New York Bagels

I stared out the window of the conference room. It was a beautiful day in Santa Monica and while I would have rather been spending it on the beach, I was stuck at work. Pete looked especially good, though. He’d definitely spent some time in the sun that weekend. Staring at him while he spoke wasn’t bad to look at.

Even though I wasn’t at the beach, I was excited for my weekend. Anna was coming to visit. It had been a while since anybody came to California and even though I had been home, it was a different feeling to have somebody fly out to me.

I really zoned out during the meeting and was almost startled when I heard people pushing their chairs out to stand up. I closed my notepad and pushed my pen through the spiral before standing up. I fixed the bottom of my skirt and when I looked up, Pete had walked closer to me.

“So I’m going to be on your stomping grounds this weekend,” he said to me as he fixed the cuff of his sleeve.

“New York?” I asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Why are you going there?” Pete told me he had only been to a New York a couple of times. He didn’t know anybody there and never had work there, so he’d only gone as a tourist.

“Just a few things to take care of,” Pete said with a smile. “Want me to bring you back anything?”

“A bagel,” I said before thinking.

Pete laughed. “You love your carbs.”

I laughed as I felt myself blush. “Hey, that’s why I go to the gym 5 times a week,” I began. “Well, carbs, and that I don’t have a life.” I would have never said something so self-deprecating in front of Pete when I first started or even within the first six months, but I had been with WebMatch for almost a year at this point. While I still found Pete super attractive and slightly intimidating, we regularly talked about our personal lives.

Pete knew that I hadn’t started seeing anybody since the whole Mark debacle. I even told him about the whole wedding, even though I was super embarrassed. I talked to a few guys online and had even gone out with Shelby a couple of times, but I wasn’t really getting anywhere. I think I just needed some time to focus on myself.

“Well, I’ll bring you home a dozen bagels on one condition. You have to go to that yoga class with me when I get back.”

I rolled my eyes. “Pete, you can go to a yoga class by yourself. Plenty of guys do it; it’s not girly!”

“Do you want the bagels or not?”

I agreed to Pete’s silly deal even though Anna was bringing me a couple bagels that weekend. Besides, I obviously wanted to go to this yoga class if only to see Pete in athletic clothing.

Later that day, I got a text from Anna letting me know that she had just landed and she was heading over. Then she added, “And you’ll never guess who was on my flight.”

“Who?” I sat on my couch staring at my phone for what felt like an hour. How could she hook me with that text and then leave me hanging?

I finally threw down my phone when she didn’t respond and got up to finish preparing for her arrival. I had bought a bunch of Anna’s favorite foods and cleaned every inch of my small, studio apartment.

When Anna showed up at my door, I immediately wrapped my arms around her and squealed. But that doesn’t mean I waited more than three seconds before asking about her text message.

“Oh!” She exclaimed. “So, as I was getting out of my seat, I looked toward the back of the plane and Mike was there.”

Mike, my first boyfriend, was in Santa Monica? What was he doing here? And why didn’t he tell me? It’s not like we weren’t on good terms, especially after we saw each other about a year back.

“Did you talk to him?” I asked. I couldn’t tell if I was excited at the possibility of seeing him or repulsed. And I’d be lying if the possibility of sex didn’t go through my head. I mean, it had been a while and the chance at familiar sex was something I was ready to go for without a second thought.

“Yeah,” she responded. “I waved to him and then looked for him at baggage claim. He said he has a cousin here.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. How did I not know Mike had family here? He had a lot of cousins, though, and I’m sure one of them could’ve moved to California for work or something.

“Do you want to see him?” Anna asked.

I realized that I had been sitting there processing all this information. I shook my head and focused. “Uh, no. I mean, not necessarily. You told him you were visiting me, right? So if he wants to see me, he can reach out.”

“Right,” Anna replied. “But it’s honestly fine if you want to text him. I won’t judge you.”

I laughed and hugged Anna again. “Damn it, dude. I missed you!”

“We miss you,” Anna replied as she hugged me tight. “Okay, we’re watching Broad City and drinking.” Anna pulled out a bottle of rosé. “But I’m not drinking too much. I want to look skinny tomorrow in my bathing suit. There’s only so much Instagram filters can do.”

Anna and I caught up while we finished the bottle of wine before falling asleep in my queen size bed. Early the next morning, we got ready and headed for the beach.

We spent time laying in the sun and floating in the water. I didn’t look at my phone until we were getting ready to leave around three, but sure enough, I had a text message from Mike.