Time to Pretend.

Luckily it wasn’t Erin at the door. I was more than relieved. Sadly, my relief dropped when I saw who it was staring at me through the peephole. It was none other than Zoey, the only other woman in my life who had my heart in her possession at some point or another. The last time I had heard from her she was moving to England? Australia? I’m not even sure but it wasn’t like I couldn’t open the door …

So I opened the door.

“Ericccccccc,” she screamed, as she dropped her bags and suitcase and ran to give me a hug. “I’ve missed you so much! You look goooood.”

The emphasis on the word good made me feel a little better. I wondered if she was just saying that because standing there in basketball shorts, a white tee that probably smelled like last night, and two mismatched socks certainly wasn’t going to be the next look you see on runways in Milan.

I was literally dumbfounded. “So Zoey, what brings you here?”

She stared at me as if I had just forgotten I had told her she could stay for the next couple of weeks. Maybe it was because I had.

She didn’t seem to mind as she began walking around my apartment, looking at things, picking up items I didn’t really want touched and sitting in the chair that was reserved for me. Not exactly forgetting that I had company coming over, I tried to think of some way to get Zoey out of the apartment, and fast.

“Zoey, as you can see I have to do some major cleaning and I have to go to the studio later on. How about you leave your bags in the room with the extra bed, and then go look around the city. Then we can meet back up here when I’m done recording and I’ll have a key for you and everything. Sound like a plan?”

“Sure,” she exclaimed, which surprised me. I thought I’d have to do a little more coercing than that but I guess not. After setting her bags in the spare room, I started to usher her out when of course, there was a knock on the door.

Pause. Now, if my life were more like a movie there are a lot of spectacular things I could have done. Hide Zoey in the closet. Invite Erin in and hope her and Zoey hit it off (I liked this one). Did the trick where Zoey hides behind the door as Erin comes in, slipping out ever so stealthily.

Unfortunately, my life is nothing like a movie. So when the door knocked and just opened, I froze. The ONE time Erin just walks in I have to have another girl standing in my living room.

“Oh, you have company. I’m so sorry, this was a bad idea, let me go,” she said a little more quietly than I thought she would have.

“Who, her? Ohhh, that’s just Zoey. Uhh, come in.”

You should have seen Zoey’s face when she was referred to as “just Zoey”. I was 0-2 at the moment.

“No Eric, its fine. I shouldn’t have just invited myself over. Just give me a call when you’re not busy or whatever, it’s fine.”

In the seven or so months that I’ve known Erin, she had never apologized for just coming over. In the seven or so months that I’ve known her, I had never seen her cry because of me; excluding the last time she was here. And in the seven or so months that I’ve known her I’ve never felt her angry at me.

Seeing her walk out nearly made me implode. What was I doing? Should I chase after her? Zoey was still here. Why did I let Zoey stay with me? Had I eaten this morning?

Way too many thoughts.

Instinctively I followed Erin out of my apartment, nearly tripping over my Birkenstocks. These weren’t made to chase embarrassed women in, that’s for sure. I caught up with her waiting for the elevator, and saw the door open as I came within reach of her. She marched on, and I followed suit. Pressing “1” on the front panel, she turned her back to me and stared at the wall. Silent treatment I guess.

“Erin, it really isn’t wh--,” and I was cut off. She had turned around and kissed me on the lips, gripping my head with both of her hands. Although I was caught off guard I quickly regained my composure and started to return the favor, placing my hands on her shoulders.

Then the elevator dinged. Something told me my fear of heights would bite me in the ass. We only had to go down 3 floors.

She removed her lips from mine while I was still trying to find my groove and walked right out of the elevator. She walked straight towards the main doors and pushed it open and sauntered out onto the street. I had no idea what was happening but followed, never minding that I was wearing not nearly enough clothes for how cold it was.

“You wanna explain what that was,” I asked while trying to keep up with her pace.

Nothing.

“Erin, look, she’s just a friend. Why would I have a girl over if you were coming over?”

I’m not even sure she blinked.

I stepped in front of her, walking backwards, to explain myself. “You’re tripping for no reason, really. This is retarded.”

An old man hit me in the back, but not after grunting “get outta the way kid.”

As soon as she was beside her car she tried placing her key in the lock, but not before I grabbed her and turned her to face me. Surprisingly, she was the first to speak.

“I came over to tell you I wanted to be with you Eric. That you’ve been on my mind for weeks, that I’ve been dreaming about when I sleep and …,” she cut off as tears formed in her eyes. “And then I come up to see you with some girl … some girl that you probably brought home from the club and forgot to tell to go home before your crazy ex girl came over.”

“My … ex girl?” I asked her while looking at her sideways. “You were the one that never wanted any kind of titles … and now you were my ex girl? Wow.”

“Well you know, sort of. The point is I feel stupid for even thinking that you still would want to talk to me after all this time. Obviously I was wrong. Obviously you’ve moved on to … other things.”

“But I haven’t. But I don’t even know why I’m chasing you anyway; you were never my woman. Do what you do best and run.”

I turned around and started walking away, secretly hoping that she would chase me and apologize. I guess those kinds of things only happen in the movies because when I reached the door to my apartment and turned around her car was gone. I just so happened to look up and see Zoey looking out of the window down at me.

Peering at my watch I groaned … it was only 11:37. What a day this was going to be.