The first week of school after the holiday was a blurry struggle. I felt wrung out, hollow. It hurt to walk up a staircase. The doctor had said that I shouldn’t exert myself for a month or more, but I hadn’t realized he meant because I’d be as weak as an octogenarian. I had already informed work that I’d be missing the next few weekends. I had felt bad when I made the arrangements, but by the end of the week I was glad I’d called. I’d have died on my feet trying to do my job, the way I felt.
When Dan found out that I’d actually be free that weekend, he campaigned for another drinking party.
“No. It was a onetime thing.” I told him as we power-bombed Triple H through a table. I punched buttons on my video-game controller, pinning our opponent.
Dan watched the screen as we sat on the common room couch, playing Nintendo.
“Come on! It was fun. Admit that you had a good time.”
“I can’t.” I laughed. “I don’t remember half of it.”
“If you’re there I won’t do anything stupid. You’ve been helping me behave.”
“Don’t go and get drunk. That’s a great way to prevent new stupidity.” I teased.
“You don’t have to drink as much as last time. That was like an initiation. Just enough to get dancing and talking. You had fun!”
I shrugged, grinning.
“I’ll think about it.”
It was a dumb idea. Chemically induced sociability. But otherwise I hated people and simultaneously loathed my sense of isolation. I didn’t fit with everyone else, but didn’t want to become a hermit. Eventually Dan had to catch up with Teri for dinner, so I wandered over to my room. I stared at the piece of paper on my desk, wondering if I should call the mystery number. I’d been wondering all week. I hated not knowing.
I was curious, but I didn’t know what to say.
“Hi, this is Ethan. Remember me? Because I sure don’t remember you…”
It seemed silly. Dumb, even. Childish. But I kept looking at the piece of paper, like an archaeologist trying to reconstruct events from the shards of broken pottery.
17 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 2, 2008 at 1:37 am
Anonymous
Can you post it faster
April 2, 2008 at 7:14 am
sonjanitschke
I dunno, Tomorrow’s update always show’s up when it’s still Today.
Temporal Anomaly Alert!
(kidding)
April 2, 2008 at 7:27 am
Katie
he posts every day….not that I would complain if it posted faster.
So he IS going to have an awkward conversation with the mystery girl! Yay?
April 2, 2008 at 11:38 am
nomananisland
For some reason, my WordPress is set up so that Tomorrow starts at Today’s 8pm for me. I’m too lazy to figure out why, so I just let it.
April 2, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Allan T Michaels
Sounds like you’re on GMT on WordPress, so it’s going by Midnight in London.
April 2, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Allan T Michaels
Last comment assumes you’re in far Eastern Canada.
April 2, 2008 at 4:59 pm
nomananisland
Ontario, actually.
April 2, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Fiona
Doesn’t anyone think the phone number might have been put in his pocket before the drunken night out?
April 2, 2008 at 9:43 pm
nomananisland
Hey Fiona: want to do a cameo walk-on as the name of a student in Ethan’s English Lit class in an upcoming chapter? I’ve been naming his classmates after the frequent commenters on NMAI, so far Sonja, Katie, Suzanne, Pat Bertram and Allan are on board.
(Hey Blue Fleur, I’d include you but I don’t know what your name is!)
April 3, 2008 at 1:04 am
Kitabare
It would be awesome and slightly ironic (although likely improbable) if the number belonged to the girl from the bus who commented on his eyes.
Yes, the phone call might be slightly awkward, but really he has nothing to lose.
April 3, 2008 at 3:19 am
Fiona
woo hoo! Yes, I’d love to be in Ethan’s English Lit class. Of course, he thinks everyone in his classes (is?are?) idiots. Oh well, probably not far off target.
April 3, 2008 at 10:53 am
nomananisland
Well, that’s kind of the downside — Ethan’s rude to his classmates. He’s having a tough chapter.
But on the plus side, I appreciate my readers even if my character is rude, so it’s fun for me to include my supportive literary circle.
April 3, 2008 at 11:06 am
nomananisland
Hey Kitabare, you’re more than welcome to join the literature class too (I think that would be all my major readers/commenters — I have to be careful not to fill this class too full!)
April 4, 2008 at 6:54 am
Kitabare
English Lit huh? Sure, seeing as I love to write I guess it would be an appropriate class for me to cameo in. I guess you need a name for me huh? Let’s see how good you are… It’s the poetic form of Ireland.
April 4, 2008 at 12:41 pm
nomananisland
And I shall call thee “Erin.”
April 4, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Kitabare
🙂
I realized after I commented that it could also be Eire, but I don’t know very many people, any really, with that name.
April 5, 2008 at 3:07 am
nomananisland
It works out well, because there’s another chapter with a friend named Erin, so you can be in two chapters instead of one!