Road Trip
Early morning, driving away from Dallas along Highway 35, Shane tells me he is sleeping with Jackie. Jackie is a former colleague of mine from a past job at a local hardware store I was let go from a month ago. One night we were texting and she was going on about her boyfriend breaking up with her but how she was ready to meet other people. About two weeks back I invited Jackie to come hang out with Shane and I at some bar I can’t remember the name of. They hit it off quite well and it was good to see the both of them having a good time. This week Shane is sleeping with Marie. When I confront Shane about Marie he stays quiet for the remainder of Radiohead’s House of Cards playing over the radio. He lowers his window and sticks his arm out with his palm cutting in and out of the wind. I crack open the driver side window to vent out the smoke coming from a cigarette I just lit. Scanning through my playlist Shane starts weighing the pros and cons of dating both Jackie and Marie. Scanning through songs I decide on The Strokes Last Nite. Shane explains to me how Jackie just likes to fuck and he digs that about her. Marie is the total opposite of Jackie, Shane says Marie is a girl you would take home to meet your mother. Inhaling the final drag of my cigarette I tell Shane he needs to figure out what he wants out of his situation with Jackie and Marie before he ends up alone again. A little over a month ago Shane was going through a bad depression caused by a bad break up with his longtime girlfriend Giselle. The day he met Marie he was at a brewpub drinking his favorite beer trying to erase Giselle from his memory. Marie had been staring at Shane off and on the whole night. Just before he had a little too much to drink Shane went over to say hello to Marie. Turns out Marie was at the bar drinking for similar reasons as Shane so naturally they left the bar together. Shane tells me that Marie is the first girl that he has ever been attracted to and doesn’t mind that they haven’t had sex yet. He explains how he could see himself falling in love with Marie and how happy they make one another. Then he goes on describing all the sexual things he has done with Jackie. When I change the subject back to who he will decide to keep around Shane says he wants to keep his options open. Shane then pops open a tall boy of Miller Lite from the passenger side floor mat and takes a swig. I take another cigarette out, light it up, then take a long slow drag. It’s way too early for this shit.
