Page 14 of Mending Me
Malcolm:
Do you need me to buy you condoms? They only sell those to real men.
Kolbi:
Do you want to borrow my car so you don’t have to go on your bike?
Sorry boys, I have a job to do and don’t have time to play 20 questions right now. I’ll see you idiots tonight.
Conrad:
Way to be a buzzkill.
Malcolm:
Fuck you dude.
Kolbi:
What a model employee you are.
“So where are you going for dinner?” Malcolm asked as we sat around the table that night.
“Haven’t decided yet,” I replied, not looking up from the game board.
It was Wednesday night and we were all together again for our weekly Dungeons and Dragons session. As expected, Malcolm was twenty minutes late which irritated Conrad. He was always such a stickler for schedules and routines.
“Can we please focus on the game? We’re already behind,” Conrad muttered, rubbing the back of his head.
“Dude,relax. You need to chill out. Being so uptight all the time isn’t good for you.” Kolbi slapped him on the back and laughed.
“I am relaxed, I just wish we would all pay attention to what’s going on.”
I laughed at my friend and rolled the die. When it landed, we continued to play through the story as it was woven for us. We played a few more rolls before Malcolm asked me about my date again.
“You should take her somewhere downtown. There’s lots of bars you could bounce around from. No shortage of good food options either.”
“The entire city is full of good food options, moron.” Conrad rolled his eyes, annoyed that we had veered away from the game again.
“I was thinking of taking her across to the island, over to Penelope’s. It’s right on the water.” I had searched for a place to take her over my lunch break. The place was small, intimate, and the menu was full of incredible looking Italian food. I remembered how she said she liked it at the gym and I wanted to make sure I took her somewhere she would enjoy.
“Never heard of it.” Malcolm furrowed his brows.
“Just because you work in the restaurant scene doesn’t mean you know every restaurant,” Kolbi pointed out.
Conrad rolled the die and we continued to play. It never ceased to amaze me how we could easily flow between real life and the made up world of our campaign. This was how the four of us communicated best. Through games.
“Aha, fuck you guys!” Conrad laughed as his character advanced and Malcolm and I were stuck to figure out our next moves on our own.
“Do you have the proper precautions for after the date?” Malcolm raised his eyebrows at me with a sly smirk and Conrad pretended to gag from his seat.
“I don’t plan on sleeping with her dude,” I huffed.
“Why the hell not? She’s a fucking dream. I would love to see what she looks like under her clothes,” Malcolm shot back. Kolbi sat back in his seat and shook his head, watching us go at each other like small children.
“Because it’s only the first date. Real gentlemen don’t expect to have sex on the first date.” I threw my bottle cap at him and he swatted it to the floor. It’s not that I hadn’t thought about it and I had run into the drugstore after work to buy a box of condoms just in case. But I wasn’t that kind of guy.
“I’m not saying you should expect it, I’m just saying you should prepare for it.” Malcolm shrugged his shoulders.
