Page 39 of One True Loves

“And I guess I’ll do your stupid questionnaires. But no guarantees I’ll figure out my life plan by the end of this booby-trapped trail.”

“Of course. It just might be a good start. There’s only nine more days on this cruise, not counting today, so your deadline—”

“Well, get on with it then!” I wave my hand and skip a few steps ahead.

He straightens the papers in front of his face, climbing after me. “Number one, do you have a vivid imagination?”

“Yes. I just graduated from an art school, I told you that.”

He nods. “Number two—”

“Don’t you need to write my answers down or something?”

“I have a really good memory.”

I roll my eyes, but then smile. “Of course you do.”

“Number two,” he continues. He moves in closer to me to make way for donkeys carrying a family of three who all have the same bowl cut. Alex doesn’t even look up from the paper. “Are you a positive person or do you often feel blue?”

“I don’t know.” How honest am I going to get here? “I try to be positive, but I have my Frank Ocean moments.”

“Number three. Do you prefer to stay in the background or stand out?”

He looks up from the papers and meaningfully looks up and down at my outfit. “Well, I know the answer to that.”

I’m wearing a flower-print vintage romper, pointy cat-eye sunglasses, a hot-pink padded headband, and the aforementioned hard-earned gold Tevas.

“Hey, it’s going to look real good against these white walls.” I put my hands on my hips and then hunch my shoulders forward in my best supermodel impersonation. “You’re taking my picture for the gram, by the way.”

He arches an eyebrow. “Oh, am I?”

“Yeah, luckily there’s no smell-o-vision, so I’ll just look like a dewy, glow-y queen and not like the BO monster that I will soon become.”

“You’re not a monster.”

“We still got like four hundred steps, bro.”

He lets out a low snort. “Probably more than that at the pace you’re moving at.” He hops a few steps in front of me, dodging a tour group and a couple donkey-poop piles that lookfresh. “Okay, next one. Are you in tune with other people’s emotions?”

“Yes.”

“Do you feel most comfortable in order or mess?”

“I love mess!” I say, holding my hands out and smiling all big like Marie Kondo in that meme.

“When given a chore, do you complete it right away or put it off?”

“I don’t know. Both?”

“Do you have difficulty understanding abstract ideas?”

“Ugh, why do I feel like this test is judging me?”

“Because it is. That’s the point!”

I roll my eyes again, and he flips to another page. “Okay, I think I already know your response to this one, but I’ll ask it anyway. For consistency. Are you the life of the party, or do you hang on the wall?”

I open my mouth to respond, but then press my lips together.

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