Page 42 of Sleet Princess

Luke: Hmm. Good to know. Forehead tattoos were next on the docket.

Princess: Might I suggest something other than a barcode?

Luke: Guess I’m heading back to the drawing board.

Luke: What are you doing tonight?

Princess: Eating takeout in my hotel room.

Luke: Want some company?

Princess: You in LA?

Luke: I’m in my kitchen. But I’ve heard of this thing called FaceTime. And I’d like to try it.

Princess: With jokes like that, how can I resist?

Luke: I am irresistible. Okay, let me order my own food, then I’m calling.

Princess: So, first game of the season this week. How are you feeling?

Luke: Excited, but in the way where you might throw up.

Princess: I can only imagine the pressure of playing in front of a crowd like that. But according to my friend, The Internet, you’re pretty good at what you do. So I doubt you have anything to worry about.

Luke: Thanks, Princess. That’s sweet of your friend to say, and I still feel good. But…

Princess: But…?

Luke: I’m gonna be thirty-seven in a few months, and I feel it. I know I’m good for this season. And maybe the next. But I know I need to start thinking about what’s after.

Luke: Sorry, I didn’t mean to go that deep.

Luke: That’s what she said.

Luke: But seriously, I wasn’t trying to complain.

Princess. First, did you seriously just do a that’s what she said to your own comment? Second, I don’t mind you going deep.

Princess: That’s what she said.

Princess: But seriously, I’m happy to talk or not talk about whatever you want.

Luke: I respect you so much more now that you set yourself up for that same joke.

Princess: Thanks?

Luke: Distract me. Ask me a question.

Princess: Why do you call me Princess?

Luke: Because that very first time I saw you, you were languishing across that weight bench like a princess in a drawing. Or like those cartoons growing up where the reigning royal was always reclined on a pile of pillows while someone fed them grapes and someone else fanned them with palm fronds.

Luke: I wish I’d taken a picture.

Luke: But I didn’t because that would have been creepy.

Princess: Now I kinda wish you’d taken a picture too.

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