Page 67 of Girls Will Be Girls
I place my hands over the wet clay as she attempts to give it some height.
“You thinking about your fiancé?” She sing-songs the last word without taking her eyes off her creation.
“No,” I say defensively.
“You know, if I was into older guys, I definitely would.”
“Gross.” I scrunch up my face. “Don’t call him anolder guy. He’s like my age.”
She slows her wheel and looks at me. “You’re saying if I got with someone over ten years older than me, you’d be like‘Oh yeah, perfect match’?”
“Point taken.” I nod. “But also, age gaps can be hot.”
“Ew.” She says.
“You sweet summer child.” I sigh. “Also, I thought hanging out with young people was meant to make you feel young? You make me feel so old.”
“I’m clearly here to ground you. Keep you tethered to reality, especially seeing as you can’t stop pretending to be engaged to someone.” She says.
“It’s not my fault it keeps happening.” I protest. “I was just… helping out a friend.”
She guffaws loud enough for the people around us to turn to look at us. “Friend.” She repeats mockingly.
I poke a small dent into her vase as retaliation before letting go. “I can see why the rivalry between our generations exists now.”
She reaches over and pokes a pinky-sized hole in the side of my bowl. “Is it because adulting is hard?” She jokes.
I glare at her.
“Is it because the math isn’t mathing?” She continues.
“Stop,” I say.
“Do you need to go pet a doggo to feel better?” She grins.
I shake my head. “Too far.”
Do I regret blurting out the fact that I pretended to be Lou’s fiancée in front of his brother to Casey the second we sat down? Possibly. Did I desperately need to gossip about it? Most definitely.
“You two should at least masturbate in front of each other while you wait for this date,” Casey says out of nowhere.
My mouth opens and closes multiple times, like I have an inability to form real words.
“You need to get thatenergyout before you combust.” She adds.
I’ve never felt so speechless before.
“So are you gonna tell anyone else in town about yourdeceit?” Casey continues oblivious to the fact that my face is turning into a tomato.
“I don’t know.” I manage. “I guess not.”
“Don’t you think people will be curious? Why you were only flirting before, and now you’re straight-up engaged?”
“I doubt it will even happen again,” I say. “And we weren’t flirting.” I defend.
“From what I’ve seen and heard…” She trails off, lifting her eyebrows suggestively.
“What have you seen?” I ask. “Actually, more importantly, what have youheard?”
