...\" But it was too late. She was already off the phone, probably halfway to my place by now.


Click. Click. Click.
I heard the buzzer go off five or six time in a row before I got up, reluctantly opening the door for Paula. Without warning, she gave me a hug.
\"I\'m so sorry Ann. I\'m a lousy, rotten fucked up friend.\"
\"Keep going.\"
She instantly let go of me. \"Yeah, well I\'m making it up to you. Lunch. And none of that shitty deli stuff like last time....what\'s this?\" Paula picked up a pale yellow sheet of paper that was sitting on my kitchen counter.
\"Oh, yeah. My work evaluation. Almost forgot about that. I get to go over how \'great\' I\'ve been doing at my job.\"
Paula sank into my couch and pored over the form. \"I don\'t remember them being this incomprehensible. I don\'t even think half of these words are real. When is your evaluation?\"
\"In a few weeks. And I\'m really not looking forward to it. Heller\'s probably anticipating chewing me out.\"
\"Don\'t think like that. You\'ll do fine!\"
I ripped the evaluation from her hands. \"Well, let\'s talk about something else, alright?\"


The following week was pretty uneventful. Paula and I hung out and gabbed at work and after. Ian was M.I.A. I didn\'t even want to talk about it with Paula, so all the better for me. I started having longer and longer conversations with Bryan. Mai and Max were getting the short shrift, but I\'m sure they have other people to talk to. It was a pretty typical week, which led into one of the most atypical weeks of my life.