“I’ll come meet you later,” I said. “Just let me get a few more things squared up, then I’ll come find you at whatever hole-in-the-wall bar you chose this time.”
“You see, the problem is, I don’t believe you.” Matt laughed and hit the down button to call the elevator. “I think what’s going to happen is you’ll stay here late doing work, then you’ll be too tired to come out, and I’ll get one of your famous texts asking for a rain check. But tonight, I’m not having it. Tonight, we are going out for a beer, and that’s final.”
“Matt—”
He faced me, looking me right in the eye. “David, you need this. I need this. Please, just forget about work for a while. Think about Hawaii! Remember how much fun you had when you let loose and left your phone behind in the room? You told me all about that girl you met, and for months afterward, whenever someone would bring up Hawaii, I watched as your face lit up with the memory. Don’t you want to feel that way again?”
“That… that was different.”
“It doesn’t have to be, that’s what I’m saying.”
I took a few seconds to think about what Matt was saying, then the elevator dinged and the doors opened up. He stepped inside and held his arm out to hold it for me. “Dude, just come with me.”
I sighed. “Fine. I’m coming.” I hopped in the elevator next to him. He clapped his hands together and hit the ‘L' button, taking us down to the lobby.
“Yes, that’s my man. This is going to be great!”
I smiled at him and then looked down at my feet. “Oh, uh, speaking of that girl I met in Hawaii… there’s something I forgot to tell you…”
* * *
“I can’t believe you didn’t mention this before.”
At this point, Matt and I were a block away from the bar he wanted to hit up, and he had spent the whole five-minute walk there complaining about the fact that he’d been kept in the dark. “I mean, honestly, Lily is working for Becker Technologies—the Lily that you couldn't stop talking about for weeks, and you just ‘forgot’ to say something? No way. I don’t buy it.”
“I didn’t talk about her forweeks.”
“You’re right,” he said. “It was months.” We reached the bar and he opened the door. It wasn’t all that crowded since it was still early. We found two open stools at the counter and Matt ordered us each an IPA. I had to admit it felt nice to be out of the office.
“Man, if I wasn’t such a cynic,” Matt said. “I would think this was fate. This is the stuff of romantic comedies, is it not?”
“Good thing you’re a cynic then,” I said, sipping my beer. “Because I can assure you, there is nothing romantic about this at all. I’ve only had one interaction with Lily since she started work on Monday, and something happened during that conversation, and now she’s royally pissed off at me.”
“What did you do?”
“I have no idea,” I said. “But clearly, I did something. She’s been ignoring me all week instead of just being an adult and telling me what’s wrong. It’s so frustrating, and frankly, it’s a bit of a turn-off.”
Matt laughed. “Is that so?”
“Are you doubting me?”
He shrugged. “I just find it surprising that you could be so easily turned off by a woman that I and the rest of the brothers all thought you were secretly in love with.”
“I’m so glad to hear you were all talking about this behind my back. Thanks.”
“Oh, don’t be mad,” Matt said. “I’m just messing with you. Look—it sounds like Lily doesn’t want anything to do with you, so what? There are plenty of other women in this city, man. You’re rich, you’re good-looking, and on occasion, you can be kinda fun. So, how about you remember the man you werebeforeyou became CEO, and let’s see if we can’t find you a date.” Matt started to scan the room, then he slapped me on the arm and pointed subtly towards a booth near the back.
“She’s really cute,” he said. “Maybe you should go talk to her.”
The woman he was gesturing towards had long, dark hair and large eyes. She was very pretty, but I wasn’t in the mood to flirt. “Maybe later.”
Matt finally backed off and the two of us started to talk about his life for a while, which was a nice change of pace. He gave me an update on Will, who was doing well in school,as always. Will was a sweet kid, shy but once you got him talking about something he was interested in, the kid would talk your ear off. He loved science, and he’d been begging his dad to buy him a pet rat so that he could train it to go through mazes and stuff, but Matt didn’t like rodents and didn’t want one in the house.
“Is he still having trouble with those kids at school?” I had vaguely remembered Matt mentioning something a while back about some boys bullying Will.
“I think it died down. For now.” Matt sighed. “At least I really hope it has, though I would have no way of knowing. Will says everything is fine, but he said that before too, then I got a call from the guidance counselor at school telling me otherwise. It’s tough sometimes.” His phone buzzed and he grabbed it with the speed of a worried parent.
“Is that him? Everything okay?”