and while that might be better, it would be boring.
Or I could go hang out with Lynn and Marie… Yeah. That was a good option; it just made sense.
***
Both Lynn and Marie could cheer Ollie up, even though only five minutes earlier he had nearly lost his life. He stayed only half an hour, but that gave him thirty minutes of smiles and laughter.
Maybe Greg got fed up because I’m both bored and boring. He couldn’t help being bored and boring, though, at least with the kind of day they’d had.
Lynn probably could have guessed pretty closely what had just happened to Ollie by the expression on his face, but he told her all the details anyway.
“You can’t beat yourself up about it,” Lynn said.
“I know. That’s Greg’s job,” Ollie laughed.
“I’m serious,” Lynn said. “He’ll just snap. Sometimes you can’t avoid it. All you can do is get out of his way.”
After a while, Ollie walked back to Greg’s place. It was time to get back to work, and his responsibilities couldn’t be avoided.
He was still nervous about what he’d find there. He couldn’t help feeling like he’d failed at something. He felt somehow it was his fault Greg had flipped out, even though he knew it was impossible to completely keep Greg occupied and busy at all hours.
“Greg?”
“Who are you?”
“Ollie.”
Greg looked at him hesitantly, but stepped closer.
Ollie’s hand still rested on the doorknob. As he felt those potentially terrible eyes scanning him, it took everything he had not to tuck his tail and run. Is he still mad at me, or does he really not remember who I am? There’s one sure way to tell.
“Pooky?” Ollie said, still deciding between fight and flight.
Greg’s eyes lit up in excitement, like he’d just been reunited with a long lost friend. “Pooky!”
“I was gonna ask how you were doin’, but I can see you’re doing just fine.”
“‘Course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Oh, I dunno. I just didn’t know if you were still—” Ollie stopped himself from finishing his own sentence. If Greg didn’t remember his emotional hurricane, nothing good could come from reminding him about it. “…Uh, if you were still wanting to go over to visit Marie’s apartment.”
“Who’s she?”
“You know her… big girl across the way. Thick glasses.”
“Why would I want to visit her?”
“I dunno. She’s your friend.”
“I bet you just want to go over there because there’s a hot girl working with her today.”
Busted. “Hey, if you don’t want to go over there, that’s fine. I just thought you’d like to go do something fun, rather than sit around the house watching TV.”
“I’m hungry. Maybe after dinner.”
Ollie took a few steps toward the kitchen and pointed at the empty bowl that had contained ravioli in the not too distant past. “You just ate.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m not still hungry. Besides, don’t you have a girlfriend? Isn’t that girl with the curly brown hair your girlfriend? She doesn’t work over there.”
Ollie’s mind immediately switched over to defense. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, how is it you can remember something like that, but you don’t even know who I am when I walk through your door?”
“Beats me. Sometimes I remember things, sometimes I don’t.”
It was a lost cause trying to convince Greg. He wasn’t going to go.
The big bear nuked a TV dinner, quickly got it into his belly, and resumed hibernation on the sofa while Ollie coasted to the end of the shift watching another ballgame.
Even after the shift and the ballgame had ended, Ollie sat there quietly debating whether or not to spend a little more time with Lynn and Marie or just go home. His debate went as far as walking over to Marie’s front door and lifting his hand as if he were going to knock, but he shoved his hand back into his warm pocket and made his way to his car. Playing with fire. I’d better figure out what’s up with Joy before I go hanging out with other girls.
What a rotten situation to be in. This would be so much easier if Lynn were ugly. But Ollie had to shake his head at himself for thinking such a horrible thought.
That night, stewing in his thoughts, he knew what he wanted to do. He’d go over to Joy’s place in the morning so early that she couldn’t possibly be gone. It was all he could think of doing, but even that plan came up empty.
“Sorry, Ollie,” Joy’s roommate said, standing in the