K, miss our weekend endeavors. L pt 1

     Every weekend, for the past six weekends, Kim would leave her husband Gerald and meet up with a man in the East Village. She told her husband that part of her new promotion required her to travel on the weekends, for sales and pitch meetings. This was fine with Gerald and he didn’t ask too many questions, because a blind man could see their marriage had been dwindling for a while now. He was happy to have some time alone while she was away, and it’s not as if her need to travel for work was a lie, entirely. The first two weekends, she did in fact need to travel for work. But when she got home, got back to the monotony of her everyday life, and didn’t have a weekend away to look forward to, she needed something to ease her loneliness. So she did what most people do. She downloaded an app. She made her profile on Casualconex and began scrolling aimlessly through the list of available men in her area. Initially, she didn’t have much intention with this new platform; it was mainly a place to visit and escape the seclusion and isolation she felt in her everyday life. But after a day or two, she found a match. His name was Lawrence, and from his pictures, she could tell that he was fit, ambitious, loved to travel, and had great taste in food and art. He was everything that Gerald was not. She swiped right and instantly received a notification “It’s a match!” flashed across her screen, alerting her that he was interested as well. She was nervous at first, because it had been a while since she had interacted with any man who wasn’t her husband, but this brought up a feeling she hadn’t had in a long time and she was going for it.

Kim: “Hey, I’m Kim. How’s your night going?” After she typed the message and pressed send, she threw her phone on the bed in disbelief, gasped, and coved her mouth in hopes that her phone would self-destruct. But it didn't. Instead, she decided to lay there for a second, wait for a response, and try not to get too ahead of herself. After about a minute, she heard her phone ping. As she reached to grab it, the bedroom door opened, startling her.

“Oh!”, she exclaimed. “You scared me, I didn’t even hear you come in”. She caught her breath as Gerald looked at her suspiciously on his way to the other side of the room to put his bag down. 

“I didn’t know I needed to give you a heads up before I walked into my own place.” He kept his head down as he emptied his pockets and put his belongings on the dresser. 

“No, I- I wasn’t saying …” she stammered and trailed off as he let out a sigh to signal he was done with the conversation. He undressed and made his way to the bathroom in silence to wash off the day. Kim waited until she heard the shower turn on before reaching for her phone to check her messages. 

Lawrence: “Hey Kim, I’m Lawrence. My night is going well, I can’t complain. I just got back from Italy this morning so I’ve been resting a recouping from my trip.”

Kim stared at her screen, imagining what a trip like that must be like. She’s always wanted to travel and she wanted to travel with Gerald, but that didn’t look like it was happening anytime soon. After she awoke from her daydream, she responded.

Kim: “Italy, wow! That’s awesome, how long were you there? I’d love to go someday.” She pressed send and waited for another … ping!

Lawrence: “I was there for a friend's wedding, but I ended up staying solo for a few days after. It was beautiful. I’d love to go back and who knows, maybe you’ll accompany me when I do.”

Kim hadn’t blushed this hard in years and she was loving every minute of it. She contemplated what she should say next when another message came through.

Lawrence: “How would you feel about a phone call? I’d love to hear your voice and I prefer talking over texting.”

She sat there for a second, briefly considering his request but was brought back to reality by the sound of the shower running. After a minute, she replied.

Kim: “I’m actually getting ready to go to bed, I’ve had a really long day. But if you’re free tomorrow, I’d love to meet up after work. I get off at 6.” Send.

Lawrence: “That sounds great. There’s this really cute Italian restaurant downtown and it’s probably the closest we’ll get to the real thing here lol. I’ll text you the address and we can meet at 7?” 

He was so direct and Kim loved it. Getting Gerald to order a pizza was like pulling teeth, never mind a reservation. 

Kim: “That sounds great, I’m looking forward to it.” She pressed send and started getting her things clothes and towel ready after she heard the shower stop. Gerald walked back in and went to the drawer to get his pajamas. It was silent like it usually was between them before Kim spoke. 

“Um, I just got off the phone with Joanna, my friend from work? The one I usually travel with?”, she started.

“Yeah?”, Gerald responded with slight irritation.

“We made plans for dinner tomorrow night, so I’ll probably be home late.” She couldn’t believe she had just lied to her husband but what was more surprising was how easy it was and how little remorse she felt. He nodded and grunted in response, but he barely looked up to acknowledge her. After their brief interaction, she went into the bathroom to take a shower, and when she came back, Gerald was asleep. The only light in the room was the one 

shining into their bedroom from the street, through a crease in the curtain. She grabbed the first t-shirt she could find, a pair of shorts, and crawled into bed.