Page 98 of Catch Me
“If I suggest we buy two of these, what will you say?” I asked.
He walked up to me and stopped a couple of feet away. I waited, but when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I casually added another bullet. He watched me with narrowed eyes. When I raised the gun, he put his palm on the front and curled his fingers over it.
His silence was killing me. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him this quiet except when I refused to talk to him. Was he throwing an Uno Reverse at me?
“Please say something.”
A single brow rose.
“Did I piss you off?” I ventured.
He grabbed two of the guns from the shelf and put them in the cart, then continued. My anger was starting to bubble up again, and I had to consciously push it down.
“I don’t know how to do this,” I went on as I walked beside him. “To be real with someone.”
“Hm.”
I stood straighter, bolstered by the meager response. “I guess, maybe I’ve been playing a game my whole life. Each move is deliberate, meant to steer me toward something specific. With you, there are things that just come out of my mouth, and then I don’t know what to do with them. So, yeah, that’s what happened earlier, I think.”
I chewed on my lip, knowing I should shut up but also knowing that it wouldn’t get him to talk to me. And I needed him to do that.
“If it’s cool, I do want to come with you. I mean, I don’t know where you’re off to. If it’s just a you thing, that’s fine. A date or something.”
He stopped, and I pursed my lips when he hung his head. His shoulders shook with a laugh.
“Nevermind,” I muttered.
He grabbed my forearm in a tight grip. “Don’t walk off.”
“I wasn’t going to,” I lied.
Releasing me, he turned. The unfeeling mask was no longer on his face, which was reassuring.
“Why would I be here, buying a bunch of kid’s toys, if I was going on a date?”
I glanced at the cart. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s a single dad.”
“I know you’re an artist, but your imagination needs some brakes. There’s a toy drive where I volunteer. I’m going there tonight to serve dinner.”
“Oh. Another team thing?”
“No, just me. And you, if you’re still into it.”
“Yeah.”
“Really?” He looked genuinely surprised by my response.
“You don’t think I’m capable of volunteering for the less fortunate?”
“I didn’t say that.”
With a glare meant to show my offense, I marched ahead and started adding more things to the cart. It was for charity, and if he minded how much it was all gonna cost, he didn’t say it.
“Why’d you give me the silent treatment?” I asked.
“Know how parents teach babies to self soothe so they learn to work through their unruly emotions all on their own?”
I had no idea how to respond to that, so I chose not to. It was worse that his little stunt had somehow worked.
