Page 47 of One Night

"I guess I do, at least by guy standards."

"How long are we talking here? Like an hour?"

"An hour's a bit much. More like forty-five minutes. But it depends on the day."

"What takes so long? You don't need makeup and you look hot in whatever you wear."

I smile. "Thanks, but I disagree. And I like getting dressed up. Putting makeup on. Doing my hair. I'm girly that way. Probably because I grew up with two sisters."

"Younger or older?"

"One younger, one older. How about you?"

"A brother. Younger."

"And you said your family lives here in Chicago?"

"Not in the city. They're way out in the suburbs. I don't know if it's even considered the Chicago metro area. With traffic, it can take almost an hour to get there."

"Do you go home much?"

"Not really. Between school and the band I don't have much time to go home." He opens the door to the coffee shop for me. "Let me guess," he says as we walk up to the counter. "Some kind of latte?"

"Yeah. Mocha, made with whole milk. I'm not a skim milk kind of girl."

"Got it." He goes up and orders it for me, along with a black coffee for himself. "And an apple danish and cranberry muffin," he says to the girl. She rings him up, then we wait at the other end of the counter.

"You like cranberry muffins?" I ask.

"That's for you. The danish is for me."

"How do you know I like cranberry muffins?"

He gently squeezes my hand, which he held as soon as he finished paying. "I might've asked Kira a few questions about your likes and dislikes."

"Why didn't you just ask me?"

"Because you wouldn't talk to me, and as I said before, I didn't want our letters to become an exchange of biographical information."

"Order up for Dylan," a guy behind the counter says. We take our coffees and food and find a table by the window.

"What else did Kira tell you?" I ask.

"Not much. A few food preferences and your favorite type of flower. She also said that you used to kick ass in gymnastics. That you were even better than her."

"That's not true." I glance out the window. "She's exaggerating. She's the one who went to nationals."

"She said you would've gone too if you hadn't quit. So why'd you quit?"

"I just wanted to do other things."

"Because gymnastics wasn't important to you anymore?"

"It was, but..." I don't finish the thought.

"What?" He puts his hand over mine, stopping me before I peel the wrapper from my muffin. "What were you going to say?"

"Nothing."

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