He squints at me before sitting back in her seat, crossing his arms.
“Did you guys fuck or what?”
Sipping my water again, the mouthful of liquid lodges down the wrong pipe, sending me into a choking fit.
“What—no, no, we didn’t!”
I cover my mouth, letting the cough subside.
222
GREATEST PRIZE
“Well,somethinghappened, and now you opened a can of worms.” he looks me up and down.
“Yeah, something happened, but not like that. Take it back about two bases.” I catch my breath, lifting one of my hands, only holding up two fingers.
“Nu-uh, you lie,” he smirks, reaching across the table to smack my shoulder.
“Truth, I swear.” I continue laughing now as a response to his excitement.
“So.. what happened?” he asks, giddy for the story.
I roll my eyes at his childishness.
“I’m not tellingyouabout it, man, c’mon. I just need some advice. Her birthday is coming up, and I need to talk to her about it and not act like it didn’t happen.”
“Advice on what? You got pretty far without me.”
He laughs as he shoots that statement.
“Ha-ha. It’s not like that, Douche Bigalow. She hasn’t said anything since that night,” I exhale, “I don’t know what it means. It’s only been a few days, but I don’t want her going to London without closure.”
“Listen to yourself. It sounds to me like you already have the answer.”
It’s so much more complex than that, Beau.
“Yeah, but what if she disagrees with that? I was thinking about getting her something a little more serious—but then she might think that commitment is too much, too soon. Then what do I do? Because I can’t take no for an answer and let some foreign guy step in and take my chances. The moment could die out…”
Beau begins to laugh and waves his hands at me to tell me to stop yapping.
223
FAKING FOREVER
“Josh, man, if you can change yourself because of some spiritual waves and camping, I’m sure you can find an alternative.
It’s not like you’re marrying her. If she says no, it’s not the end of the world. So what?” he looks at Sierra, who is standing at the counter nearby. “I hate waiting, but eventually, youdoget used to it.”
Since when did he become such a hopeless romantic?
“Just be honest with her. Take her on arealdate. You can’t go wrong with that. And since she nearly lost a limb in the woods, a date might compensate for the lost alone time.”
“You’re probably right about the limb and the date part.”
We both laugh to ourselves, but his laughter is shortened by him being distracted.
“I take it this means you’re not still thinking about Darcy inthatway?” he asks, swirling his straw around in his drink.