Of course I laughed my ass off when Nardis actually showed up at Arvind's party over the break. There he was, in his odd Nascar jacket, busting through the room with those brilliant gold teeth. He spotted me and goes "Oh, shit! Smiff!" and gave me the "hey-you're-in" black, one hand shake into the come around hug, complete with the pounding of the back.
We didn't say much to each other. We went to the same high school, that's about all we have in common. He pulled out that trusty cell phone that he was on all night and asked for my number. I think he said something about calling me if he was ever up here. So that's all I thought of it; just a polite phone number exchange that would never result in anything.
Tonight, my cell phone rings and an unfamiliar 912 number appears on the caller ID. Usually I don't answer those because I'm scared. Something in my heart told me to go for it this time.
"Hello?"
"Ryan?"
"Yo."
"Yo, man, it's Nardis."
The conversation that followed was packed full with awkwardness and a friendly tension as I expected there to be a point to his calling. Nardy had to have a mission. But no, friends. Nardis called..."to see what was up." He asked me how school was, what was I doing tonight. He said he was on his way to his cousin's place and that he was studying physics this semester. Nardis is having a tough time with physics. I asked if he was coming up to Athens anytime soon in hopes of urging him to reveal the goal of his phone call, but none existed.
"Well, alright man, dis is my numbuh. Call me up sometime."
And Mr. Walker went off into the sunset, unaware that he just brought upon himself a horrendous drunk dial in the future.
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