By the time Thursday rolled around and Claire was still brushing him off, Gabe started to wonder if he had made a huge mistake. In fairness, he hadn't apologized; but then again, neither had she.
In the past, he'd just cave and give a fake apology to his girlfriend at the time to get her off his back. But he wasn't about to do that with Claire. With Claire, he cared enough to want to understand her point of view. He wanted to talk things out so he could get where she was coming from and if it turned out he had to apologize, he would. The main thing was that he couldn't support her if he didn't understand her life.
Even though Gabe wasn't ready to apologize, he was ready to talk. Unfortunately, Claire wasn't making it easy to nail down a time for them to meet up; claiming she was too busy with work. This seemed fishy to Gabe considering just the week before she had all the time in the world for him.
Deciding he needed some backup to help make a game plan, Gabe texted his buddy Zubin to see if he was up for a beer.
Gabe - Beers 2nite? Having some woman troubles.
Zubin - Drama with Claire already? Thought you said she had a good head on her. Why do you even bother dating all these drama llamas?
Gabe - This 1 might be my fault :S
Zubin - Shit you must like this girl a lot if you're going to admit this is on you. See you at The Loose Goose at 8?
Gabe - Thanx bro.
***
Sitting in the pub with Zubin, Gabe felt immensely grateful that his friend had agreed to meet on such short notice. Out of all of Gabe's friends, Zubin would be the only one who might be able to give him a little insight into Claire's point of view, since he himself was an expat of the corporate world.
Only a handful of years earlier, Zubin had left his cushy architecture job for a life in construction. According to Zubin the satisfaction he got out from building things with his own two hands was something he'd never come close to feeling while he sat behind his drafting desk.
When Gabe finished telling Zubin of his argument with Claire, Zubin sat back for a few moments and sipped on his beer while he thought things through.
"It sounds to me like you've got two problems." Zubin said once he had come to a conclusion. "The first is that you ticked her off by giving her your two cents about her job and the second is that she's playing hard to get. I'll address them one at a time." Zubin proposed.
"Sure man, fix my life however you want." Gabe said thankful for the input.
"So problem one. I'll say right off the bat, I'm on your side. If my coworkers took credit for work I did, I'd be irate. It wouldn't be something I'd take sitting down."
"See I knew it! It was total bullshit!" Gabe said hitting the table with his hands as he drove his point home.
"Not so fast - This kind of thing probably is harder on women. They're always kind of on the outside, like lone rangers. You have a lot less options when no one in the company has your back."
Hearing this from Zubin made him feel badly for Claire. He hadn't considered how lonely it would be to work in a place where you always had to fend for yourself.
"You bringing up how crap her co-workers are, was probably just putting salt in a wound - I bet Claire knows it's a fucked up situation at work but hasn't figured out what to do about it yet."
"Ugh. So basically I'm a jackass." Gabe said, wishing he'd never said anything to Claire in the first place.
"Not on purpose, but yeah." Zubin confirmed. "Now on to problem number two; you not being able to pin Claire down. I don't want to be the bearer of more bad news but is it possible she's just not that into you bro?"
"Not that into me? Where have I heard that before?"
"Sex in the City... But if you tell anyone I quoted that show I swear I'll kill you in your sleep." Zubin said with a laugh.
"I think she's into me. At least she was for a while. We had the best sex ever - And when I say ever, I mean EVER - Like in the history of mankind." Gabe said, though he had to admit, his proof of Claire's affection seemed weak even to his own ears.
"Usually chicks do associate banging with liking - Even when they say they just want to screw, they usually end up wanting to date." Zubin conceded. "But still, the fact that she's too busy to make plans with you isn't a good sign."
"So what am I going to do?" Gabe asked.
"I think you should let her miss you over the weekend - Sometimes the best way to get someone's attention is to stop giving them yours."
"Ya, I guess..." Gabe agreed although he didn't like the prospect of letting Claire go so easily.
"Tell you what. Let's go out tomorrow night, it will keep you distracted." Zubin offered.
"I dunno man. I really like this girl." Gabe said, not wanting to make other plans in case Claire came to her senses and called him up.
"I'll sweeten the deal and take you to Fitzgerald's. It's where all the uppity girls hang out on Fridays, you can find yourself some back up in case it doesn't work out with Claire."
"I'm not going to be on the prowl for back up. But I'm down for a change in scenery - I'm over the type of girl I used to date."
"You won't regret it man."
"I hope not." Gabe said more to himself than to Zubin.
CZYTASZ
Love Like a Man
Romans**This story was a top 55 SYTYCW15 Finalist!** Claire Warren felt like she had her life under control; she kicked ass at her job as an investment banker, had her own condo overlooking the City and spent her personal time knocking back G&T's at some...
