"Is this the new version of having your friend call during a date to fake an emergency?" Monroe joked.
"Ha! No, I mean, I don't think so." I shrugged, feeling rather called out. We stood staring at the elevator awkwardly, neither of us sure what to talk about now, I suppose.
"Oh, this is Levi, my son." He beamed, his love for his son evident.
"Nice to meet you, Levi. I'm Loren." I smiled as he looked at me oddly. "So, what's this I hear about cookies? I happen to be a big fan of them."
Apparently, that was the right question as Levi explained the difference between the crappy and good ones. The kid loved his cookies. Not that I could fault him, they were pretty awesome. My stomach growled at the thought, and I remembered I hadn't finished my droopy oatmeal earlier. I hope they had more than baked goods at this thing.
When we walked out into the cold, Natalie was pulling up to the designated rideshare spot. They were so common now that most places had an area out front to reduce traffic hazards. I wasn't complaining. It made finding your ride so much easier. Impulsively, I thought about riding in the front seat of her SUV and therefore leaving the back for them, but when I opened the door, it was full of books and things. Oops.
"Sorry, I didn't realize you had more than one person, but the back is clear," she cringed.
"No, it's fine." I smiled, my people-pleasing nature making an appearance despite screaming on the inside. I wasn't sure why I was mad at her. She was right that I hadn't told her it was more than me, and she was doing me a favor, so I just needed to relax. Monroe left me the driver's side spot and buckled Levi into the center. Flashes of myself sitting in that spot filtered through my head, and I immediately had to stop that line of thinking as I looked to the little boy next to me.
"So, Levi, besides knowing your cookies, what else do you enjoy?"
Thankfully, the boy was a chatter bug, and he filled us in on his favorite YouTubers and ranking on Roblox. I was well versed on the fact that kids didn't watch actual TV anymore from my clients. They just streamed shows or watched videos of other people playing games. None of it made sense to me, and I often wondered if their generation spoke a foreign language. I enjoyed learning that Levi was eight, in the third grade, and wanted to be a hockey player like his dad. I lifted my eyes to Monroe at that statement. He played hockey? Just who was my neighbor?
"I thought you were a lawyer?"
"I am," he stated, clearing his throat. "I played in high school and college, but I didn't go any further with it. I play in a pick-up league now, which is basically a bunch of old dudes trying to live out their glory days again," he joked, laughing.
Monroe might've been boisterous about the whole thing, but I could hear the self-deprecating tone underneath it. Wow, I never would've guessed he felt that way. Monroe appeared so polished and nice. To know he was even divorced was blowing my mind. Who would divorce him? The version of my neighbor I'd always had in my mind was changing, and I wasn't sure what to do with it.
I'd been unfair to him and assumed a lot of things about his life. I'd cast him into a role that didn't fit. He wasn't like the men I'd known or grown up around. Despite his wealth, Monroe wasn't elitist. I'd unfairly put on him all the things I hated about that world. It probably had been an attempt to not be reminded of what I'd lost. It was hard to look at yourself when your reflection in the mirror had become someone you no longer recognized.
The rest of the drive was quiet, just Natalie's radio playing softly in the background. When we pulled up to the school, I blinked, not realizing we'd already arrived. Monroe and Levi exited the vehicle on their side, but I held back, wanting to talk to Nat briefly.
"Thanks for the ride. My neighbor mentioned riding together, but he's basically still a stranger, so having you here helped me not freak out as much. Though, now that I say that, I see how stupid that sounds, considering I did go home with a stranger two nights ago. Man, I'm a fucking disaster." Dropping my head, I felt the tears brimming my eyelids, ready to overflow.
"Hey, none of that. I'm glad you called, girl." She turned in her seat to look at me. "It's what I'd intended when I gave you my card, remember? Now, wipe your eyes and go and be the awesome person you are. Besides, if you don't get out of my car, I'm going to have to charge you to drive around with me while I do boring errands. And then I might forget to give you a message, so, it's your choice," she teased.
Snapping my head up, I caught her blinding smile at my reaction.
"I take it you want that message?" Nodding, I waited with bated breath.
"Here."
She handed me a note, and I looked at it curiously for a moment. It was a hot pink post-it note with a company name at the bottom, Ignite Ink. Scribbled in a messy scrawl, it said, In case you want to find me.
Smiling, I looked up to find Nat was doing the same. "Guessing it went well the other night, huh?"
Blushing, I didn't even have to answer as she laughed at my reaction. Grabbing my stuff, I put the note in my pocket and opened the door to get out.
"Thanks, Nat. You've been kind to me when I've needed it the most."
"No problem, girlie. Give me a call sometime, even when you don't need a ride, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. I'd like that."
Waving, I shut the door and found Monroe and Levi waiting just inside the school entrance. As soon as I entered, Levi grabbed my hand and led me toward a table stacked full of, you guessed it, cookies.
"Whoa, you weren't kidding, Levi! These look amazing. Okay, how about this? Let's pick out a dozen, and we can share them when we get back to the apartment? Of course, we need a few right now too, so pick one for us to try." I beamed at him. His enthusiasm was contagious, and I found myself excited to try these with him.
"Oh yes! You can come over, and we can have a taste test and rate them all!" he started to suggest excitedly.
Well, it looked like I had Friday night plans after all. What did it say about me that I was excited about them? Huh.