Page 24 of Maybe You

He stares at me for a moment before he snorts out a laugh.

“A hidden depth in my emotional puddle,” he muses. “Who would’ve thought?”

“Maybe depth is an exaggeration. A hidden pothole.”

He’s laughing again.

It’s kind of nice.

After his laughter has died down, he looks at me, but this time it’s not the usual teasing arrogance I see in his gaze. This time the look is much more serious. Sort of inquisitive. It almost feels like he’s looking at me for the first time.

I’m not sure what to make of it. I wanted to be seen, and here he is. Seeing me. Only not really. I’m still technically hiding. He’s just accidentally stumbled upon me.

It doesn’t matter anyway.

A few more evenings, and he’ll be gone from my life for good.

FIVE

On Wednesday, he greets me with a hot dog. He holds both out for me and nods toward the one on my left.

“This one has bacon, tomatoes, and relish.”

He nods to the other hot dog.

“This one has coleslaw and mustard.”

I make a face. “Coleslaw?” I quickly take the bacon one.

“What’s wrong with coleslaw?” he asks, a genuine look of surprise on his face.

“Nothing at all. Provided it’s not on a hot dog.”

“Coleslaw tastes good with everything,” he says.

“Please,” I scoff. “There are plenty of foods that don’t go with coleslaw.”

“I disagree.”

I give him a mock sympathetic nod. “Because of that terrible accident where you lost all your taste buds?”

And then, instead of going inside and getting to work, I somehow find myself sitting on the front steps of the building, wolfing down a late dinner, with Sutton sitting next to me.

“Adding coleslaw to a hot dog goes against hot dog etiquette,” I say between bites.

Sutton hands me a bottle of water before he waves me off.

“Who cares? It tastes good.”

“It messes with the unpretentious nature of a hot dog,” I say.

“You and I have very different ideas of pretentious if you want to label coleslaw that.”

I make a sound of protest through a mouthful of food and hold my index finger up while I chew. “Coleslaw itself might not be pretentious, but it’s what it represents. It’s a gateway topping. You start with coleslaw. From that, you’ll be all, well a few slices of avocado never hurt anybody. Next thing you know you’re dressing your hot dog with stuff like artisanal mustard and goat cheese and apple relish. And eating it from your grandmother’s wedding china with a knife and fork.”

His eyes stay on me, his lips twitching.

“I’ve seen the light,” he says. “Just out of curiosity, what is on the list of appropriate toppings for a hot dog?”

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