After a couple of months rebuilding my life in L.A., I went back to Austin to visit. Dakota and I got along great as friends. She had graduated from college and moved in with Jeremiah and I was happy for her. One night we went to a bar with Garrick, Toby and Jeremiah where we used to spend some time together, sat outside next to each other on a picnic table, drank some beer and settled in to the kind of comfortable back and forth that we had at the beginning of our courtship. It was so comfortable, in fact, that it made me uncomfortable. When the guys went inside for another round she placed her hand on my back, running her slight fingers up and down my spine and whispered in my ear.
"I bet you still wish we were together, don't you?"I confessed that I did, leaned back, sighed and looked up at the night sky while I waited for Jeremiah to return.
A couple of days later Dakota invited me to a party that was being thrown at Jeremiah's university commune. I accepted. I drank flat beer out a red cup, got into arguments with college students over their decision to support the presidential ambitions of Ralph Nader and generally had a good time with a bunch of kids who were at least six years younger and six times smarter than me. At one point during the party Dakota and I became locked in conversation. We were so engaged, in fact, that the noise from the party became muted, the lights dimmed and eventually the world around us ceased to exist. We were the only two actors on an empty stage, the spotlight shining on us and us alone. Jeremiah noticed.
"You two are pretty intense!"Dakota smiled and laughed as she turned to her boyfriend.
"Yeah, I guess we are."
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