Page 9 of Girls Will Be Girls
“Wow,” Brenda says.
Lou shrugs. “What can I say? My girl loves baseball.”
“What about the ring?” Brenda says. “Is it everything you dreamed?” She tries to peek at my hand.
“Oh. Yes.” I say, for some reason lifting my empty left hand. “I had to pack it, actually. Didn’t want it falling off.”
“Ring sizing is tricky,” Lou adds on.
Brenda nods like she knows all about it, while I’m trying my best not to break out in hives.
Lou must have been preparing to pull off a fake fiancé ruse all morning based on the way he sidesteps Brenda’s onslaught ofquestions about the details of our supposed wedding. When he tells her how we just want to enjoy our engagement for as long as possible, Brenda nods like she wholeheartedly agrees.
Once we have our tickets, Brenda waves us off and we walk off towards the security gate with Lou’s hand still wrapped around my arm.
Lou leans down to whisper to me. “Man. You’re a terrible liar.”
“You gave me zero warning!” I whisper yell back at him.
I look back and see that we’re definitely out of sight of Lou’s new bestie, so I whip myself out of his hold.
“What the hell even was that?” I say.
“You said you wanted a shower.” He looks at me like I’m not getting it — which I’m not. “First-class tickets can use the showers in the lounges.”
Oh.“Oh.”
“Consider this my official apology.”
“Thank you.” I really mean it.
He smiles. “My pleasure.”
We stand there awkwardly for a moment, and the longer he looks at me, the more I replay everything, analyzing it all, and I’m starting to think that maybe I overreacted a little.
“Here.” I offer the cookie bag to him. “Peace offering.”
He lets out one chuckle. “You can’t givemypeace offering back to me and call it a peace offering.”
“It makes it the ultimate selfless peace offering.”
“I see.” He grins. “You don’t owe me that though.”
“Yes, I do.” I shake the bag toward him. “You give me cookie, I give you cookie.”
“What?” He laughs.
“It’s fromNew Girl,” I say. “You should really educate yourself.”
“Okay.” He says, amused. “But, no, we’re even now.”
“Can you just take one?” I huff as he wears down my patience.
He laughs. “Fine. Which one?” His hand hovers.
I shake my head. “I don’t mind.”
“Sure you do.” He says, like it’s a fact. “Which one?”
