Page 41 of The Fadeaway
I hear the professor start class and I tuck my phone into my backpack and enter the classroom without waiting for Victor’s reply.
16
Joel
I dropthe tray table and prop my iPad on it before texting Katrina.
Me: Ready for our second date?
Kitty: New phone – who is this?
I balk.
Kitty: Kidding. Yes, I’m emailing you the movie now.
I pull up my email and laugh earning a side eye from Wes who sits next to me.
Me: I don’t think Saved by the Bell counts as a movie.
Kitty: Each episode is just over twenty minutes so we can watch a few so it’s the same amount of time. Season five is my favorite, but I think we should start at season three because it has the infamous prom episode I was telling you about.
I angle my iPad toward the window and plug in my headphones. If the guys catch me watchingSaved by the Bell,they’re gonna give me all kinds of shit.
Me: Alright, Kitty, I’m pressing play. What’s your fascination with SBTB anyway?
Kitty: I have a sister that is fifteen years older than me. As you can imagine, we didn’t have a lot of things to bond over growing up, but when I got older and wanted to escape my parents, she’d let me come over to her place and we’d have movie nights where she’d introduce me to all her old favorites. The Princess Bride, Titanic, Clueless, Friends, Family Matters, and Saved by the Bell.
Me: That’s cool. Only the one sister?
Kitty: Yep.
We watch three episodes, mostly texting about funny things from the nineties – the hair, clothes, dancing, dear God the dancing. But I learn more about Katrina, too. Like for instance, she’s deep. I guess I should have known this since she’s a writer. Aren’t artists all good with their emotions and feelings and shit? Well anyway, she is. I like hearing what she thinks about things, even stupid things like how Mr. Belding is more of a father figure to Zack than his own dad.
Me: We’re pulling into the hotel.
Kitty: Oh, okay. Well good luck tomorrow.
Me: Trying to get rid of me?
Kitty: I assumed that meant you needed to go.
Me: Nah. Give me fifteen and I’ll call you before we turn in for the night?
Kitty: Sure.
I follow Nathan through the lobby and up to the third floor of the hotel where we’re staying. In the room, we toss our stuff on the beds.
“I’m gonna shower,” I tell him. I’ve got Kitty on the brain and I need a release before bed.
Nathan nods and digs out his cigarettes from his bag. “I’m going for a smoke.”
He leaves the room and I sit on the bed, taking out my phone and iPad. Wes and Z ride Nathan for his smoking habit and excessive partying, but it’s his life. As long as it doesn’t affect his performance or the team, it doesn’t bother me.
I turn Saved by the Bell back on. There are only a couple minutes left in the episode we’d been watching and dammit she’s got me wanting to know how the gang is going to tell Slater he’s a terrible deejay and… fuck my life.
I smile as I watch the cheesy ending and then undress ready to hit the shower before I call Kitty. I pick up my phone and decide to send her a pic while she waits. I don’t send girls dick pics, just my friends when we’re messing around. I admit that’s probably messed up, but whatever. I crop the picture so she can tell I’m naked, but she can’t see the goods and press send.
Before I can take the two steps to the bathroom, I get a text back. I’m grinning before I even pick the phone up anticipating her response. I expect a cheeky reply. Instead, she sends me a pic back and heat courses through my body and shoots to my dick.
