Chances Aren't by Luke Young Read Free Book Online Page A

she..." He points down to his groin. "She, uh, you know."
    "Blew you?"
    "Yeah, and it was... whew man, I never forgot about her."
    "What happened?" I ask.
    "She moved away and I never saw her again." He sighs. "Well, then I met Alice and we fell for each other. I mean, I love Alice completely, but I never forgot about Tracey."
    "She never called you or anything?"
    "I worried for a few years that I'd maybe gotten her pregnant. We didn't use anything when we did it in the backseat of the car."
    "The crazy shit you do when you're young." I shake my head and scoff.
    "Don't I know it." Suddenly, he appears embarrassed. "But that was a long time ago."
    We each take a long pull off our beers. He asks, "What happened to Laura?"
    "I met Emily the very next day and I don't know… it was almost like none of it ever happened. I just didn't ask her out again. I can't explain it." Sighing, I rub my chin. "But Laura, wow, she was so sexy. We did it like all night. I mean, all night. I guess it just didn't register with me back then, but she was... I don't know, um, so into it. I forgot about it or suppressed it or... for a long time, but the memories are coming back to me now with everything that's going on."
    He gives me a curious look. "What's going on?"
    "Emily and I… we're getting a divorce."
    "No."
    I nod my head yes and shrug.
    "Why?"
    "She just left me and I can't say that I'm upset about it. Does that make me a terrible guy?"
    "No, it's not like you cheated on her."
    "No, never… I mean, it's been such a long time coming and I'm just not sure how I feel about it. I think I'm just more depressed that I let so much time slip away. That, you know, my best years are behind me."
    "I wouldn't beat yourself up about it." He gives me a sympathetic look. "You guys had such a hard time trying to have kids and um… you stuck by her and you both tried to make it work."
    "Yeah."
    "And you're still a young guy, so—"
    "Right." I frown.
    "Hey." He smiles. "I'm almost twenty years older than you, so let's not act like your life is over, because I don't want to think about what that says about my life, okay?"
    "Sorry, yeah you're right." I take a deep breath.
    "Why don't you look her up?"
    "Who?"
    "Miss amazing sex." He motions with his thumb out the window toward the site of the magic coupling.
    "Laura… What now, after twenty five years?"
    "Sure." Greg sips from his beer and looks at me waiting.
    "Okay, yeah, let me friend her on Facebook. Hi, this is Ben, um, we had one incredible night back in college after which I never asked you out again, but now that my wife is dumping me because I'm such a lousy husband do you maybe want to catch a movie... how's that sound?" I roll my eyes.
    "You could spin it at little better. Just reach out to her and find out what she's up to."
    "I don't know."
    "What've you got to lose?" He raises his eyebrows.
    Shrugging, I sigh. "Maybe."
    The waiter drops off our plates and I look at mine, cringing. When he's safely out of ear shot, I say, "I always order the wrong thing."
    Greg takes a bite of his burger and gives me an acknowledging nod.
    I lift the croissant top up and use my fork to poke at the shredded chicken with way, way too much mayonnaise concoction that I ordered. Picking up my sandwich, I take a small bite and swallow it down. It's not the worst sandwich I've ever tasted, but it's pretty bad.
    "How is it?"
    "It's okay." I put my sandwich down and wipe my mouth with the napkin. "You know, I'm so bad at ordering, that when I'm at a restaurant without Emily, like on a business thing— I would text her, have her lookup the menu online so she could tell me what to order."
    He chuckles.
    "What the hell am I going to do?"
    "This is what you're worried about, ordering food in a restaurant?"
    "Yes, I mean, no… It's just an example of how much of a mess I am."
    "You've got to think positively. You're always minimizing what you do and bad mouthing yourself. You've really got to stop or you're always going