Page 46 of Rules for Rule Breaking
She gestured to her book. “I’m trying to salvage my friendship with Emmy. You?”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but he stopped there. Her mind was always on another plane of existence, and he didn’t want to bring her down to his level. In fact, he wanted to elevate himself to hers.
“We’re supposed to be breaking rules, and I remembered we have a vape. Want to get high?” Bobby asked. He hoped she’d say yes. He didn’t want to go on the adventure alone. Last time he’d ended up crying into a meatless burrito.
Winter placed her book on the nightstand. “We haven’t been following any of our Geneva Conventions. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to do something like this together.”
“We don’t have to talk.”
“You must be really lonely if you’re asking me to hang out,” Winter joked.
Bobby auditioned a few smiles in his head before deciding which one looked indifferent enough. “You’re the one waiting outside my shower.” He was satisfied when Winter’s mouth dropped open in horror. “Come on, then,” he said, nodding in the direction of his room.
Bobby found the vape in his things, and he sat on the bed while Winter plopped down on the floor, a blank expression on her face. He let her fumble around with the vape until she figured it out because he knew he wouldn’t hear the end of it if he tried to tell her what to do. She took one long pull and then he took one himself.
Within a few moments, although Bobby purposefully did not inhale all the way, he felt warm, and everything was hazy. His nerves had been doing somersaults since he’d decided to surprise Winter with the Goddard Space Flight Center that morning. He never liked surprises—giving or receiving—but Winter was the type to appreciate such chicanery. He feared another anxiety attack might come on as it had the first time he had smoked, but he was far too distracted by Winter. He lay on his bed and watched her as she dug around in his luggage. He had no idea what she was looking for, but he didn’t have enough muscle function to care.
“Bobby, you can’t seriously tell me you plan to use every single thing you packed in here.”
“It’s better to have something and not need it than to need it and not have it.”
Winter pulled his extra pair of shoelaces out of his bag’s side pocket. “Do you plan to have a shoelace emergency?”
“You don’t plan for an emergency. That’s why it’s an emergency. It’s emergent.”
“And you have an extra toothbrush. Why would you need an extra toothbrush?”
Bobby looked over at her completely rearranging everything in his immaculately organized bag. “What if something happened to my first toothbrush? It would be stupid not to have a second one.”
“Then you brush your teeth with your finger like anyone else who’s ever had a toothbrush emergency.”
“But why would I brush my teeth with my finger if I have an extra toothbrush?”
“Are you sure you’re human? Humans like their lives with a little drama. You ever turn an assignment in, like, a minute before it was due?”
“Um... yeah.”
“Then you’re messy just like the rest of us, and you’re pretending to be better by having this extra toothbrush.”
Bobby threw one of his pillows at her. “What happened to not talking?”
“Bobby, why do you have so many sheet masks?”
“How is the vape having the opposite intended effect on you? Could you please sit down and shut up?”
All he could hear was the ripping of plastic as Winter tore open a package and unfolded one of his face masks. It was the one he’d saved for Tuesday. If she was going to cause so much chaos, she could have at least gone in order of the days of the week.
“The serums won’t do anything for you if you drip them all over the floor,” Bobby said flatly. His skin always misbehaved when he traveled, so he was annoyed the carpet was going to be more moisturized than he was come Tuesday.
“You should do one too. You’re looking a little dull,” Winter replied as she tried to position the mask on her face.
“I’m dead inside. I wouldn’t want to misrepresent myself.”
Winter grabbed another mask and jumped on the bed. Bobby felt like he was being thrashed around in a boat for a moment. Winter really had no sense of calm. She flattened out the citrus-scented mask and reached over him.
Bobby put up his hand. “We have a rule against this.”
“I feel really restless all of a sudden, and you’re boring me.”
