196. Flashback

I made it through yet another day of work: blogging, editing, assigning, planning and running contests, tweeting, retweeting, optimizing. My head was spinning, but there was nothing better than being able to go home to Cayden to take my mind off things.

There was so much Cayden and I missed out on because of the distance. Being that we only got a few minutes a day to chat on the phone, I never wanted to bore him with stories about work where I mention coworkers he'd never met or talk about clients he'd never heard of. With the rate people came and went in my office, chances were that coworker wouldn't be there the next week anyway. When time is limited, we only talk about the most important parts of our days, and leave all the other stuff out.

It was Tuesday night, and we'd planned a couples night with Carson and Geoff and Rae and Chaz. I tried not to take Cayden to the same restaurant twice, but we couldn't pass up another chance to go to Mint in Oak Lawn, which just so happened to be next to a bridal store.

"Ooooh, look at that one," I said, pointing to a beautiful off-white wedding dress on a mannequin in the window.

"No, I like that one," Rae said, pointing to a dress on a hanger behind it.

Cayden and Chaz had already gone inside Mint to get us a table, but Rae and I thought we'd do a little window shopping while we waited for Carson and Geoff to arrive.

"But look at the sleeves on this one," I said, and then caught myself drooling.

"The guys would just die if they knew what we were out here doing," Rae said.

What they didn't know wouldn't hurt 'em.

"Hey!" a voice called from behind us, causing both of just to jump like we'd just been caught looking at porn. In a way, we had been.

Carson and Geoff were a few feet away.

"What are you guys looking-" Geoff began to say, looking over our shoulders and through the glass.

"Nothing!" I cut him off and pulled them toward Mint. "Time to eat!"

Carson shot us a curious look.

We sat down at a table in the middle of the restaurant. I opened my menu even though I knew exactly what I was going to get. The pad thai is fucking amazing there.

Cayden kept his hand on my thigh as he talked to Chaz across the table. They were deep in discussion about resumes, CVs, and their prospective job searches. Chaz had finished his internship at Adidas in Germany and entered the cruel, cruel world of job searching. Cayden had already accepted his new job but was still looking for ways to get sponsored in the US instead.

"How cute is that?" Rae asked, nodding toward our boyfriends. "It's a bromance."

It was true. Chaz and Cayden may as well have been BFFs. Geoff, too, although he was paying more attention to Carson than our boyfriends.

"Let's exchange resumes and give each other pointers," I heard Cayden say to Chaz. Rae and I tried not to giggle.

I had a vision of the future with the three boys watching sports together while the three of us ladies drank margaritas and talked about them in the other room. I pictured us traveling together, going on couples trips where the boys would wander off to play golf and the girls would lounge by the pool...with margaritas.

Thinking back to how I met Carson and Rae, I never thought we would have been friends now. The first time I ever met Rae, I was a freshman in college and I was at a fraternity party. The theme was Black and Gold. My girlfriends and I were decked out in black dresses, a few randoms in gold. And one girl stuck out like a sore thumb in a bright green, white, and blue floral spring dress. I was embarrassed for her. "I bet she didn't get the memo," my friends and I whispered. Later, on the party bus, she leaned over to us and said, "So... I definitely did NOT get the memo on the black and gold thing, in case you couldn't tell."

She had short, light brown curly hair and fair skin. Everything about her screamed, "innocent!" We ended up working together in OU's Student Media department, and I was afraid to curse around her, afraid to talk about anything sexual around her. She just seemed so...innocent. Turns out, she had the opposite impression of me. Maybe it was my crazy long hair or my omnipresent cleavage, but she thought I was very "experienced." Imagine her surprise when she found out I was a virgin. I was equally as shocked when I found out she wasn't. Over the years, she'd gone from random girl in the embarrassing dress to one of my best friends.

Carson on the other hand... well, I thought she was a Grade A Bitch. She was in my Botany class, sophomore year. Blonde hair, pink Razor phone, sorority letters on her shirt. She used to walk past me every day to get to her seat, and instead of saying, "Excuse me," for me to scoot in, she'd just give me this look. I wanted to slap her headband out of her hair. At the time, Rae was Editor in Chief of the yearbook and I was Managing Editor. We needed to hire an Assistant Managing Editor so we were interviewing potential candidates. That's how I found myself face to face with BLonde Pink Razor Girl.

"She's so mean!" I said to Rae after the interview.

"What do you mean? She seems sweet! And she's our most qualified candidate so far."

"But... but... she wears headbands," I realized I didn't actually know if she was mean, I just assumed it.

We hired her anyway, and she quickly became one of my most favorite people in the world. It's funny how things work out.

I sat back at the table and looked at Rae and Carson and then at our boyfriends. We were all grown up. All adults. All with successful careers (well, except for Chaz...). All with handsome, charming boyfriends. Who would have thought?