Hello Again

I was hanging with my boy Benson last friday in the mission. I met Benson in college through my girlfriend at the time and I distinctly remember telling her that he looked like a nerd. We caught up over some drafts and a few shots on 24th and then walked over to meet another friend at Rosamunde. We had a few pitchers and brauts and life was good. Our friend had to leave for a dinner party in the Marina so Benson and I sauntered over to Cafe Revolution where I picked up a dime sack off a black kid who introduced himself as Jmobb. Benson had promised his girlfriend that he would get back home early, but the night was still very young.

I rolled a pinner at the table while Benson struck up a cute looking latin girl in the cafe. I motioned to Benson I was going to go outside for a smoke, while he continued chatting up the girl. I lit up outside struck up a few conversations with meandering drunks which left no solid impressions. I stepped back in and grabbed a few more beers. Benson introduced me to Alejandra, the latin girl, who turned out to be a violinist preforming with her band at the cafe. She was very friendly and had very pretty eyes. We chatted a bit and I fell in love, but I had promised myself never to date another artist again. We stayed around for a bit and listened to a few numbers, but I was getting bored so we took off.

We rode the Bart downtown and started walking to Jones when my phone rang, the number was blocked, but I answered anyways.

"Hello?"

"Hey" A voice I hadn't heard from in years, but could recognize anytime. Memories floated to the surface that had been swept away long ago. It was her, Tammi. The ex girlfriend I met Benson through. Her voice soft, alluring.

"Hey Tammi, how are you?"I asked. Benson looked over at me, perplexed.

"I'm good" she laughed, like the tinkling of bells.

I was at a loss for words. The last time I had seen her I was still in college. At that time she'd already been dating her future husband, but stopped by just to say hi and visit. We had a very tumultuous falling out. I don't know why I ever bother with girls from my past, they're nothing but trouble.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm actually out with Benson right now."

"Oh, no shit. Let me talk to him."

They chatted a bit and he handed the phone back to me.

"This is so strange, why are you calling me out of the blue?"

"Are you drunk?"

"No, I've had a few, but I'm alright."

I knew there had to be a reason she called me, but it was a terrifically bad moment to take a call like that. I was not ready for it. We neared the bar.

"Sorry Tammi, but I've got to go, I just can't talk right now. Maybe you can give me a call another time?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"It's really nice hearing from you. I hope things are well."

"You too"

"Bye Tam."

"Bye.

I had been waiting for this phone call for a long time and part of me wished that I had just stayed on the line. I looked at Benson, still in a bit of awe and said, "Weird."

Jones was empty, but we bumped into some friends and had a few more drinks at the bar. We tried to cross the street to Swig, but they had already shut down their doors. Benson tried to bribe the bouncer, but people were already pouring out. We met a few girls from North Carolina walking out of Swig and they had those very sexy drawls. They were visiting from Raleigh and were doing the tourist thing, which I'm sure included "hook up with an asian artist".

We walked over to the Nite Cap and closed out the bar. It was too late for Benson to head back on Caltrain so instead he left his girlfriend a drunken apology on her voicemail at 2:30 in the morning.

I woke up the next day with a headache and Benson asking if he could borrow the computer to check train schedules. Her voice still chiming in my head.