not my girlfriends.” He protested. “You know I don’t have a girlfriend. Would I be able to spend so much time with you, if I did.”
“Oh, sorry. For your lady friends, then?” Sarcasm dripped from my voice.
“They're not my lady friends.”
“They're not your lady friends? What do you mean by that? What are they then? Aliens?”
“They're just ladies that I know and go out on dates with sometimes.”
“Oh, but they're not friends?”
“No, I wouldn't call them friends, necessarily. You're my friend, Sarah. You're my best friend. That's why I'm asking you to do me this huge favor. You know, I will owe you one.”
“You owe me so much already Harry.”
“Aw Sarah, but isn't that what best friends are for?”
“Harry, you know that I don't want to get involved with you and your skanks.”.
“Now now, they aren’t skanks.” He laughed. “Please, Sarah. I'll love you forever.” He spoke in that smooth voice that he normally reserved for women he was flirting with.
“You're already supposed to love me forever.” I laughed. “I’ve been your best friend your whole life, if you’re only going to love me if I buy presents for your lady nonfriends, then I guess—.”
“Well, I’ll love you forever and a day then.” He cut me off. “Please Sarah. You know I suck with buying gifts and you’re so good. And I have absolutely no time, what with running the office, helping out with the German merger, acting as family liaison for the annual charity fashion show, and—.”
“Fine. I'll get them, what exactly do you want me to buy?”
“Just choose whatever you think you'd like. Just use your initiative. You have great taste, so I trust you.”
“Okay, no need to suck up, Harry.” I laughed. “Also do you want three gifts that are the same or three different gifts?”
“I don't care. It's up to you.”
“And do you want cards?”
“Do you think they deserve cards?”
“Do I think they deserve cards?” I could hear the disbelief in my voice. “Harry, I feel sorry for these poor misguided girls. You’re a real treat to date, aren’t you? What the hell do you mean, do I think they deserve cards? Do they deserve to be treated like this?” My voice was rising as I got angrier. “The real question, is do they deserve to be treated this way and if you want to know my answer to that, the answer is no.”
“Oh, Sarah, don't take it so personally. They know what's up. They accompany me to dinners. They go with me to business events and dinners. They enjoy the life I give them.”
“Really? Do they know about each other?”
“Well, each one of them knows they're not my one and only. And let's be real, if they read any of the local newspapers here in New York, they'll see that there are other women that I'm also dating.”
“That's so horrible. Harry. That's really, really horrible.”
“Well, you told me you wouldn't accompany me to any business events. And you know I can’t go alone, so I needed to find someone or many someone’s. We could avoid all of this if you would just agree ”
“Harry. I don't want anyone thinking I'm your lady of the month.”
“Yeah, that's true because you're my lady for life.”
“Well, you mean I'm your best friend for life.” I corrected him.
“Yeah. Yeah. Same difference to me.” I could hear music in his background and I could picture him sitting in his living room relaxing on his couch. “So you’re definitely going to get the presents and the cards, right?”
“Fine. I'll do it for you. You're going to give me your credit card again?”
“Sure. You want me to pop it over later tonight?”
“I might be going to a movie, so-”
“Okay. I'll see you at eight?”
“Fine.” I sighed in resignation. Whatever Harry wanted, Harry got. There was no point arguing with him and right now I was too tired to be able to formulate my points coherently.
“Great, see you later.” Harry clicked off the phone, and I just stood there, staring at the phone screen. Harry Parker Huntington frustrated me more than any man in the world. He was my best friend and had been since we were little kids. Our mothers were best friends and they’d had us as playmates before we could even walk and talk. We'd gone to all the same schools and even though we were in different grades, we’d always remained best friends. Even though he was three years older than me, we’d spent all of our weekends and