Lunch with the Wingman

After I finished with the dentist the day of our drunken stupor, I messaged Ben Franklin, Joshua's best friend to see what he was up to. He told me Joshua had gone back home to work on a project. Since I had yet to eat lunch, I asked him if he was free to meet up for lunch. I suggested Ikea because I love their meatball dish at the cafeteria.

We began going over the events of the previous nights, to which I pressed on about Joshua's erratic behavior.

"You know him better than anyone, he's your best friend. What's wrong with him? Why would he react that way?" I asked Ben. Ben tried to sugarcoat things, telling me he was going through a hard time due to the divorce.

Ren: Has he dated anyone since the divorce? Like, been in a serious relationship?
Ben: Yeah, he dated Caillin for a few months.
Ren: What happened?
Ben: He treated her like shit. They broke up and she doesn't want to see or talk to him ever.

Hmmmm... interesting. It sure didn't sound like that when Joshua told me about her.

Ren: So how exactly does he earn a living? I mean, he told me he does freelance web design, but, that's intermittent right?
Ben: Well, he's on unemployment right now, and the house where he's at? He's actually house-sitting for, so he doesn't pay rent.

Oh wow. It sounds like I've got quite a catch there. 

Ren: And the drinking? Was he always like this? It seems to me like whenever I see him, he just had a drink before we meet up.
Ben: Yeah, he likes to drink, especially since the divorce.

I was hitting up his best friend of eleven years for vital information- vital bits of facts that Joshua himself wasn't going to share with me. I know it was a bit low, but I wanted to get the point before I got in too deep.

Ren: So what should I make of all this? What does Joshua think of "us." Are we an item? Are we dating?
Ben: I don't think you should take it too seriously. If anything, Joshua just probably thinks you guys are casually dating. I don't think he thinks it's serious.

That was my cue. I had reaffirmation that this crazy relationship wasn't going to go anywhere serious anytime soon. I was free to date others.

I had promised to stop by that same evening as Joshua had offered to make dinner for us. I showed up, he served us and spent the entire night watching YouTube videos on Ben's TV. It was the most boring night ever. At certain points, I tried caressing Joshua's hair, but he forcefully swatted my hand away each time. I tried kissing him, but he got angrily annoyed.

I was pissed. I tried making nice each time by spending time there with him and his friend, thinking that we could possibly go back home and have sex. At one point, I started texting, ignoring the movie we were watching and Joshua got upset. "Ok, let's turn this movie off cause she's obviously not watching it. "

What annoyed me the most was that he kept coming in and out of sleep the entire afternoon and night, yet, I couldn't say anything. If I wanted to just watch TV, I could do that in the comfort of my own place, with a much better bed.

This guy is seriously starting to get under my skin...... I thought.