Page 84 of Verses

“Then that’s it.”

Once the waiter left, promising to deliver our food as soon as it was out, the dull burning ache in my upper left arm reminded me that I had a new tattoo to show off. “Look what I got today,” I said, pulling up the sleeve on my shirt and turning so he could see the design.

He nodded. “Is that your first one?”

“Yeah.”

“Careful. They can be addictive.”

“So I’ve heard.”

The waiter swept by quickly, dropping off Wolf’s bottle of beer. Wolf picked it up and we talked about music for a while, eating a couple of chips. I loved spending time with him…but I didn’t like the vibes I was getting off him.

Something wasn’t quite right.

Maybe he’d just had a hard day and was trying to put himself in a good mood.

After our plates were whisked away and we only had our drinks left on the table, the waiter stopped back by. “Any dessert tonight?”

“Hayley?”

“I’m pretty full. Maybe not.”

“Anything else to drink?”

“Nope. I’m good.” I wished we were finishing up so we could head to his place…but by now I got the feeling we weren’t going to do that.

To the waiter, he said, “Just the check.” Then he looked at me, his eyes serious. “We have some things to talk about. Do you want to do it now or wait until we’re in the truck?”

I hoped my voice sounded brave. “No time like the present.” But, deep inside, I figured I already knew where this was going.

He sat up, as if to make sure I would be the only person to hear his voice—but it was pretty loud in the restaurant. Besides, I didn’t know any of the people there, so it wasn’t like it would matter. He said, “Let’s say we pursued a relationship, bird. Where do you see it going?”

I hadn’t thought about it—but I didn’t like the question. “What does that even mean, Wolf? I can’t predict the future.”

“Maybe not—but we can make educated guesses.”

“I really like you…and I want to be with you.”

“But why?” he asked, taking a long draw from the beer. “I’m too old for you and way too cynical.”

“What istoo old? Would it be better if I was twenty-five and you were thirty? What’s the limit? Who decides this shit anyway?”

So my voice was probably a little too loud but no one around us in that noisy environment seemed to noticed.

Wolf did, though—and he lowered his voice even more as if trying to influence the volume of mine. “How would your mom feel if she knew you were dating someone probably close to her age?”

I pinched my straw, stirring the ice at the bottom of the almost-empty cup. “Do you think I care what my mom thinks? Because I don’t. She hasn’t cared about who I dated since I was fourteen. Do you have a better reason?”

“I already said it. I’m kind of a bitter, cynical man. Haven’t you noticed that?”

“You’re no more cynical than I am,” I said, picking up the cup and sucking on the straw, not minding that it made a loud annoying sound with all the water gone. “Why can’t we be cynical together?”

“You might be a little bit, bird…but I’ve had a lifetime of shit that makes me look on things with a jaded eye.”

“Oh, and I haven’t?”

After draining the remaining beer out of the bottle, he said, “I didn’t say that. But you’re young. What’s happened to make you that way?”

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