13. Aurora
Aurora
“ W hy are you settling at all?” I asked Frankie in surprise. “I remember you telling me in no uncertain terms that you didn’t do relationships.”
Maybe it was a trick of the light, but I could swear that Frankie’s cheeks had turned pink.
“Cone of silence?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“To be honest, I’m dating her for similar reasons as why you’re with Chris. I’m stressed out about turning thirty, and my mother has been on my ass forever about settling down. She insisted on fixing me up with Barbie and I just thought, okay, I guess this is convenient. It’ll get my mother to leave me alone for a while anyway.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s so romantic.”
“I’ve never been that much of a romance girl.”
Her voice almost sounded wistful.
“Anyway, so I’ve just been… treading water with Barbie I guess. I don’t love her, but I don’t hate her either. The sex is pretty good -- although that’s been fizzling out lately – but other than that, we don’t have a lot in common. But I just haven’t had the energy to break up with her and deal with what I’m sure will be a lot of drama – from both her and my mom.”
“At least you didn’t move to another state with her,” I said. “I had this idea that moving away would make us grow closer, make the issues in our relationship go away, but instead it’s shining a spotlight on what’s wrong with us.”
I leaned back in my seat with a heavy sigh. Frankie’s eyes dropped to my breasts before popping up to my face again.
“Y’all live together, I assume?”
“Sort of,” I responded. “We’re crashing with Chris’s mother and stepfather while we look for an apartment.”
“Why don’t you tell her that you want to get your own place?”
“They.”
I corrected the pronoun automatically.
“Why don’t you tell them?” she amended.
“I guess I could,” I said slowly. “We were living separately in St. Louis although they’d been trying to get us to move in together for a while now. I could tell them that I changed my mind about moving in together and that I need more time before going to the next level. But I’m going to have a hard time getting an apartment before I get a job.”
“I’ll keep my ears out for an apartment and a job for you,” Frankie promised. “I live in a studio, otherwise I’d offer for you to stay with me.”
“Well I appreciate the thought, and any leads you might have. Now tell me how your teaching is going.”
The rest of the evening passed quickly. We finished our mushrooms and ordered burgers to go with our second round of beer. Just like it always had, conversation flowed easily between us. It made me remember that night in my hotel room where we spent hours talking in between having sex. I remembered the conversation as fondly as the physical part, oddly enough.
I glanced at my phone as it vibrated on the table. It was another message from Chris, wondering when I was coming home. They’d texted me like five times since I got here even though they knew I was seeing Frankie. Chris hadn’t been happy about me going without them. For some reason they didn’t seem as needy and jealous back in St. Louis.
Or maybe they had. Maybe I was the one who was different now.
“I should probably head out,” I told Frankie regretfully. “Chris is burning up my phone wondering when I’ll be home.”
“Yeah, me too. My cat is probably laying on the ground in a big orange puddle, wasting away from starvation.”
“Ah, so your cat takes after you,” I teased.
“How so?”
“Dramatic and always hungry.”
“Ha ha.” Frankie pulled out her credit card and put it on top of the check. “Tonight’s on me.”
“Oh no, let’s split it,” I protested.
“This is your ‘welcome to Chicago’ dinner,” she explained. “Fortunately you’re a cheap date.”
“I guess I should have ordered that third beer then,” I joked. “Thanks for dinner though, and the conversation. I appreciate both. Let’s keep in touch, okay? I meant it when I said I could use a friend.”
Frankie reached across the table and squeezed my hand in hers. We both paused as that lightning sensation traveled between us. I had the sudden urge to kiss her, but then I remembered that I wasn’t single, and neither was she. It had to be muscle memory from that night we spent together, right?
“You’ve got a friend in me,” Frankie finally said, her voice husky. “I’m here for you, Aurora.”
“Thanks,” I said softly, my throat feeling tight all the sudden.
She dropped my hand, and I immediately felt sad.
“You’re taking the El right?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Let’s walk together then.”