Page 29 of Who's Playing You
Who knew that I’d enjoy drawing and painting? Certainly not me.
Wait til I told my mother about this. Just one more thing for my mom to be proud of. Baby boy was talented in more ways than one, turns out. A regular old Picasso.
I had tried to take Scottie to dinner after we packed everything up and hiked back to the cars. After we loaded her car up, it was almost six o’clock and I was fucking starving. Besides the couple of snacks she’d brought, she hadn’t eaten anything.
Which concerned me greatly.
What concerned me the most was that it didn’t seem to bother her, like this was a normal thing for her.
Well, that shit was about to change, and right quick. My girl wasn’t going to be doing something harmful to her body like skipping meals. That was ridiculous. Just because she hadn’thad anyone up until this point to take care of her, it didn’t make it an excuse going forward.
So once I closed her trunk, I had started in on taking her to dinner. I had to rein myself in because I desperately wanted to invite her back to my house, where I could cook for her. But I knew I had to wait for at least another outing or two before I pulled that.
So when I suggested a restaurant or two in town, she kind of looked away and chewed her lip. She didn’t immediately say no, but she also didn’t say yes.
I realized that she needed to get to know me a little more and admittedly, dinner was very intimate. So I had pivoted.
I had suggested we go to Vassar the next day, if she were free to do so of course. Her face had lit up when I suggested it and that calmed my nerves.
So here I was the next morning, after that beautiful and life-altering day that she and I had spent up on that mountainside painting - and I was about to see her again.
I was going to make sure that I’d spend the entire day with her, so I not-so-subtly suggested that I’d pick her up this morning and we’d make a day of it. Once she was in my car, she was literally mine.
Well, I didn’t fully tell her we’d make a day of it. But after I got home last night, I dissected every square inch of the Vassar campus as well as their little museum. I then expanded my research to all of Poughkeepsie.
Believe you me, I had plenty for us to do for a whole day.
I was standing in my bathroom, looking in the mirror while fixing my hair, moments away from leaving to go pick Scottie up when my phone began to vibrate with incoming texts on the vanity.
When I got home last night, I’d turned my phone back on, but I’d ignored every incoming message and turned the phone to“Do Not Disturb” for the night. I knew it pissed Loving off when I put that DND on and that he’d be chomping at the bit to get a hold of me.
When I glanced down at the screen, speak of the devil.
Trickie Nickies
The Love Machine:
Bob? Yo, Bob?
What the fuck was he up to now. I couldn’t wait and watch this unfold.
The Love Machine:
Come on, Bob, where are you?
The Holy One:
Paging Dr. Ross, Dr. Ross to the text thread. STAT.
The Love Machine:
Bob, blink twice if you need help.
I couldn’t help it any more.
Ok, I bite. Who’s Bob? What are you two dickwads up to?
The Love Machine:
