Animate Me

“Hey, Brooke?” I call out.

“Yes?” she asks.

“I just wanted you to know that I really, really love it when you kiss and touch me.”

“Is that so?” She asks.

“Yeah, so please don’t stop no matter how goofy I get. Okay?”

She laughs. “Okay, I won’t.”

• • •

The next afternoon in her office she pulls me over to the couch as soon as I pass through the door.

“Well, hello to you too.” I say gri

“I forgot to ask last night, how your date with Dani last Saturday went. Did it go well?”

I blanch. That faux date seems a million years ago and completely insignificant now that Brooke and I are extra-special best friends again. “It was okay.”

“Just okay?” she asks.

“Well, I was in a bit of a state after my big reveal at the Smokehouse.”

“Oh…oh, yeah.” She moans sinking back against the couch. “What bad timing.”

“And the movie sucked.”

“You saw a movie? You never see a movie during the first stage of dating.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, was the kiss at least good?”

Oh for God’s sake, she isn’t going to let this go.

“We didn’t kiss. I guess I’m still not comfortable kissing anyone but you.” I say, hoping she doesn’t realize how embarrassed I am.

“Well, I’m flattered, but I should feel guilty because that isn’t very productive.”

“Don’t feel bad for helping me, Brooke,” I insist. I wish I had the courage to tell her how I really feel.

She grins. She almost seems relieved that my date didn’t go well.

“Hey, if I may change the subject? Dani reminded me that the Rose Bowl swap meet is this Sunday in Pasadena. Do you want to go? There may be some of those great vases you like…the ones shaped like ladies heads waiting just for you.”

“As much as I’d like to check out those lady-head vases, do you really think I should go with you and Dani?”

“No, I was talking about just you and me. And I thought we could stop by my parents afterwards for brunch.”

“Why don’t you take Dani?”

“Because I want to go with you. We’ll have fun.”

I’m happy because I know this is something she loves, and I can give it to her when Arnold won’t. I want her to understand that I really care about what she likes to do.

She makes a face at me, but I also sense that she’s pleased and tempted.

“Besides, you and I are the real collectors.”

“Okay, I’ll go,” she confirms. “It’s been a while and I’ve missed going so much. The only thing is that I may be a little tired. I have a party I have to go to on Saturday night.” I can see her mind figuring something out. “Why don’t you let me pick you up?”

Yeah, I don’t really want to pick up Brooke from Arnold’s where he answers the door with a towel around his six-packed waist.

“Okay. I’ll email you my address and directions. How’s seven a.m.? You know you have to get there early to get the good stuff.” A side benefit to an early start is the sooner I get her away from Arnold the better.

“Are you nuts? Eight, and not a minute earlier.”

At three minutes after eight I look out my living room window again. What if she forgets and doesn’t show up? It was pretty forward of me to ask her to come, but she did say we’re best friends now. This is the kind of stuff best friends do…right?

A moment later I get a text.

Sorry-late, but in the car, be there in ten.

Relieved to know she didn’t forget, I reply.

Great, see you then

I go into the kitchen and get a dishtowel to wrap around her macchiato to keep it warm. I had them make it extra hot but that was twenty minutes ago so I want to make sure it’s how she likes it.

Pacing back and forth through my house looking for things to straighten, I try to imagine seeing my place through Brooke’s eyes. She loves cartoons so that’s a plus since there are figurines and framed animation cels throughout the house.

I normally have Delia, my parent’s housekeeper come clean my house only every other week to keep it from being a pig sty, but I had her make an extra visit yesterday just to make sure everything was clean. And before she came I took all the piles of junk lying around and shoved them in the closets. Thank God Delia does my laundry or I’d have piles of dirty clothes all over the house. As it is she always gives me a hard time for only having beer, milk for my cereal and Cheese Whiz in the fridge.

Despite my college dorm tendencies, I feel a sense of pride as I walk through the rooms. I love my little house, and I really hope she likes it too. I look out the window again just as her Prius pulls up in front and I excitedly go out to the front porch to greet her.

I watch her take in all the landscaping as she walks under the arbor and up the winding brick walkway. She stops to smell some roses and then looks up at me and smiles. “Wow, Nathan. Look at this yard!”

“Do you like it?” I ask hopeful, and suddenly glad that I let the landscape guy have his way with my yard. If it had been up to me it would have ended up crabgrass and strangely shaped topiaries.

“Like it? I love it!” she exclaims. “Was it like this when you bought the house?”

“No actually the yard was pretty awful when I moved in. But my brother Curtis was involved with an interior designer at the time, and her partner was a landscape architect. He did the designs.”

“I love the funky painted garden gnomes. Are they your touch?”

“How’d you guess?” I smile watching her reaction to everything…so far so good. I jam my hands in my pockets nervously. “Do you want to come inside for a minute?”

“Sure,” she steps onto the porch and gives me a hug.

When I open the door and we step inside, she smiles. “Oh my, Nathan, what’s this?”

“My living room,” I answer sheepishly.

She’s reacting to the glass cases full of figurines that line the room. Each wall is a different bright color. The only pieces furniture in the room are two leather chairs and a coffee table covered with comic books.

“Who or what was your inspiration here?”

“Pee-wee Herman,” I answer honestly. I go over and flip the switch that lights up all the cases. I always get a thrill when I do that. The spotlight on my bronze Rocketeer sculpture makes it glow.

“Wow! So this is Nathan’s playhouse? Did the designer do this for you?”

“The designer quit the job because of this room. I was very insistent about what I wanted and she hated it. Actually I was glad when she quit because then I got to finish the house the way I wanted.”

She smiles warmly at me. “It’s like a gallery, or a collectible store. Has Dani or any of the girls you know seen this?”

“Nope, you’re the first.”

“Ahhh. Well, show me more.”

The dining room has a space age Jetson’s table and chairs that I found on eBay. Once I had them I went nuts with the theme. I also have a sixties starburst light fixture and vintage Disneyland Tomorrowland posters on the wall. I point out my framed Jetson’s animation cel that hangs above the side table with pride.

“Look, it’s signed by Bill Ha

She examines it closely. “Cool,” she says softly. “I love how much thought and effort you’ve put into everything.”

“Thanks,” I say proudly. If she only knew how much it means to me that she likes my house. “Will you hang out with me here some time?”

She smiles, “Sure.”

She’s particularly interested in my home studio and studies the art on the wall and the way my animation table is set up. This is the room most out of control with piles of books and drawings on every surface. Luckily I’ve stashed away my B-Girl art in the flat files though as I’m still not ready to show her that.

“Is this where you work on your comic book?” she asks.

I nod. “But I put it that stuff away. I’ll show it to you another time.”

She makes a face at me, but doesn’t argue. She knows how to handle artists.