The Goy Next Door (Girl Meets Goy #2)

Chapter 5 Matzah ball bore

She could hear the TV from inside her apartment before she opened the door. One of the consequences of living in a cheap place on the upper Upper East Side was that the walls were paper thin, she didn’t even know if they were real walls or if they were just cardboard and plaster added to create another apartment to rent for extra income in the building.

It was surprising that her roommate Marissa was watching TV in their living room. Mostly, Leah’s roommate watched on her laptop from within her own bedroom, while Leah sat in the living room with her boyfriend and watched on the TV that Asher had finally hung on the wall.

The TV had been sitting on the floor from when they moved into the apartment in September until Asher insisted it just wasn’t appropriate for them or for the TV to maintain the status quo. The girls had shrugged, Leah had gotten used to watching the TV at uncomfortable angles rather than seek agreement from Marissa on where to hang it up.

In all honesty, the girls hadn’t quite built the friendship Leah was hoping for. She had pictured herself and her New York roommate going out together and coming home to gush over their experiences, but instead her roommate trapped herself alone in her room most of the time.

And then there was the whole awkward situation with Gabe. Even with millions of people drifting in and out every year, somehow, Manhattan is the smallest island on Earth and Gabe had dated one of Marissa’s friends. Marissa had cryptically warned Leah to stay away from Gabe, making Leah wonder if he had skeletons in his closet, but it turned out that things just hadn’t worked out with Marissa’s friend who was bitter and angry about the breakup.

But once Leah and Gabe broke up, things started to improve with Marissa. Leah didn’t know if it was because of her breakup with Gabe, or maybe it was impossible for Marissa to stay holed up in her room once springtime arrived, but either way, things were more pleasant in the apartment. The girls even sometimes joked around together while they made their separate meals in the kitchen.

But still, Marissa didn’t often watch TV in the living room by herself. Which is why Leah shouldn’t have been surprised to see Asher sitting on her couch with the remote in his hand.

“What are you doing here?” she said as she took her wet shoes off by the door.

“What a greeting for your boyfriend who came over to surprise you with matzah ball soup!” He stood up and motioned to the brown paper bag on the kitchen table before coming to kiss her. “When I saw it started raining, I knew my girl needed her comfort food.”

Leah smiled and kissed him back. “Thank you,” she said. “That was sweet. Did Marissa let you in?”

Asher nodded. “She said she didn’t know where you were but that I could wait here. She’s a cool chick that Marissa.”

Leah chuckled. She didn’t think Marissa was a cool chick, more like an intimidating hen, but she was happy that at least this boyfriend and her roommate got along.

The smell of matzah ball soup as Asher opened the bag made Leah realize how hungry she was. It was thoughtful of Asher, always bringing over takeout, but sometimes she missed home cooked meals. Not that she was much of a cook, but Gabe was. He’d whip up pastas, steaks, and chicken. He was always trying new recipes which he paired with wine that Leah drank while watching him slice and sear in the kitchen.

His meals always took much longer than expected—she was usually a couple glasses in and starving by the time the food was ready, but it had been worth the wait.

But there is something to be said about takeout, which takes no preparation and little clean up, and maybe that was Asher’s specialty, clean and simple. It definitely wasn’t wine pairings or knife skills.

“Were you out with Maya?” Asher asked once they started eating the soup. It was the same soup from the same deli that Asher always brought when he thought Leah needed comfort food. He had brought it weekly while Leah was recovering from her broken arm. It was delicious, but she was starting to feel like it was repetitive and boring.

“What?” she responded with a big slurp of soup.

“After work,” Asher clarified. “Why you weren’t home now.”

“Oh, no, I was out with colleagues,” Leah responded quickly. It wasn’t a complete lie, Gabe was sort of a colleague, he had given her that scoop earlier.

“Cool,” Asher responded. “Anything interesting happen?”

“Actually yes,” Leah said. Maybe if she explained the situation about Teen Club to Asher, he could tell her what to do. “I got an interesting offer at work today!”

When Asher’s eyebrows perked up, she told him about the position at Teen Club and how she needed to decide what to do. “What do you think?” She asked him.

“Well, that’s a no brainer,” Asher said with a chuckle.

“Really?” Leah felt hope fill through her body as she anticipated what wisdom Asher would bestow that would indeed render this decision a no-brainer.

“Go to Teen Club! It’s been your dream,” he said. “I’m surprised you’re even considering staying at Business Club.”

“Club Business,” Leah corrected him as the hope in her veins turned to disappointment. It was not a no-brainer. Going to Teen Club was not the obvious right answer. “But what about my long-term career prospects? And my resume, doesn’t Club Business look better on my resume? And I actually like my job now, I have friends there and it’s interesting.”

“C’mon, Leah,” Asher said. “You actually think it’s interesting? You hated all types of math in high school. You never showed a single interest in anything business related. Isn’t it all, like dry? Writing about finance all day?”

“You work in finance too,” Leah commented. “Do you think it’s dry?” Asher moved to New York with a three-month unpaid internship at a real estate investment firm. He’d done great at the internship and had just recently been hired as a full-time employee.

“No, I actually really like it,” Asher said. “It’s like solving puzzles all day.”

“So why would I think it’s dry?” Anger started to sprout within her.

“I don’t know! Because you were always obsessed with make-up and clothes! You’ve watched every episode of Sex and the City like 300 times! And you read Teen Club religiously! Like I remember in high school, you’d get the new issue and would tell me not to talk to you until you finished! It doesn’t exactly say finance reporter.”

Leah rolled her eyes. “But that was when I was a teen,” she said.

Asher shrugged. “So stay at Club Business if you like it so much.”

“That’s not what I said!”

“You asked me what you should do, I told you what I thought. It’s not my fault if you don’t like the answer!” Asher finished his bowl of soup and put the empty carton back in the paper bag. “I think I’m just going to go to my own place tonight. We can talk tomorrow. Maybe the four of us can hang out.”

By the four of them he meant Leah and her friend Maya who she had met at a singles event when she first moved to New York, and Asher and his roommate Kevin, an old friend from high school that had met Maya at New York’s annual Hannukah party, The Matzah Ball. Since then, Kevin had been asking about Maya and just recently she had agreed to hang out with him a couple times. It seemed perfect that the four of them could double date and all have fun together, but if either couple didn’t work out, well, it wouldn’t end well for any of them.

Just then the door of Marissa’s bedroom swung open. “Oh, hi,” she said as though she were as surprised as they were to see them in the apartment. Without another word, she walked out the front door.

“She’s hilarious,” Asher said, chuckling to himself.

“Sure, hilarious,” Leah repeated. “Yeah, we can see about tomorrow. I’ll talk to Maya.”

“I’m sorry if I said the wrong answer about the job,” Asher said.

“You didn’t say the wrong answer,” Leah said. There wasn’t a right or wrong answer. Or maybe both answers were right and wrong at the same time. It wasn’t why she was angry. She couldn’t exactly pin down why Asher’s response made her so angry. Maybe it was because he didn’t think she had grown up since high school. Or maybe because he didn’t think she was the kind of person who could be interested in finance. Or maybe because he had been so quick to offer an answer without even thinking about it. All reasons seemed viable.

“Well, whatever you do, I am sure you’ll be great,” he said. His kissed her on the lips as he picked up their takeout trash. “Do you actually want me to stay?”

“No, I think it will be good for me to think alone,” she responded. After her long day, she really did have a lot to think about.