Page 80 of Playing Flirty

He rubbed his palms together, his smile wide and his dimple deep enough for me to live in. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

William had found his game.

Thankfully for me—and for Patrick, I suppose—there were enough people who didn’t recognize me and didn’t botherasking me to reveal myself. The conversations were all general nonsense, enough to keep the smiles on their faces and keep them distracted from asking me, or William, anything else.

At the other end were people who did recognize me, and each one assumed it was Patrick at my side. Granted, I couldn’t blame them. Patrick had been around for as long as I had.

“Patrick! How are you?” a man dressed as the Flash asked.

“I’m Batman,” William replied.

The man laughed. “Ah, good one. We haven’t seen you in a while. How are you?”

“I’m Batman,” William repeated, expressionless.

Unable to hold it back any longer, I slipped away where I could laugh out loud without an audience.

Lydia approached me dressed as Catwoman. Besides myself, there were at least three other Catwomen and six Batmen.

“Rose?” she asked.

I nodded. “Hi, Lydia.”

“Where is Patrick this evening?”

William waltzed over, and I started giggling before he even reached my side.

Lydia looked up at him. “Patrick! I took your advice and moved my little Patrick to a different school.”

“Oh, how old is he now?” I asked, stealing the conversation before William could say anything outrageous.

“He’s almost seven years old,” she squealed.

“What? Time flies! He must be so big. The last time I saw him, he was permanently attached to your boob.”

Lydia laughed. “Oh goodness, remember that?”

“I was breastfed until I was ten years old,” William inserted.

I choked back a laugh.

“And then my mom had my little sister, and she was breastfed,” he continued. “Ah, I hated that she got the milkies and I couldn’t have any.”

I couldn’t do it any longer. Pulling him aside, I wiped away my tears of laughter and straightened my expression into one I hoped resembled serious. “Stop your nonsense.”

William laughed, nearly doubling over. He thought he was hilarious. “Oh, come on. Do you really mind if they think all these things about Perfect Patrick?”

“No.” I smiled. It was impossible not to smile around him. “But I mind that they think I would still be dating someone like that.”

“Fair point. Guess you shouldn’t have dated Patrick, then. He’s a weird guy, I hear. Did you know he spends his free time tracking bigfoot?”

I shook my head and leaned against him as his arms slipped around me.

“William, don’t say that to anyone.” I bit back another laugh. “Oh my goodness, you’re out of control.”

He kissed my cheek and whispered, “No, I’m Batman.”

I laughed. It was funny every single time.

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