Fast Food And Some Insight

Josh and I stayed in bed talking, kissing and playing around until it was almost too late for him to shower before he left for work. It was so nice to spend that little extra ‘surprise’ time with him, it had only been a week since he’s been back to work and I was missing him as if it had been weeks since I last saw him.

I didn’t want to get up when he left, I wanted to stay in the warm bed and snuggle up with his pillow but I had so much to do for the party tomorrow, so I had no choice but get up.

First on my list was to call their mother to make sure that she wasn’t suddenly going to change her mind about lunch tomorrow. Every year she says she is going to have the boys over for lunch instead of supper so that they can do whatever they wish afterwards. And every year she calls them and tells them something came up and she can’t make lunch but would love to have them over for supper. Every year the boys end up going to their parents house and staying there later than planned and then they’d spend the rest of the night bitching about it.

Not this year, I thought as I called Jordan’s mother on my cell as I sat outside McDonalds. “Hello Harriet, how are you today?”

“I’m as well as can be expected,” she replied. “Was there something wrong Anna?”

“No there’s nothing wrong at all. I was just heading out to pick up some stuff for tomorrow night.”

Harriet sighed, “I can’t believe my babies are turning 24 already. It seems like it was only yesterday that John and I were bring them home from the hospital. They were such adorable little boys.” She paused for a moment, “So what are the plans for tomorrow night? I tried to ask Nick what they were doing but he’s so preoccupied with Amy and the baby that I don’t even think he remembered that his birthday was coming.”

I didn’t want to say too much, I knew that Nick didn’t tell her what we were doing because she wouldn’t like it. The major plan was to go to Splat’s Pub and hang out there all night; eating, drinking, playing pool and chewing the fat. But if we told her that, she’d insist that we’d go out to some nice restaurant that no one likes and then head over to her house. Two problems with that, the boys don’t want to go some place fancy, they want to relax and hang out with friends and Jordan can’t seem to spend too much time around his father before one of them stomps out of the room, normally Jordan.

“Umm Harriet, I believe that we all were going to go out for supper and then either go to Nick’s or come back to our place.”

“You mean Jordan’s house.” She didn’t like that Jordan and I were living together, she’s one of those who think that guys and girls can’t be just friends, for years she’s been trying to get Jordan and me together. “I was over to see Jordan a couple times this past week, I didn’t see you at all. Are you and Jordan having a fight Anna?”

“No Harriet, Jordan and I are fine.”

“So we’ll see you tomorrow at lunch? John has this new indoor grill that he’s just dying to try; I’ve made the hamburger patties that the boys just love.”

“I’m working tomorrow morning, so I can’t make it.”

“Well we could have them over for supper instead, and then you could come with Jordan.”

Why you sneaky little person. “We have reservations at this really great place and we can’t cancel, the boys have been looking forward to it for weeks. Besides, I promised Josh that I’d feed him some really great food if he came out with me tomorrow to celebrate the boys’ birthday.”

“Josh? Anna who is Josh? And why do you have to bribe him to go out with you when Jordan is free and waiting?”

I sighed, “I don’t have to bribe Josh. Our relationship is fairly new and there have been some tension between Jordan and him, Josh didn’t want to ruin Jordan’s day.”

Harriet scoffed, “Of course there is tension between them! Anna when are you going to open your eyes and see that Jordan is the perfect guy for you?”

I wanted to smack my head off a wall; it would be less painful than listening to this. “Jordan and I aren’t meant for each other, he doesn’t love me as anything more than a friend and I don’t love him any more than that either. Harriet, we’ve already talked about this, and we both agree that it would never work out.”

“But he’s always so happy when you are around Anna. I just want him to be happy.”

“I know and he will be, when he finds the right girl.” She agreed with me, which shocked me and she didn’t say anything more about it. I told her I had to go finish getting stuff ready for tomorrow and told her to have a good time with the boys at lunch.

