Chapter 5

            God, it must’ve been around three when the house phone went off. Melissa woke up as well, but since the phone was on my side of the bed, I had the misfortune of answering�" from there the call took its toll.

            “Yes, yes, who is this?” I asked rather impatiently as I took the call down into the kitchen.

            “George?” the voice on the other end said innocently.

            “Christ-sake, Geoff?” I said, instantly recognizing the casual English accent I had grown to hate and fond of as well throughout my college years. “It’s f*****g three in the morning over here! Why the hell are you calling me?”
            There was a pause before Geoff simply explained, “Because it’s eleven over here.” That really did piss me off after such an inane remark. “Any road, George, I was just calling to see how things have gone since the wedding?”

            I tried to find the right words, ending up with “Well, it would seem it’s only been a few days since I last saw you, Geoff.” Confused with the whole talk, I thought it would be best to ask, “Your�"self?”

            I could see Geoff grinning on the other line as he began to talk about his jet-lag and how nice it was to be back in Britain. Then he instantly changed subjects.

            “Say, George,” he began all of a sudden. “How do you like being married?”
            “What?” I asked blankly.

            “Commitment. You know, how do you like it? Does it feel rewarding?”

            I was still at a loss, on top of being drowsy still. “Fairly better sex, if that’s what you’re looking for,” I replied.

            “Well, that’s all good then!” Geoff  continued, “But no, I mean do you like commitment and missing out on some privileges?”

            “Like what?” I asked.

            “Don’t know. I guess the bits like discos and all. I mean, how often do you get bored of marriage?”
            “Look, Geoff, first of all, clubbing and bar-hopping or whatever never really was my thing to begin with. Secondly, you simply don’t get bored of marriage. It’s not like any on-and-off switch. If it would get boring, why the hell would I do it in the first place?”

            “Oh! Is that it?” God, I still couldn’t believe we were talking about this�"and nearly four in the morning for christ-sake. “No, thank you for all that, but I was just wanting to see if maybe I should try it out.”
            “Why? I thought you liked being single and all.”
            “Oh, don’t get me wrong mate, but I do love it. I just want to see your inputs on the whole matter, and I was just thinking about a little experiment on commitment.”
            “Like marriage? C’mon, Geoff, be serious. I mean, you have to mean marriage or something. And also, marriage isn’t the only commitment that exists. You’ve made all sorts of commitments; for one yours to the music industry, producing and song-writing and stuff.”

            “That is true.”
            “Plus, there are friendships that are more like another commitment to relationships. Like mine and Charlie’s. You’ve made enough of commitment there, and that seems to be making you happy enough. Why ‘experiment’ even further? If you seem happy don’t stress.”

            “You know, I never thought so much about commitment in business and friends, so to speak,” Geoff continued on. “Bloody hell, no wonder you graduated at the top in university. What an a*****e I must’ve been then.”
            “Dude, you weren’t so much, trust me.  I’m really sorry to do this, Geoff, but I am tired like no other. I really have to get back to sleep�"I have work in the morning for christ-sake!”

            “Alright then, mate, sorry,” Geoff said sincerely. “I know it was bad timing, but I just had to get your say-so.”
            “And you got it. Now take care, I’ll call you back sometime this week.”

            “Thank you George. Give my love to Melissa, will you?”
            “I will. ’Night.”

            “Cheers, George!” He hung up quickly. God, was I still tired, and we talked for a whole twenty minutes. How did I manage?