“How’d it go? Must have been good if you didn’t come home last night,” Kevin asked as Jesse entered the living room.
“Actually, the opposite. It was a horrible nightmare. I didn’t want to leave Holly alone. She was drained from the emotional trauma of the evening.”
“Wow, that bad, huh? How could they not like you?”
Jesse let out his breath and shook his head. “That’s the worst part. I still don’t know if they like me. They put us through Hell, then gave us some ambiguous blessing.”
“Well, at least it ended ok.”
“I guess.”
“So, now what?”
“I don’t know. I’m still trying to make sense of it all. They knew my dad.”
“Really…” Kevin replied ominously.
“Yes. They thought he was a great man. Although arrogant, apparently,” he added wryly.
“Well, at least they got half of it right.”
Jesse smiled. “Look at you, the eternal optimist.”
“Hey, one of us has to bring a little sunshine in here once in awhile. Our apartment can’t be a Russian film all the time.”
He chuckled. “Have you ever even seen a Russian film?”
Kevin shrugged. “Sure…well…what’s your definition of ‘seen?’ I walked through the room while you were watching one with those guys from your philosophy class.”
“That was Memento.”
“Yeah? So?”
“Not Russian.”
“Oh. Well, then, no.”
Jesse shook his head, still smiling, and feeling immensely fortunate to have someone like Kevin in his life. If anyone could make him smile and give him the proper perspective, it was his best friend. “So what’s on the agenda for tonight?”
Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought maybe we should do something totally wild. Like rent Lassie. The second season of course since, you know, you just watched the first one.”
Jesse laughed and ran his hand over his face. “Wow, you are never going to let this one go, are you.”
“No. I tried, but it’s not possible. C’mon, is she really worth that?”
He grinned and sighed. “Unfortunately, yes, and guess what? If she wants to watch season two, I’m inviting you as well.”
“I’ll bring the Girl Scout cookies.”
Jesse stared at him for a moment with a questioning look and then nodded. “Oh right…because only girl scouts would watch Lassie. I get it.”
“What? I thought that was good!”
“It would have been, but I doubt Girl Scouts sit around eating their own cookies.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t. But it’s probably like drugs. You don’t use what you sell. Maybe they do, I don’t know. Next time I meet one, I’ll ask.”
“I bet they do. Don’t they compete or something? Their parents probably buy cases of them so they can have the highest amount of sales in their den. Do they have dens?”
“I think that’s Cub Scouts. Girl Scouts would have troops.”
“Oh…What are Cub Scouts?”
“Never mind.”
“No really? If you don’t tell me I’m going to go look it up.”
Jesse sighed. “Fine, they’re like pre-Boy Scouts, I think.”
“Oh…And those are the ones that do the knots, right?”
Jesse laughed. “Do me a favor, and don’t have any kids.”
