Page 55 of Rebound With Me
Vince clears his throat. “I do not—punk.” Now he sounds like The Rock.
Charlie and I laugh, but I feel like crying and I don’t even know why.
* * *
It is difficult to eat when you’re surrounded by so much testosterone. The tacos are, in fact, delicious, and Mr. Devlin’s townhouse is gorgeous. I’m not sure why I’m here tonight and Sharon isn’t, but it’s kind of great being entertained by these four boys. Gabe, Neil and Charlie are having a grand old time telling embarrassing stories about Vince, and it’s so cute.
“When Vinnie was thirteen,” Gabe says, pointing to his brother, “I told him that the magic line for getting into girls’ pants was: ‘I’ve got so much love in me, I just want to put it in you.’ And he said it to this girl after a dance and she busted a gut laughing and ran and told everyone.”
“She didn’t laugh.”
“Well she didn’t let you put it in her!”
“Because I didn’t try—we were thirteen! Shut up.”
“Well, that line works on me every time, lemme tell ya. I am just filled with his love.”
After a beat, Gabe, Neil and Vince burst out laughing, and Charlie laughs too, even though I really hope he doesn’t actually get what we’re talking about.
“Where’d you find this one again?” his dad says to him. “On stage at the Comedy Cellar?”
“Yep, she’ll be there all week.”
“No really, how did you guys meet?”
Ahh, he hasn’t told him. Well, why would he?
“Just in the neighborhood,” Vince says. “I saw her in a store and asked her for a date.”
The PG version. Sounds good to me.
“And you actually said yes?” Gabe asks me, truly disbelieving.
“Eventually,” I say.
I feel Vince’s hand squeeze my thigh. The way he’s looking at me right now, I actually do feel like I’m filled with his love and it makes it even more difficult for me to digest my dinner. Seeing him with his family like this is making feel so stupidly emotional and it’s totally unexpected.
I wipe my fingers on the napkin and clear my throat. “I’ve had too much lemonade. I need to be excused.”
“There is no excuse for you dating my brother,” Gabe says.
“Down that hall first door on your left, hon.”
“Thanks.”
I squeeze Vince’s hand as I get up. His concerned face is forcing me to look away from him, or I’ll just start crying at the table like a freak.
As soon as the bathroom door clicks shut, tears just start squirting out of my eyeballs.What is happening to me?I grab two Kleenexes and press them up against the inner corners of my eyes. Thank God I’m not wearing eye makeup today.
It’s been so much easier for me to throw myself into this rebound/summer fling by categorizing him as the kind of guy I could never really have a long-term relationship with, and right now I’m feeling like I want that and it’s just crazy.
Pull it together, Parks!
You are the boss of you, not your hormones.
If you can’t just enjoy this and have fun in the moment then you don’t even deserve to get schtupped by a hot guy for two months.
He knocks on the door, quietly. “You okay in there?”
