Back to New York

  I was only going to be in Colorado for about two weeks before I had to fly back to Colorado for a couple of months because of a bunch of weddings. Basically, I had enough time to move our furniture in. Arrange the apartment how we liked, and then fly back to New York. My bedroom currently only had a bed frame. I figured I would buy a box spring and mattress when settled into Colorado. Christine’s classes started pretty quickly.

  Before I left, I gave Chrissy my credit card. I told her specifically to take the car to the repair shop so they can fix the radiator/thermostat. I left her a credit card to do that. When she dropped me off at the airport I gave her the last $5.00 that I had. Her boyfriend, Doogie, was flying in in a day or so, so I figured she would stay alive until then. I also assured her that when I got back to NY I would be sending money to cover the bills.

  When I first got back to New York, I was excited to see as many people as I could. Even though I was only living in Colorado for two weeks, it took no time at all for me to start feeling lonely. When not in class, Christine was spending a lot of time IMing with her boyfriend and back then it was dial up, so it was using our phone line. We didn’t set up cable yet so we didn’t have any TV except for any video cassettes that we may own. I didn’t have any friends in Colorado yet.

  The first weekend I was back ‘Jesus’ Dan was having a housewarming party for a new house he was living at, so Jay and a bunch of us went. I saw a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in a long time, some since high school (Vicki). One person who was there I wasn’t ready for was Azuree. Most of the night we simply acknowledged, but avoided each other.

  Towards the end of the night when things were winding down, I was sitting on the front porch talking with someone and Azuree and her boyfriend, Cliff came over. Politely, she asked if it were okay if she sat with us. She acted reasonable and collected. I allowed her at one point she asked if we could talk, so Cliff and my friend left.

   “I really miss you,” she said in a casual tone. “I just wanted you to know that.”

   She still acted reasonable. The other shoe didn’t drop. No nutty outbursts or anything. She went on to tell me that she had been through a lot in the past year, including getting pregnant. On the verge of tears she explained how her mother forced her to get an abortion because she was not ready to be a mother and told me how torn up she was about it all. I really felt bad for her, but at least I didn’t have to run away from her this time. She was relatable for the first time that I’d known her.

  It didn’t last long. Two days later, on a Sunday morning, Corinne called me out of nowhere. She was down and wanted something to do. I mentioned how a bunch of my friends were going to a “Blues & Brews” concert at a nearby outdoor amphitheater that Sammy Hagar was headlining in. I didn’t plan on going, to try and save money, but for Corinne’s sake, I went.

  Jay & Azure, Brendan, and a bunch of us got our lawn chairs and blankets and went to the show. While looking for a place, we ran into Cliff and Azuree. I kept joking that I avoided her for 8 months before I left for Colorado and I come back and see her twice in three days.

   This time, she wasn’t quite as normal or she was normal for her, depending on how you look at it. My friends sat in a big group. And the first half of the show I don’t know where Cliff and Azuree were, but the second half of the show we ran into them again on line for more beer. Azuree was wearing a bikini top and cut-off shorts and trying a little too hard to get my attention, enough to feel awkward with Cliff right there. Then they moved their camp near us but left some space, but it was silly because Cliff would yell across to say something to Jay and finally we just told them to come over. I made a point from being on the far opposite side of them, just to be safe. The rest of the day, Azuree would watch to see if I was looking in her direction and then stretch or strike some other silly over-exaggerated pose. It was so bad that everyone was looking at me with a ‘what the Hell, like does Cliff not see this?’ expression. I just shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t know what to do. Then suddenly, out of the blue, she leans across everyone to semi-whisper “I so want to give you a blow job right now.”

  “That’s it! I need a beer.” I stood up and walked away. I know she was drinking a little, but she said this across at least two people sitting between us and her boyfriend sitting next to her. Half the peoples that were there eyes bulged out after she said that. It was embarrassing. Jay whispered to me privately, “how do you resist that?’ Granted, she looked good, really good, but that kind of crazy is like playing with fire.

<span style="font-family:

"Times New Roman","serif"”> I tried keeping my distance from her the rest of the event until the end when she wanted to apologize. The whole routine was getting old and I told her as much. I told her she really had to evaluate herself and her  relationship with Cliff if she could say those things with him right there. Then we parted ways.

  A week or so later I went with Azure (not Azuree) to visit Jay at C.J.Bond’s, the bar I used to bartend at. After I moved to Colorado, Jay took my place. Cliff was there. For the most part he let us be, but he did have to talk to me about Azuree and I didn’t blame him. I asked how he could put up with her acting the way she’s been. He just wanted to see her happy which was commendable and stupid. Obviously being in a relationship whith him wasn’t making her happy. He agreed that maybe they shouldn’t continue a relationship like this. He asked if I would at least hang out with her and talk to her. It would mean a lot to her. I told him I could make no promises.

   Azure had a very ‘goth’ look to her. And it didn’t take long for Cliff to ask her if there were any “Goth chicks’ that she could introduce him to. Poor form again, Cliff. Poor form again.