Chapter 3

Leroy’s mother didn’t bother waking him up when she came home, and he slept through the five o’clock news, the delicious stew that Raquel left on the stove for dinner, and the text message that came from Lilith – a girl from school that he had his eye on – inviting him to accompany her to IHOP for a late night dinner. In the message she précised that she was having a craving and was scared to go out alone, but he would have cleverly crafted a scheme to turn it into the date that Leroy and his hormones wanted, no doubt. Instead, he lay in bed with one leg hanging off the side of the frame, resting peacefully until a few minutes after 11PM.

He woke up rudely and in a bitter mood after dreaming about his school work. Dreams were funny things; Leroy never wanted to be a star student, but he dreamed about the glory of whisking himself onto a stage, sharing a supportive and firm handshake with a teacher, delivering a discursive oratory about the value of his educational and social development, and marching off stage while he would humbly accept the applause and inspire his fellow classmates to work harder for a better tomorrow. As he thought about the dream and tried to scribble some of the details that he could remember into a little notepad he kept on his nightstand, he began to chuckle a little. And then he read it again and the chuckle turned into a full-blown laugh, and the laugh must have lasted a quarter of an hour. “I’d be better off as a comedian. How does my subconscious come up with this bullshit?” Reaching down for his backpack, he caught a glimpse of his cell phone and saw the text message that he missed.

“Fuck,” he said out loud, “I coulda finally gotten some tonight, and instead here I am sleeping the day away and laughing like a god damned fool.” His computer was already open and on, so he panicked and rushed to click on the internet browser icon. “She must be on facebook. She’s always on facebook.” But this particular night, she wasn’t on facebook. Leroy imagined, in a horrifying way, all of the places she could be. Did she get out to IHOP and stay out late with Richard? “Man, if Dick gets her before I do, I don’t know what I’ll do…”

Realizing that he was still clenching his phone in his hands, he hit “REPLY” and answered the message. “Hey you! sorry I didn’t get ur message earlier. If u want 2 go still im awake. Lmk” The message sent and he awaited a reply.

Leroy knew that if he waited without diverting his attention somehow, he’d go crazy. Normally when he woke up at night he’d go out for a walk, but it was freezing tonight and he wanted to avoid looking moppy if Lilith should return his message. He sat down on his bed and thought about how great a date with her would be. He wouldn’t just walk with her to IHOP, he’d lend her his jacket, pay her bill, hold her close to keep her warm, and then ask her to follow him to his favorite corner in an alley behind the music store. From there, you can hear all of the Italians fighting at night, which made him feel more like his family was functional despite being broken by divorce and disdain. Even more, though, you always felt alone there; not a lonely alone like he sometimes felt when he was walking at night, but a refreshing alone where you’re sure there are other people around, but you don’t want to have anything to do with them. The dumpster in that alley didn’t even smell like other dumpsters – it smelled like an Italian restaurant. He’d bring her there, kiss her, and maybe go a little further. As his mind wandered off to the alley, his hormones slipped into the gutter and he became increasingly aware of his sincere hope that he’d hear back from her soon.

While he waited, he worked on his blog. It wasn’t a sissy touchy-feely blog like the girls at his school wrote; usually he just wrote stories about guys who were luckier than him with the ladies. No one ever looked at it or read it, which suited him well because no one gave him trouble about it. It was, for him, a good source of inspiration to overcome his natural timidity and try to make a move.