Page 91 of Mr. Picture Perfect
A nemesis without a name.
And whatever peace we had here at the pool table has now been invaded by unwanted thoughts, fears, and insecurities. All I can see now is a bar full of people who are only partially minding their own business. Several eyes keep flicking our way. Eyes with questions and curiosities. Eyes that probably skimmed the words I wrote and drooled over the photos I took of this beautiful, perfect man standing next to me.
Photos that apparently suck.
“They don’t suck,” Cole says later on when we’ve had enough gaming (or rather: when he’s finally tired of losing). We meander down the streets, languidly making our way back to the movie theater parking lot where he left his car. “I was so impressed with how you captured me in those photos. All three of us. Hell, you even managed to somehow make Anthony look halfway hot.”
“He’s got a nice face,” I point out.
“When he isn’t talking,” Cole finishes for me, and I chuckle. He goes to put his arm around me, a totally natural instinct I might even have not fought off, then thinks the better of it and thrusts his hands into his pockets instead. “Honestly, I would’ve just told those people at the bar the truth, if it weren’t for—”
“We can’t,” I remind him.
“That guy’s gonna go to sleep tonight convinced he’s wrong when he actually hit the nail straight on the boyfriend-head.”
His word choice stuns me. I bite my lip in thought, not daring to ask. After a few more paces, I crack: “Is … Is that what we are?”
He glances at me. “What?”
“Boyfriends …?”
“Oh.” He peers down at the ground as we walk. “Are we?”
“I’m not sure. It feels soon.”
“Of course. It’s very soon. I didn’t mean to, uh …”
“No, it’s okay,” I assure him. “You said nothing wrong.”
“In my head, thispassionate chemistrybetween us … it’s been going on far longer than just a few days.”
“Passionate chemistry…” I echo mockingly, amused.
“What? It feels pretty dangpassionateto me.”
“I have nothing to compare this to. I don’t know if it’s fast or slow or anything at all.” I shrug. “Guess it’s justourspeed.”
He smiles appreciatively at me, coming to a stop. “Our speed.”
I gaze back at him, full of thoughts.
Boyfriends… Is that what we are already? Does it happen that soon? Is there a time that’s right and a time that’s wrong? Should we hold a meeting and discuss it?
It’s at the three-way intersection where Main Street ends at the front of Spruce Cinema 5 where we have come to a stop. The building still appears dark and without power, which is surprising, unless the general manager decided the electricity issue was a lost cause and closed down. The parking lot is dark, too, with just a pair of vehicles occupying it, one of which is Cole’s.
“Don’t worry,” he says quietly. “I’m right by you.”
I give him a look. “I’m not ababywho needs his hand held in the dark. I just get a little anxious is all.” I straighten my back as if to show how big and unafraid I am. “It’s a normal human reaction. A survival instinct. Our ancestors probably depended on it every night of their lives when the world turned unexplainably dark and creatures came out of the woods to hunt them in their camps.”
“You’ve given this a lot of thought,” notes Cole with a smile. “I didn’t mean to make fun. You know I’ve got … my own thing.”
He can’t even say the word. He doesn’t need to. I face him and nod understandingly.
He shuffles his feet and keeps his smile on. “You’re probably super sad we didn’t get to see how the movie ends. I bet it’s been eating at you all night and you’ve not said anything.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Just a hunch. So far, none of my hunches have been wrong about you.” He smiles dreamily, then turns to me. “Do you think they fall in love? The hard-headed paladin and the cute sorcerer dude? Do you think they end up together, despite it all?”
