Page 63 of It Should Have Been Me

“Well, that was fun.”

A groan of satisfaction vibrates beneath my hands. “That was the last time, so I had to make it count.”

“Was I an unfortunate distraction from what you were working on?”

“A big one. And with distractions like that, I won’t be able to work again today. It’s very unfortunate.”

“Were you busy with your theory of debunking phi?”

He tenses slightly. “Yep.”

I continue drawing small patterns on his chest. “Do you want to tell me what your research is about?”

“Nope.”

I don’t push for an answer. This is obviously something personal to him that he doesn’t want to share with me. Given the fact that I made it clear that I have no intention of staying, I see this for what it is. It’s a boundary he doesn’t want me to cross. Instead, I switch to a conversation to keep the mood light.

“So...I heard you on Isa’s show this morning. I didn’t know you had a slot. On the Spot with Scott.”

“Oh, you found out about that, huh?” He chuckles. “The name was pretty corny, but I really enjoyed doing that.”

“How’d you get into it?”

“Isa and Tommy started off on the afternoon show, so I used to call in a lot, and one day they were arguing about...” He purses his lips as he tries to recall. “I think the topic was...whether the man should pay on the first date. I was at the mall when I called in, so they asked me to just ask some of the other shoppers. It was such a great segment that Isa asked me to make sure I was in a public place the next time I called in. It started becoming a regular thing, so Damon gave me a ten-minute slot.”

“That’s so cool! And when I heard you this morning, you sound like a natural. Why did you stop?”

“Oh, I had to stop once they got the breakfast show because I had classes in the morning.”

I smile even though I’m low-key upset that I missed all this. “You must’ve met some weird people doing that. Kiesha sounded like a riot, though.”

“Yeah, some people were a bit weird, but Kiesha was off-the-rails crazy. I took her out for breakfast the next day. She was hilarious.”

I smile to myself because I know him so well. “I figured you would. So, tell me something else I don’t know.”

He places his hand over mine, absentmindedly toying with the ring on my finger. The gesture tugs on my heartstrings because it’s something he always used to do. He rolls his head toward me until our eyes meet. “Mmm...so other than my part-time job on radio...I have developed a very strange addiction, a guilty pleasure of sorts. I like...watching kids fall down.”

I giggle. “What?”

“Yeah. I’m obsessed with those home videos where this random kid is walking around and then boom – a ball hits him in the face and he falls over...” He’s laughing just thinking about it. “And the younger, the better. You see these tiny three-year-olds with their chubby little legs and they’re running after something and trip over their own feet. And then those little arms and legs are flailing in the wind like a beetle stuck on its back because they can’t get up on their own. It fricken kills me! And the worst part is I’ve watched so many that it messed up my algorithm on YouTube, so I keep getting more popping up on my feed. I couldn’t stop even if I tried, and trust me, I’m not trying.”

“You’re so mean,” I say, slapping his chest. “As a teacher, that shouldn’t be something you enjoy.”

“This is totally confidential, Cat. You can’t tell anyone. What about you? Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Well...I have...you know what? I don’t want to say mine. You’re just going to end up judging me.”

“I won’t.” He lifts my hand from his chest and interlinks his fingers with mine. “You can tell me.”

“Okay...so I watched...Sharknado...”

“No.” His eyes widen with shock and horror. “No, Cat. Please say it isn’t so.”

“It is so...I watched all six of them, actually.”

“I swear to God if you tell me you liked—”

“I loved them.”

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