This is a simple fact of life, one which is well understood by most men and one which I was painstakingly trying to get across to Grayson. He, Samuel, Teddy, and I were taking our lunch break, enjoying the sun and the rest, when Grayson started prodding me for more information on Ruby.
“What can I tell you?” I said. “We only went out once. And even that date was cut short, wasn’t it?”
“So when are you seeing her again?” asked Grayson eagerly.
I chuckled and shook my head. That’s when I explained to him how you’ve got to play it cool.
Grayson wasn’t having it. With Grayson, once he finds something or someone he’s interested in, he dives in headfirst; no hesitation; no subtlety. “I can’t believe you haven’t called her. If it were me, I would have already asked for a second date.”
“That’s why you’re single, Grayson.”
“Oh, yeah?” he said back. “Then what’s your excuse?”
I put my hands up and lifted my shoulders. Turning to Samuel, I said, “Tell him how it is, Samuel. He’ll listen to you. You’re reasonable.”
“And you’re not?” said Samuel. “I’m glad, at least, you recognize that you’re not reasonable.”
“Teddy.” I turned to the ‘elder’ of our group. “Do you believe what you’re hearing? These young guns don’t know about playing it cool.”
“Young guns?” said Grayson. “Wyatt, you’re twenty years old. Technically not even old enough to drink.”
“Yeah, twenty,” I said. “That makes me a year older than you. Maybe by the time you get to be my age, you’ll understand a thing or two about girls.”
Hindsight is twenty-twenty. At the moment, I wasn’t thinking too clearly. But in my defense, I had a legitimate reason to be distracted. I had Ruby on my mind: Ruby’s crooked smile, the strands of fiery red hair she’d tuck behind her ear, her deadpan biting wit. At that moment, I was probably feeling a bit too much after a successful date with Ruby. And perhaps I was prodding Grayson a bit too much too, all in good fun.
Inevitably, Grayson came back with a stinger that put me in my place.
“What do I know about girls?” he said. “I know I slept with yours. I know that much.”
“What?” Teddy looked as surprised by this statement as I was. Samuel, on the other hand, bowed his head, but not quickly enough for me not to spy the guilty knowledge that betrayed his face.
My date with Ruby—which had been going great: we made each other laugh; we made out lying on the hood of my truck under the stars—that date, which I couldn’t stop revisiting in my mind for all the happiness it brought me, had ended with me shoveling out manure until 2 a.m. and Ruby out at Eagle Creek having sex with both Grayson and Samuel!
Damn, I did not see that one coming! I had misread Ruby, thinking I needed to play it cool while she was playing it hot, red hot, Ruby red hot.
It took a good long moment for me to wipe the stunned look off my face, during which time Teddy mocked me with a lonesome blues of a deep love long lost.
Despite the shock, and the regret, I felt for missing out on what sounded like a real good time, I didn’t let it show. Instead, I followed Teddy’s blues with what I hoped would be a comical quip: “I can’t believe you slept with the enemy.”
This got a chuckle from the boys.
What it also got—which no one could have seen coming—it got a sudden and dramatic appearance from ‘the enemy’ herself. No sooner had I uttered the word ‘enemy’ than Ruby came storming in from behind me.
“The enemy!” she said before I could even turn around and get a look at what the guys were so surprised to see coming.
“Ruby,” I stammered. “What a pleasant surprise.”
“Surprise,” she said. Her jaw dropped and her eyes opened wide. “Imagine my surprise when I’m going around looking for you and then I hear you talking about me, calling me the enemy.”
I put my hands up, open palms out. “No, wait. It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Oh, yeah?” she said, putting her hands on her hips and cocking her head to the side. “And just what is it you think I’m thinking?”
I stammered for a response, but she cut me off.
“That I’m the Mayor’s granddaughter, so I must think exactly as she thinks. I can’t be my own person with my own opinion?”
I furrowed my brow. “No. That’s not what I meant.”
“Then why am I the enemy?”
“Because,” I started then broke down laughing. I looked back at Grayson, Samuel and Teddy. They were laughing too, knowing I was caught between an awkward misunderstanding and an awkward confession.
“What’s so funny, guys?”
I went up to Ruby and put my hands on her arms. I smiled at her, and the anger on her face diminished somewhat.