Page 74 of I Can't Even Think Straight

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I hope Obi will be the real thing.

I want Obi

to say it.

I need Obi

to say it.

I shrug and feign ignorance.

“No lo sé,” I say in Spanish.

“¿Hablas español?” asks Obi.

“Sí, un poco,” I reply. “Es uno...”

I go blank in Spanish.

I go back to English.

“It’s one of my GCSEs.”

“I do French,” Obi says,

with a hint of innuendo,

“but I’ve been on holiday to Spain

with my family.”

“Con mi familia,” I offer in Spanish.

“Avec ma famille,” Obi says in French.

I look over his shoulder

to check if Mum or anyone else

is coming this way.

Obi looks at the ground,

and bites his bottom lip.

“But you didn’t come here

for language lessons,

or to buy another pendant,

did you?” I ask.

“No, I didn’t,” he says.

He puts a hand to his chest

where the loop of jade rests.

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