S + D
It was her idea to take the metro. Why not? Who says that you have to bike everywhere in Amsterdam just because you own a bicycle?
Excusing herself from the group of friends lounging in the living room, Anneke made her way to the kitchen to grab some chips and search the fridge for more beer. She was saving the prosecco for a bit later. She knew how much Sanne liked prosecco. Anneke envisioned opening the bottle and having a toast before heading out to party at Skate café. But now that Sanne and Daan made an early exit, she thought why bother keeping it for later?
As Anneke reentered the living room, her boyfriend Jonas, hopped up from his cushion to help her out, grabbing the bowl filled with Tyrell’s sweet chilli and red peppers chips and placing them on the coffee table.
“Alles goed liefje?” Jonas asked.
Anneke gave Jonas a quick wink. “I was planning on saving this for later but who would like some prosecco before we go out?” A group of hands shot in the air with some celebratory whistling. Anneke made a quick count and headed back to the kitchen for some glasses.
As they waited for their pizzas to cook in the oven, the group took handfuls of chips while sipping their beer and prosecco. Jonas friend Mitchell from the States used the corner of the coffee table to roll a joint that he would later smoke on the balcony.
“Wasn’t Sanne supposed to come out with us tonight?” Isa said to Anneke.
“I thought so too, but she texted me before coming saying she wasn’t sure.”
“Wat jammer.”
Mitchell delicately picked up his joint, sealing it with a lick. “I like that Daan guy. We might meet up next week and go vintage shopping somewhere in Noord.”
“How long have they been together?” Isa’s girlfriend, Tessa asked.
Anneke shrugged. “I’m not even sure if they’re official. But I think it’s been about a month?” It was hard for Anneke to admit but she felt disconnected from Sanne. Sanne was one of her oldest friends. Since meeting in high school, they spent so much time together, going to parties and raves, planning festival trips and vacations together.
Anneke was the planner in their friendship. Whereas she needed structure and projects to look forward to, Sanne was more spontaneous, happy to go with the flow. Anneke remembered Sanne telling her about how she ended up in Palermo for new year’s eve last year. “I just googled ‘short trip over new year’s with a little bit of sun’ and Palermo came up. The ticket was pretty cheap after Christmas so I thought, why not?” The whole idea filled Anneke with dread. That’s why she’d been texting Sanne at least once a week about the summer, attempting to lock down vacation dates.
“Daan’s a good looking guy,” Jonas said.
“Oh my god, so hot!” Tessa said.
Isa playfully pinched her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Okay, easy.”
“What, you don’t think he’s hot?”
“I mean I guess, if you’re into that typical Dutch, tall-with-brown-hair type.”
“He’s like a tall Shawn Mendes” Jonas offered.
“Love, Shawn Mendes is tall.” Anneke said.
“Why are Dutch guys so fucking tall?” Mitchell wondered.
“I think it’s all the milk.” Jonas said with a grin.
“Was Sanne okay?” Isa said to Anneke. “I think she said she was having cramps.”
Anneke nodded. “Also something about a migraine? She’s always been so sensitive. I keep telling her that she needs to take care of herself more.”
“But why did they have to leave so quickly?” said Tess.
Mitchell finished off his glass of prosecco. “Daan was saying something about getting back to the West early?”
Anneke was a bit irritated by this and she expressed this to the group. She understood that ever since she and Jonas moved to Noord it made things a bit tricky. But Noord is actually not that far, especially when riding a bike and traversing the Ij by ferry. Everyone who lives in Amsterdam knows that having a bike is an essential form of transportation, often cutting travel time in half. It almost felt like coming by metro was a perfect excuse to leave early. “Daan did seem a bit pushy about leaving no?”
“I mean Daan was practically out the door while Sanne was still saying goodbye to us.” Jonas said.
Anneke had noticed that too and found it somewhat suspect. It’s true that he did seem concerned for her well being but was it a red flag that he wanted to leave so quickly? He almost seemed annoyed that she was taking so long. She’d never met Daan before but she could practically smell the player energy emanating from him like a cologne. No: this was not the man for her, she decided.
A few of them grabbed their coats and headed to the balcony to smoke Mitchell’s joint. Anneke grabbed her phone and texted Sanne: let me know that you got home ok.
She would call again tomorrow and try to make a coffee date for next week. If Jonas already had his trip planned with his boys, she needed to make sure they discussed their summer plans (“train trip through Eastern Europe?” “Festival in Croatia?” “Cinque Terre?”)
***
It was her idea to take the metro. Why not? Who says that you have to bike everywhere in Amsterdam just because you own a bicycle? Two weeks ago, the city was covered in a thick coat of white snow. The die hard Amsterdammers continued to bike through the city, emrbacing the experience of slowly peddling through an icy, winter wonderland.
Not Sanne. She had had enough of biking through precarious situations in Amsterdam. So she decided to take public transportation.
Obviously, riding a bike throughout the city is cheaper than the metro, tram or bus but Sanne had forgotten the joys of Amsterdam public transportation. She loved getting lost listening to music while staring out the tram window, watching the world go by. As the tram meandered through the city, Sanne took note of new shops, on Bilderijkstraat, reflected on the bakery she ate a lekker cookie once that had since closed, and wondered where that guy on his bike bought that beautiful bouquet of flowers and who were they for?
Hand in hand they walked briskly to the metro. The snow had since left and biking was back in funk force. But the chill lingered, so much so, that they both agreed the bus and metro was the best option to get to Jonas and Anneke’s.
“Your friends think I’m an asshole.” Daan held Sanne’s hand while they say in the metro. Across from them a woman in a tight pony tale and hoop earrings had her laptop on her lap as she finished up a report. At the far end of the carriage, a young man was FaceTiming his mother in Turkey.
Sanne laughed. “Why were you already out the door while I was still saying goodbye?”
“Hey, didn’t you say the game was to get out of there by nine-thirty?”
She kissed his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. “I can’t wait to snuggle in bed with you.”
“Why do you think it’s so hard to tell friends that you don’t want to go out sometimes? Shit, I don’t mean you, but just, you know, in general.”
Sanne understood what Daan meant. She and Anneke had been friends for so long, their friendship felt almost static at this point. Anneke seemed to have a clear sense of her, which made sense since they had been friends since high school. But in the last year or so she felt a change in her, something shifting away from Anneke. It was the first time that she considered the dynamic of their friendship. Sanne felt like one of the moons that orbited planet Anneke, always in relation to her gravitational pull.
“I think they were expecting us to go out with them.”
“Do you think the migraine thing was a bit much?”
“Honestly, if you didn’t come up with something soon, I was going to pull the migraine card.”
“Anneke thinks I’m so weak anyway, it worked out pretty good no?” She looked up at him and sighed. “Thank you for playing along with me.”
Daan leaned in close and gently pulled a loose eyelash from her cheek. “When are you going to tell her that you’re coming to my family house in Provence this summer?”
“Later.” She was already thinking about her body pressed warmly against his, legs entwined as they watched their show, giddy at the idea of delicious sleep as rich as dark chocolate.