Oliver
I’ve decided to give a friend a visit. I’m not avoiding my apartment and the oddly intense insecurity and uncertainty that now come with it. Nope, this visit is well overdue. I haven’t seen Elliot in two months, and that’s just being a shitty friend.
After work, I drive down to his vet clinic. Knowing him, he'll still be there.
The door jingles when I push it open. There’s no one in the cozy, beige-painted reception area, so I walk directly to his office and knock.
Elliot is just what you'd imagine when you think of a wholesome veterinarian who loves his job and lives for his furry and non-furry patients. At five foot nine the only thing that comes to mind when you look at him is cute. With dark hair, grey eyes, and flawless skin with no sign of a beard, he could pass as a college kid despite being older than me.
If you call him cute to his face, though, he’ll deck you.
I push the door open when I hear a faint “Yes?”
Hesmiles when he sees me. “Look what the cat dragged in!”
“Had to come and see for myself if you’re still breathing. You’ve been ignoring my calls for a month,” I comment.
His smile fades a little, his facade cracking. He looks unusually tired. I take a seat in front of him.
“Work too busy?” I ask.
“Amongst other things,” he vaguely responds. That’s another thing about Elliot. He plays his cards way too close to his chest. We’ve known each other for months, and I like to think we’re friends, but I can count the things I actually know about him on one hand. “But I’m definitely taking a break soon,” he assures.
“You need it, man.”
“Look who’s talking,” he shoots back.
I know I have dark circles under my eyes, but it’s better than before. I got five whole hours of sleep last night! “Yeah, yeah,” I wave him off.
He snorts. “How's the show going?”
The show was how I met Elliot in the first place. He was hired as a consultant for one of the episodes, and I had volunteered to show him around. We've kept in touch and met up often after that.
“The show's the same. Fun, unhinged, dramatic,” I say.
“I think they should hire me more often because I’m all of those things,” he brags, smiling widely again.
I laugh. “But you’re also not appropriate for most ages, which we try to be.”
“And fail! Dude, all you’re missing is a full frontal for it to basically be an HBO show.”
“We do toe the line a bit,” I agree.
“Me, too,” he winks. “Wanna get dinner? I was just closing up.”
Iperk up. “The burger place across the street?”
“I’m so bored with that place,” he whines, but he ultimately agrees.
Once we’re seated at the restaurant, Elliot looks a lot better than before. Or maybe he’s secured his mask back on. It’s anyone’s guess, really.
When I first met Elliot, I would make plans with him every week and pepper him with questions about everything. But I quickly realized, the guy just liked keeping parts of himself hidden. Or maybe he was just so used to hiding now, he didn’t know what else to do. Either way, I wasn’t going to force him to open up. I assumed he would when he was ready.
I desperately needed friends in the city. I wasn’t going to alienate one I really liked just because he sometimes acted a bit cagey. Things could be worse than that, like he could have been intoescape rooms. I appreciated the small blessings.
“How’s Andy?” I ask after we've ordered our burgers.
“We broke up,” he casually responds, like it didn’t mean anything.
