Page 35 of Rules for Rule Breaking
“You watch straight-up murder documentaries and cold cases. I watch reimaginings onLifetime. We are not the same.”
Bobby cut his eyes at her. “Just be patient and act surprised when it’s time.”
The pit that had formed in Winter’s stomach the night beforereturned. She leaned back against the headrest in defeat. The trees hung over the road, trying to high-five in the middle. She watched them go by as they got closer to Baltimore. She’d hoped they’d find some time to pick blue crabs and devour crab dip pretzels, but it seemed unlikely now. It more than likely wasn’t Bobby’s thing either. If he couldn’t even eat fish with a head, he definitely couldn’t contend with the knobby black eyes of a crab.
They were barely on the beltway for any time at all when they turned off at an exit. Bobby probably had to go find a charging port to plug himself into. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. It was about ten a.m., but had she known that they were going to leave two hours earlier than planned, she wouldn’t have stayed up late the night before pacing around the balcony on her stargazing app, looking for Polaris. She decided to call it quits around three a.m. when she almost dropped her phone over the railing and nearly went over trying to catch it.
“We’re here,” Bobby said as Winter started to doze off.
A snore escaped her throat, which startled her completely awake. She was disoriented, with floaters dancing in front of her eyes. “We’re where?”
“Are you not seeing this? Open your eyes.”
“First of all, racist. And second of all, there’s no way we’re in Philly yet.”
“Would you just look, please?”
She rubbed her eyes, and when her vision cleared, she saw the Goddard Space Flight Center, one of NASA’s major research facilities. She looked at Bobby as if to ask if she was actually seeing what she was seeing, and he nodded. Her heartbeat jumped into her ears, and she started flapping her arms wildly like a flightless bird. The pit in her stomach moved to her throat. She was having troubleputting together the hodgepodge of scattered thoughts in her brain so she could say something, anything, coherent.
Bobby was looking at her, trying to gauge her reaction. Her first impulse was to pull him into a hug, which was strange because one, they were in a car, and two, it was Bobby. She reddened and put as much distance between them as she could. “I’m so sorry. That was weird, right?” she asked.
Bobby had no discernible expression. “It was a little weird.”
He threw the car in park and hopped out.
“Why am I so awkward?” Winter whispered to herself as Bobby walked around to open her door. “Our parents aren’t here. You don’t have to do that,” she said to him as he gestured for her to step out.
“Force of habit,” he replied. He shut the door behind her.
“Right.” She pushed her hair back behind her ears and took a deep breath. “So, uh... what are we doing here?” she asked, trying to pretend she hadn’t had a mini freak-out.
“I’m not proud of how I acted yesterday,” he said plainly and resolutely, as though he’d rehearsed it. “I violated our rule about discussing my girlfriend, among others, so I was hoping you’d accept this as a reset button.”
Winter almost felt like he should get down on one knee. He was already being so dramatic about it; she squirmed under Bobby’s pleading gaze.
“I accept,” she said, not knowing what else to say.
“Good. Should we go inside?”
They started walking to the door like they were marching in a funeral procession. This was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her, and she didn’t know how to act.
“Race you to the front door!” Winter said suddenly as she shoved Bobby down and took off like a dart toward the entrance.
They always used to race when they were kids. They’d be dragged along on church retreats, and it was the only way they could entertain themselves while their parents “caught up” for hours upon hours. Winter always won because, admittedly, she cheated.
“Not this time!” she heard Bobby yell from behind.
Winter glanced back and saw Bobby scramble to his feet. She squealed as he gained on her, keys jangling, a youthful, pleased look on his face. She didn’t even care if people were watching them running around, giggling like kids.
“On your left!” Bobby yelled as he passed her and touched the door before she did.
“How the hell did you beat me?” Winter asked. They both were bent over, trying to catch their breaths. “You don’t exercise. And trolling people on the internet does not count.” She held her burning chest.
“I’m a trombone player. I have superior lung capacity,” he replied with a smirk.
“Weird flex, but okay.”
“Whatever, you’re just mad you lost.”
