Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 135522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
“Nope. Totally seriously serious. TJ just bought you.”
“You want me to go on a date with TJ?”
“No.”
Then he cracks a smile.
I shake my head and put my face right in front of his. “I can’t wait to go on a date with you. I can’t wait to make you all mine. I … I can’t wait to experience you the proper way, the way a boyfriend ought to experience his boyfriend, without hiding you everywhere and ducking out of sight of onlookers.”
“We might still have to do that for a little while,” he says. “No paper does its due diligence without a proper follow-up story.”
I kiss him right then, pull back, and smile. “They’re going to be doing an awful lot of following up for quite a while then, ‘cause I sure have no plans of letting you go anytime soon.”
His eyes sparkle with emotion. “You sure? Wait.” He lifts his eyebrows. “Did you just call me your boyfriend a second ago?”
I shrug. “Of course. Isn’t that what you are?”
“You did it so easily … so quickly … so casually.”
“Do you need it more formally stated?”
“Yes,” he says rather curtly. “You know how my mind works. I don’t do well with … with ambiguity. These past few weeks have been the best weeks of my life … and they’ve also been complete and utter torment for my brain.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m … I’m not used to this. You know I’m not. I’ve never …” He sets down his plate suddenly, the carrot sticks rattling. “… had a boyfriend before. And now that there’s no pageant hanging over us as an excuse to, uh, hold back …”
“Yeah …?”
“… I’m having to face a lot of … concepts that aren’t … familiar to me. Things I’ve been scared of all my life.”
“Like what?”
“Feeling things. Naming things. I mean … I think I like it.” He gazes at me. “But it’s also scary. I want to enjoy it, but I can’t think straight when it’s happening. And when it’s happening, I … don’t want to think at all. But that’s not like me. I think about everything. I don’t do well with ambiguity.” He starts wringing his hands. “Or subtlety. Or reading between any amounts of lines. I need things said clearly. I need things understood. That way, I don’t overthink it, draw wrong conclusions, or … or misinterpret a simple gesture or something you say as something … bigger.”
I nod patiently. “Okay. Clarity. No subtleness. Got it.”
He bites his lip. “I mean, you can be a little subtle. Reasonably subtle. Just subtle enough to be grasped by a typical human being. But not too subtle for, say … a robot to comprehend, for example. Does that make sense?”
That causes me to laugh. “A robot?”
“Yes, a robot. Don’t laugh.”
I press a hand to my mouth. “Got it,” I say, muffled, then drop my hand. “Then I’ll be clear with you. I have deep feelings for you. And I am also equally as glad that the pageant is over with. And I am more than excited to take you on this special date, to romance you, and to do all the things we couldn’t do before.”
“That sounds nice. Especially considering the coupons TJ had mentioned. Though I need to know the specifics behind those so-called no-limits coupons, because he couldn’t possibly have meant there’s literally no limit to them, otherwise we could order forty-seven steaks.” He frowns. “Also, you’re still being vague.”
“I am?”
Just then, we hear a burst of dramatic tears from the living room nearby. After an alarmed glance at one another, Noah and I hurry to the living room to investigate.
We are both rendered completely speechless by what we find.
My mom—and Noah’s mom—tightly embracing each other.
And sobbing hysterically.
“Oh, I’ve wasted so much time blaming you for nothing!” my mom cries out. “Deidra, my best friend!”
“Gosh dang it, Lauren, I’ve missed you so much! I’m a terrible friend! I should a’ reached out sooner!”
“It’s my fault, I kept pushing you away and away!”
“No, no, it’s mine! And you still got them hot pink tongs! Noah told me, you’ve still got ‘em!”
“I use them every day, oh, Deidra, let’s never fight again!”
“Not ever, not even a little bit! I miss my drinkin’ buddy!”
“Girl, I miss you, too!”
Noah and I look at each other, flabbergasted, then face our reunited mothers and begin to applaud. As their scene has earned them the attention of everyone else in the room anyway, our lead sets the example for the rest of the room to applaud as well. Even Nadine joins in, whistling with fingers in her mouth, likely having no idea the deep, dark drama that underlies this moment of two ex-best friends at long last burying the hatchet and rediscovering each other. Our mothers don’t seem to even notice, continuing to squeeze one another and exchange vows of eternal friendship as well as apology after apology.