Page 53 of Catch Me
“I don’t know.”
“Well, at least you’re honest.”
“I’ll just head out.” He got to his feet and slung his backpack over one shoulder. “Thank you for all of this. The commission, the flights and the room. And for being kind when it made no sense for you to be. Sorry that I was a dick.”
When he started toward his car, I dropped my head back and once again cursed my dumbass for never learning. “Can you try?”
He turned around and cocked his head. “To be less of a dick?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Trying is something I can do.”
“Then, stop being dramatic and put your stuff back in the room. Unless you still want to leave. That’s up to you.”
“Are you sure? You have every right to kick me to the curb. I know that I’m an asshole sometimes.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a masochist.”
“Really?”
“No,” I laughed. “You really need to joke more.”
“Maybe I’ll try that too.”
“Thank god. You have nothing to do tomorrow, so maybe you should practice your comedy routine.”
When I glanced at him over my shoulder on the way inside, he was smiling. He saw me looking, but he didn’t get weird and hide it.
Cool. Maybe we’d be able to coexist. I’d thought that a couple times now, but maybe this would be the time it happened.
*****
“I don’t know.” I swore when I nearly dropped an egg. Deciding the phone-to-ear position wasn’t working, I put it on speaker and set it down.
“Are they still being bitches?” Sen asked.
“They’re always bitches. They didn’t say anything about our last LIVE, but—hold on.” I looked at Roman as he wandered into the kitchen looking half dead. “Want eggs?”
“Sure.”
I grabbed a coffee cup and filled it, then set the milk on the island for him.
“Travis?” Sen said.
“Sorry, I’m here. What was I saying?”
“They didn’t say anything about the last LIVE.”
“Right. If you tell your story, it’ll be really in-depth.”
“Is that a problem somehow? It’s just my experience. You’re not taking stances.”
“They said that telling people this state doesn’t allow conversion therapy bans was equivalent to me declaring my political opinion or whatever. And your story is going to stir things up, which is what I want, but I don’t know how much more they’ll tolerate from me. Like, can I even share resources at the end of the LIVE? Can I say that what you went through your whole life was fucked up?”
“It was.”
“I know!” With a sigh, I gripped the edge of the counter. “How many times can I tell them human rights aren’t political?”