After I hung up the phone, I jumped out of my car and headed inside to grab something to eat. I don’t eat at McDonalds all that much and believe it or not sometimes I crave it. Today I was craving a Big Xtra with cheese – no lettuce, extra onions. Plus I ordered 10 McNuggets because I always want them after I sit down.

I was preoccupied with finding a booth, that I didn’t notice someone was watching me from the front counter. I found a place and sat down, spreading the papers I had with me out on the table. The papers were some stories about Nick and Jordan that I asked some of our friends to write, telling how they met or something funny about the boys. Some of the stories came with photos which I planned to add to my photos of the guys and post them on Bristol board so I can hang them on the wall at Splat’s, to embarrass the guys.

“Hey there!” I jumped, “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I slowly looked up at Hank and then looked around for Jenna. “By yourself today?” He frowned but nodded. “Did you want to sit down?”

“I don’t want to interrupt,” he glanced at the stuff on the table.

“Oh don’t’ worry about it, we’ll just do this.” I swept everything into a pile and smiled at him. “Now sit down, join me.”

He resisted for a moment, and then he slid his tray onto the table and sat down. “I seem to see you a lot lately.”

“Well, I guess. Or maybe you just notice me because you know who I am now.”

“Maybe,” he shrugged as he opened his Double Big Mac box.

I watched him for a moment, he took a sip of his drink and ate a couple fries but never once smiled, he looked so tense. “Is there something wrong?” He shot me a questioning look. “I’m not use to seeing you without Jenna and you seem a little upset.”

“Jenna is with her mom,” he didn’t look at me as he reached for his burger. “And her grandparents.” If the tone of his voice when he said ‘grandparents’ didn’t alert me to something being wrong, then the way he flattened his burger with the palm of his hand certainly did.

“So you are left to amuse yourself for the afternoon?”

He was in the middle of lifting the burger to his mouth when his hand stopped. “Afternoon?” He chuckled, “Try the weekend. I was informed this morning that instead of spending the first weekend she’s had off since we moved here; Heather was going to her aunt’s with her parents and Jenna. ‘I just can’t be in town this weekend,’ she told me as she was running out the door with Jenna.”

“What’s so big about this weekend?”

Hank shrugged, “I have no idea, she wouldn’t tell me. You know,” he popped a couple fries into his mouth and chewed them up before he continued. “I’m not a bad guy, I tend to understand when people tell me things and I can be compassionate if there’s something wrong. But ever since we moved back here, I’ve slammed against so many brick walls lately that I don’t know which way is up anymore.”

“Her parents are still treating you like crap?”

His head snapped up when I said that, “I guess I’ve been unfairly unloading my issues on you and we don’t even know each other!”

“Well,” I smiled. “I am a good listener.”

“Yes you are.” He flashed me a smile and then his frown was back. “I don’t now anyone in this town, except her family and it’s not like I can talk to them. Hell, I can’t even talk to her about them, she doesn’t see the problem. Her father can’t stand me and is always shutting me out and she pretends not to see it.” He grabbed my hand, “How can she not see it? I don’t get invited over, they don’t come over and they never talk to me or ask about me. I work my ass off to provide for Heather and Jenna as best I can and I watch Jenna every single night so that Heather can work. But never once does anyone in her family think about that, they are so stuck on how great her ex was. And he screwed around on her!” Hank threw his hands up in the air in frustration. I stared at him in shock, I didn’t even know what to say, he saw this and sighed. “I’m so sorry; you don’t need to know my problems.”

“You look like you need to relax.” He nodded in agreement. “Did you say you were alone all weekend?” I had an idea.

“Yeah, nice huh?”

I smiled, “Well if you wish to get out and meet some fun people you should go to Splat’s Pub tomorrow around 7ish.”

Hank raised a brow, “Oh? Will you be there then?”

I nodded, “Yes two of my friends are having a birthday party.”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to crash someone’s party.”

I gathered up my stuff and stood up. “Well if you want to spend the night alone staring at the four walls of your place while your girlfriend and her daughter are off having fun, be my guest.” I didn’t wait for him to say anything else, I said good bye and walked out the door.