Mediocrity Sold Here

“That’s so sweet.. man, I’m really glad you found him then. Ugh, I wish I could have a dog, but my landlady’s like.. evil. Okay– not really evil, that wasn’t a nice thing to say, but she would never let me have a pet. Probably not even a goldfish. It’s a bummer. How old is Eddie now?”

“My fiance and I made sure when we moved that the building was dog friendly otherwise it wasn’t an option. He’s a little over a year now and he’s my absolute best friend.”

Evan’s brown eyes widened and a look of sympathy rushed over his face, because damn.. that really put things into perspective. He and Justin hadn’t been dating for too long, so the sting of the break-up wouldn’t take too long to fade, Evan was sure. “Geez, damn.. I can’t even imagine that. I’m really sorry,” he said feelingly.

Unable to help noticing that the guy had referred to his ex as a ‘he’, Evan felt fractionally less nervous than he otherwise would have about adding, “Justin and I weren’t that serious, thankfully.. I met him right when I moved here, but that was only about two months ago, so yeah. Sort of a silver lining there, I guess.” He reached out for the other man - Aiden’s - hand and returned the smile. “Evan. I’m, um.. happy to meet you. And hey, don’t worry about life stories. I’m sure I’ll throw mine at you way before it’s like, socially appropriate.”

“It’s okay, it’s been like six months,” Aiden said with a smile and a shrug. “Our relationship was pretty good while it lasted but… there’s only so long a person can feel like they’re giving everything and getting nothing in return, you know?” He shrugged again. And yeah, okay, definite overshare, but it was nice to find someone who understood. “I’m sorry again about yours ending, I know how shitty that can feel.”

 He gave him a sympathetic smile. “Dating’s hard enough in general, it’s even worse when it comes to finding decent ones.” He returned the handshake though, turning to face the guy he’d been talking to. “No worries, that’s what makes the quickest friends, right? I find that letting everyone know how dumb you are right off the bat helps.” He laughed, it was a weak joke but he couldn’t help it. It was just nice to make conversation with someone who didn’t know him and all about his tumultuous relationship history. “Whoa, you’re a newbie to the city? Do you have a favorite place yet? If not, trust me, I’ve got tons of suggestions for places you can check out. Screw Justin.”

"I honestly haven't done a lot of dating before, so this was kind of a new experience for me. Sucks how it panned out, but at least I got my feet wet, right? I guess that's how I'm trying to look at it. Or maybe I'm just trying to rationalize and I'll like.. eat a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's when I get home or something." Evan shrugged, but his expression was amused. "I mean, whatever you say? But you definitely don't come off as 'dumb' to me at all. I'm painfully awkward pretty much all of the time, so I know I don't have a lot of room to talk. Seems like most people either thinks it's like.. endearing or else they think it's really annoying, so I guess in that way, yeah, it makes pretty quick friends." Smiling he leaned forward, chin resting on his hand. "Well, I have this place, and I know where Central Park is. Somebody taught me what a 'bodega' was the other day, so now I know that. Otherwise, I guess I'm pretty much an empty canvas. What do you recommend?"

“Oh man, that’s right.. Coney Island. I’m gonna have to check that out some time. All I know about it is what I’ve seen in movies and stuff.” Easing himself into one of the comfortable booths, Evan waited for Tyson’s return and then grinned. “Water’s fine, thank you.” Then his eyes widened dramatically and his mouth fell open. “$400? That’s it? I.. wow. I have seriously got to get a roommate someday. That’s amazing. My studio is barely bigger than a closet and it’s more than twice that. Which, I mean, is about what I expected to have to pay coming to New York, but it’s still not easy especially on a teacher’s salary. That sounded like complaining, didn’t it?” With a wince. “Sorry, I really wasn’t trying to complain. I love my apartment and I love my job. I’ve been really lucky, all things considered.”

“I mean, I guess so? But I didn’t really see a lot of them even when we were living in the same town, so it doesn’t feel all that different now. Mhm, yeah, tell me about it. Some days I get home and I pass out on the couch before I can even think about making it to bed, I’m just so tired. It’s really rewarding though. I love watching them learn stuff. They get so excited about, like, everything. So um, what do you do?”

“Oh. I see.” Benji nodded his head, deciding not to push that conversation further just in case it made the man uncomfortable, or it seemed as though he was prying too much. “Yeah, I pass out on the couch all the time as well.” he laughed lightly. “It’s great that you love working with the kids though. You’ll make a great father one day.” he smiled. “I’m an aspiring musician, but I also own a nightclub with a few of my cousins, and DJ there some nights.”

