Boycotting Boys

It was nearing the end of April and I hadn’t heard from, nor had I attempted to contact, Phil. A whole two weeks had gone by since I read Malorie’s message about him having a girlfriend and I was completely and utterly over it. Phil was a small, tiny, itty-bitty part of my past and to be honest, I hadn’t even thought about him in a while. OK so there was that time when I casually connected to my email whilst doing touch ups in the presidential suite on the 16^th floor where some teenage girl named Keisha had left her sparkly hot pink laptop connected to a new social networking site myspace. I deemed it acceptable to check my personal email account because the computer was already on and had Keisha not left her myspace profile connected, I probably would not have even noticed the laptop. So really, it was Keisha’s fault.

Other than that one time, I hadn’t even glanced at a computer. Well…OK, if I am being entirely honest, I did get Kat to check my email for me - a total of 10 times! But that doesn’t fully count because it wasn’t me, technically, right?

I had been working at the hotel for almost a month and been dodging my mother’s calls for, well, most of that month. As far as she was concerned, I was working at the front desk and was very busy with site seeing the rest of the time. The truth was that I was still cleaning rooms and the most site-seeing I had done was up and down the main street, handing most of my money over to shops and Starbucks’. And to top it all off, ever since that email from Mal, I had been on a drinking spree. Not that those two things were in direct correlation to one another, I mean Kat and I were simply celebrating. It had all started a few weeks prior to this day. I was upset because of something or other, so Kat and I decided to have a girl’s night. Of course the boys, James and Luke, tagged along despite the fact that they are not girls. So they came along and I got myself into quite a little pickle by doing some harmless flirting with James. Needless to say, it got pretty awkward. Thankfully, nobody, other than me, remembered anything the next day. Or perhaps they all just pretended to forget. What happened later that day lead me to see the change I needed to make.

I walked into the common kitchen to join Kat, who had kindly brewed a fresh pot of coffee after I phoned her from my bed begging her to do so.

“Milk?” She looked over at me and she poured coffee into a mug with a choo-choo train on it.

“Sure” I mumbled sleepily.

“Gosh” she giggled “you look like a zombie.” She pointed out.

“Gee, thanks!” I said sarcastically.

“Ahoy hoy ladies!” Luke walked into the kitchen. “Ah! Kat, you are a god sent” he said grabbing the coffee pot from her hand.

“Well, I try!” She smiled.

“Did Jojo ring you from her bed again?” he looked over at me, flashing a crooked smile.

“Excuse me!” I said offensively, “Why do you just assume that I –“

“You totally did sleepyhead, don’t even try to deny it.” James laughed as he opened the cereal cupboard. I briefly glanced at him trying to avoid eye contact as I remembered him trying to kiss me the night before.

“Any news from Loro?” Luke looked to James grabbing the box of Fruit Loops from him and began digging for the prize.

“Affirmative.” James smiled. “She flies in next month.” He explained.

“Who’s Loro?” Kat interrupted, catching my attention.

“Lorraine!” James beamed.

“James’ chick.” Luke explained.

“You have a girlfriend James?” Kat inquired, giving him a confused look.

“Sure do, she’s from Manchester.” James said and took a gulp of coffee. “She’s coming to meet up with me” he continued without even looking in my direction. OK. He obviously doesn’t remember.

“Oh Golly Gee that’s sounds swell!” I found myself saying aloud in a British accent. Shit. I was supposed to think that, not say it. I noted as I realized the three of them were looking at me – Kat with a smirk on her face. Does everyone have to have a girlfriend? Seriously? Not that I care or anything.

“She’s from England Jojo, not the 1950’s” pointed out Luke, interrupting my thoughts and I felt myself getting red in the face.

“Joyel’s just being silly this morning. We can’t wait to meet her, James” beamed Kat as she turned to face me and winked.

I smiled back and mouthed thanks to Kat.

“Well, were off to the shops.” Kat said to the boys and she extended her hand to pull my miserable self up off the couch. “Cheerio!” She yelled, perfectly mimicking a British accent and threw her hand up to give the boys a royal wave as we walked out of the kitchen.

I stood in the corridor outside of the kitchen laughing uncontrollably at Kat as she walked off in a posh manner. She stopped and turned to look at me.

“Stop fannying around!” She continued with the accent.

“Ay ay captain!” I stood up straight.

“We’re not pirates, Joyel.” She gave me a serious stare, returning to her Aussie accent.

“Right!” I stood up and walked into my bedroom, grabbed some clean clothes and headed to the shower.

Moments later, I was fresh out of the shower, facing the bathroom mirror as I applied concealer under my eyes. I couldn’t help but wonder why I let my emotions get the best of me once again. It’s not like I cared that James had a girlfriend. Wow, I really must retouch my roots, I considered as I examined my hair in the mirror.

“Come in!” I shouted after hearing a knock at my bedroom door.

“Almost ready?” Kat stood by the bathroom door. Poor Kat always had to wait on me. She was naturally pretty and didn’t require any make-up whatsoever. I envied her for that, and for her shiny hair.

“Yep” I managed to reply in between mascara strokes.

“So what was that all about?” Kat asked and I glanced over to her reflection in the mirror.

“What do you mean?”

“In the kitchen – the British outburst.” She couldn’t help but laugh as she said it.

“I thought you weren’t keen on him.”

“I wasn’t – I mean, I’m not.”

“So it’s about Phil?”

I put down my make-up brush and turned to face her. “I guess I just don’t get why he has a girlfriend.”

“James?” Kat gave me a confused look.

“Phil.” I admitted.

“How do you know he even has a girlfriend?” She paused and continued “He didn’t tell you that.”

“I guess not…” I sighed.

“So why don’t you just call him and ask him?” She smiled and picked up my cell phone from the counter and handed it to me. I looked down at it and then shook my head no.

“What if he says yes?” I pointed out.

“What if he says no?”

I thought for a moment and grabbed my make-up brush, turning back to the mirror to apply some blush. “It doesn’t matter either way.” I said, realizing that deep down I didn’t want to know the truth. “He said he would call and he didn’t.” I paused. “He said he would keep in touch, and he hasn’t.” I continued. “He said a lot of shit that he hasn’t followed through on, and frankly I don’t care anymore.”

“About him, or –“

“About all of it.” I interrupted Kat. “About boys in general.” I said decidedly.

“I’m giving up on boys.” I pinned my hair back into a messy bun and smiled at my reflection.

“So you’re…” Kat paused for a moment and continued “boycotting boys?”

“Precisely.” I said confidently.

“So should we like…celebrate this?”

“Oh! This definitely calls for a celebration.” I beamed. “Oh! And -.”

“New outfits?” Kat guessed.

“Yes!” I jumped with excitement and grabbed my purse.

“Quick question.” Kat said as I closed my bedroom door behind us. “What does one wear when boycotting boys?”

I thought for a moment and shrugged “turtlenecks?”