Angelo and I were roommates back in the day, way back when. Recently, he got his own place about 15 minutes north of me. This is why I was surprised when he called at 11:30 PM on a Tuesday night.
"Yo, yo." This is my standard greeting.
"Hey man. Doing anything?"
"Nope. What you got in mind?"
"Nothing in particular. I'm coming through, straight?"
"Uh. Okay. See ya."
Maybe he's just bored, I thought to myself. Twenty minutes later Angelo is knocking on my door. I let him in and we sit at the table for a few minutes. There's very little to do in my house. Impulsively, we decide to get out of the house and hit up a hookah bar down the street.
After ordering a Strawberry-Vanilla blend of tobacco (with milk in the base -- try it sometime!), we small talk for a while. Angelo seems a bit down. He was like this on Saturday night as well, even though we went to an amazing party where the alcohol was flowing and the girls were glowing. Curiosity gets the best of me.
"What's going on dude?" I ask.
"Nothing man. Just doing the do."
"I mean...why did you come out here tonight?" I have a few theories, but I'm not quite sure yet.
"Well, I was chilling with Amanda, Tyler and Kim, but they started to annoy me. I needed some intellectual conversation, ya know?" I laugh at this.
"So...you ditched two hotties and a good friend to come chill with me?"
"Yeah. You don't know how it is with them." I do know. They can be very tiring, but not tiring enough to drive this far on a weeknight. Angelo's phone vibrates.
"Samantha just texted me to tell me she's cooking Tilapia because she's so high. I don't know why she does that." All of a sudden, I'm reminded of the events of the weekend.
"Dude...is this about Sam?" I already know it is.
"No. Why? What did she say?" Go figure.
"She didn't say anything."
"She told me you guys have been hanging out. What did she say?"
Let me explain a bit. Angelo brought Samantha to the party we went to on Saturday night. She stayed around me most of the time. Nothing happened though, we are just friends and she knows I have a girl. She also knows I would very willingly cheat on my girl with her, but I don't think she's into me like that. She is just a cool person and people gravitate towards her. She was the life of the party, and we had a great time.
"Angelo, I'm telling you right now, let her go. She's no good for you. She's a leech." I mean this. I know Angelo, and I know Samantha. I know Angelo will do anything to get a girl, and I know Samantha will probably try to exploit this weakness. Once she finds out a guy is into her, she's willing to put on a show to make a few bucks. Whoreish, yes, but I can understand.
"She's gone. I was just wondering what she was saying about me. I know she said something about me." I blow thick, gray smoke rings and raise my eyebrows. Angelo laughs and agrees to change the subject.
Two hours and a trip downtown later, we end up back at my place. My roommate spots Angelo a gram of Kush, which he rolls up into a nice blunt. He sparks it and takes a few hits. He starts to pass the blunt to me, but stops midway.
"You and Sam didn't do anything?" he asks.
"No. Pass that shit."
"You aren't planning on doing anything?"
"What the fuck bro. You know I'm not planning anything. Mariam just wrecked her car; I'm not about to fuck her over after what she's been through this week. Can't say the same for next week though..." I'm fucking with him because he won't pass the blunt. He starts to get angry. "I'm just kidding, relax," I add before he can say anything. Satisfied by my answer, he passes the blunt.
By 3 AM we are both very high. I'm sprawled out on the couch mindlessly watching Family Guy when Angelo gets up to leave. I see him to the door. He's halfway to his car when I shout, "Don't let a girl get between me and you, bro. We've been through too much for that." Though he silently nods as he gets in his car, I know he probably will.