“Hey Harv!” a voice boomed as a foot kicked the front door “I’ve got a hog sized keg! You got a few mugs?!”
Harvey groaned, knowing that yes, tonight was the night.
His better half was visiting her mother, taking with her their two little ones. Weekends like these, Harvey got some quiet “me time” which usually meant falling asleep on the sofa. Good enough for him, but since he had mentioned the free weekend to his old college buddy Jules, the man had insisted on coming over.
“Hello Jules,” Harvey thinly smiled as he answered the front door.
Standing, six foot six, Jules Dante was still baby-faced, save for a few creases across his forehead and a few more grey streaks in his hair. He was Peter Pan in that he aged but never grew up, still possessing a little of the wild undergraduate in him, even at forty-five.
“Harvey!” Jules bellowed “Look at you man, gained a little weight, lost a little hair. Ha!”
True but Harvey didn’t need to be reminded. His wife showed tact these days by making his sandwiches with a little less meat and a little more lettuce.
“What ya up to, huh?” shouted Jules and before Harvey could murmur a response, he rambled on: “now as for me? Well let’s see. Shot a guy, no, not like you’d think, he was coming at me with a knife. Got sent to rehab after I almost OD’d. Played bass last year for a punk band, didn’t have too many gigs. I also had a kid with some woman, or at least I think it was mine, can’t tell you what she’s up to nowadays and oh yeah, I acted in a TV series. You ever seen ‘Cider with Apples?’”
“Can’t say I have.”
“Oh, you will, it’s got a few Emmys in the bag for sure. Hell, I’ve got two lines in episode three. Might have been cut but fuck me, I’ve acted on TV, how many guys do you know who can say that?”
“None,” Harvey replied, knowing that he had no life outside of his job or family but found himself oddly proud of that.
“Exactly,” laughed Jules, poking a sausage finger into Harvey’s chest “Not a goddamn one. Anyhow, we have got to get it hot in here man.”
Jules took control of the evening as he always did, cranking the temperature on the thermostat just a little too high. His (probably empty) keg went untouched as he helped himself to the beer in the fridge. Likewise, he insisted they watch a gory horror film that he swore was a masterpiece, but Harvey found beyond tedious.
Whatever, you said yes to Jules because he never let you say no. You watched the guy live it wild whilst you were content to sit on the side lines.