“I can’t blame you. If I had a dog, they’d totally be my best friend too. They aren’t annoying, they don’t forget to pay the rent, and they definitely can’t stand you up at a restaurant. Dogs get an A+.”

 “You should get one. I found Eddie wandering around in the park when he was a puppy when I needed unconditional love the most. It was the best thing that could happen to me.”

“It was great. If you can ever get out that far, the Grand Canyon is really a sight to see. I totally recommend it. Really? What beaches are near here?” Evan stepped into the cafe and looked around with interest. “Oh yeah? I’ve definitely been to a few of those, I just didn’t realize there was a special name for them. It’ll be a long time before I’m as city-savvy as you. Ha, well the next time I’m hungover I’ll give that a try. Usually I just pound a lot of coffee, not that that works at all. Yeah? I like it up there. My apartment isn’t fancy, but it’s kinda comfortable. It’s pretty small though. Thank god I don’t have a roommate, we’d be completely on top of each other. But I didn’t know anybody when I got here and I didn’t want to get murdered by a strange, so.. This place looks great, by the way. I can’t wait. Do we sit down or..”

Evan’s cheeks reddened a little; it was clear he hadn’t expected anyone to be listening. “Oh um, yeah sorta. By text message, which is.. great. I didn’t think people actually did that in real life. Yeah, I’ll be okay. It’s not the end of the world. Just ruins your day a bit.”

“By text?” Aiden’s eyebrows raised and he shook his head with a sigh. “I know that feel better than you think. My ex – of almost two years – moved across the country and texted me to tell me about it. I thought he was just going to discuss a role, but turns out he wasn’t planning on coming back.” He sighed, giving the man next to him a sympathetic smile. “It does, people suck. Sorry he did that to you. I’m Aiden, by the way, before I tell you my whole life story and don’t bother giving you a name,” he said, grinning sheepishly as he held out a hand.

Unable to help noticing that the guy had referred to his ex as a 'he', Evan felt fractionally less nervous than he otherwise would have about adding, "Justin and I weren't that serious, thankfully.. I met him right when I moved here, but that was only about two months ago, so yeah. Sort of a silver lining there, I guess." He reached out for the other man - Aiden's - hand and returned the smile. "Evan. I'm, um.. happy to meet you. And hey, don't worry about life stories. I'm sure I'll throw mine at you way before it's like, socially appropriate."

Evan looked up, extremely surprised by the sound of his name. He knew very few people in the city, even after two months; curse that natural shyness. “Oh my god- Amelia? Holy shit!”

Amelia went up to him and gave him a hug. “What the hell? What are you doing here? Are you visiting? Did you move?”

Oh! Holy shit! Uh– congratulations!

That’s.. well, wow!

Thank you! It was definitely a surprise.

“That is 100% the cutest dog ever.”

“Isn’t he? He’s absolutely my best friend. I love him so much. He’s my knight in shining fur.”

Evan’s cheeks colored a little again at that smile, but he cleared his throat and quickly averted his eyes to the street. “Honestly, it wasn’t bad at all. I really liked driving through cities I’ve never seen before. I even stopped at the Grand Canyon since, you know, when am I ever going to see that again? Oh yeah? Um, what’s the bodega? I live a little bit north, in the Bronx. It’s not bad. Not great, but I’m not drowning in cockroaches or anything. Plus it’s just a few blocks from my school. You?”

Evan drew in a deep breath.. and carefully set his phone down on the table. He leaned back in his seat, face rather paler than it had been a few minutes before. “God.. okay,” he muttered to himself, running a hand over his mouth. “That’s.. one way to break up with a person, I guess.”

Amelia walked in the bistro and stopped in her tracks when she saw a familiar face. “Evan? Is that you?” 

“Sounds like we’re going to get totally sick off pizza,” Evan observed with a laugh. “Artichokes are great though, I’m totally excited for this. No pizza is bad pizza, honestly. Oh, that’s cool. So you already know you’re way around pretty well. I’m jealous. I get lost here all the time, even with the GPS on my phone. I’ve only been here for about two months. When I got this new job, I sold all my stuff in Seattle and drove out here. It took me like.. five days. But I got to get all new stuff once I got here and signed my new lease. It’s been pretty cool so far, just a lot to get used to, you know? It took me two days to find out where to buy groceries.”

Oh, well that’s good! Hopefully it’s nothing serious.

No, nothing too serious. Found out I am pregnant though.