Page 17 of The Keeper
“Did you guys just make out in the bed of his truck the whole day? How do you not know any of those things? It’s like, First Date 101. You get his last name to stalk him online. You get his age to make sure he isn’t old enough to be a SugarDaddy. And you find out where he works so you know he isn’t a mooch who wants a SugarMama. You don’t know anything about him!”
“Hi pot, I’m kettle. Lets turn this around for a second and ask which one of us is more at risk here by not knowing this information after meeting a guy. Me, who goes on a date with the guy? Or you, who goes down on the guy?”
“Hey!” Charlie’s face isn’t pleased, but I can tell she isn’t mad about what I said, just the fact that I won the points from that argument.
“You don’t get to make a bunch of judgments because I didn’t get the information you suddenly think is important. He knows Jeremy. The likelihood of Mack having a sordid past of looting gas stations is fairly low. ”
She glares at me. I throw my hands up in the air in resignation and frustration.
“We just had a fun day! We played mini-golf and raced go-karts and ate In-N-Out. I met his sister and his niece.” I pause to think if I picked up any other tidbits. “He grew up in Indiana.” I add.
“He must be one amazing make-out buddy for you to get all googley over him when you don’t know any of the things thatyouusually want to know about a guy.”
“I’m not allgoogleyover him. And we haven’t even kissed yet,” I retort, then avoid her wide eyes and walk into the kitchen to grab a water.
“Excuseme?” I hear the slaps of her footsteps on the floor behind me, which is actually really impressive, considering it’s carpet. “You came in here twenty minutes ago practically shitting butterflies and unicorns and marshmallows.” I roll my eyes again – apparently, I do that a lot. “And you haven’t evenkissedyet?”
“What do you want me to say, Charlie? First, you’re upset that I didn’t get to know more information. And now, you’re upset because I didn’t get physical enough? Make up your mind.”
“I want you to tell me what happened today,” she replies. “How can you get through,” she glances at her phone, “almost four hours of a date without touching on the fundamentals?”
I slap my hand on the counter in frustration.
“Why does this feel like a fight? I justlikehim. We had a great time. I laughed really hard.Helaughed really hard. We were just silly and had fun and the conversation was easy. He makes me feel like…” I sigh. “He makes me feel like I’m not broken.”
Her face falls, and I think it’s at that moment she realizes she may have pushed too far in regards to the first guy I’ve really gushed to her about.
“That’s because you’renotbroken.”
She walks towards me and wraps her arms around my shoulders, linking her fingers behind my neck and keeping me at arms-length so she can look at my face.
“You can’t let what a handful of people have said in your past impact your ability to have a relationship now. You’renotbroken, Rachel. Carter cheating on you doesn’t makeyoubroken. Your dad being a completely useless bag of shit and pouring that out on his kids doesn’t makeyoubroken. It makesthembroken.”
I’ve never been comfortable with these kinds of conversations. I feel awkward. Like I’m begging for compliments.
“Thanks Charlie,” I say, kissing her on the cheek. “I’m gonna go study for my test.”
She squeezes my shoulders, then lets her arms fall. She knows me. She knows I need to be by myself after any mention of Carter. Or my dad. Definitely when both are mentioned at once.
“I’m heading out tonight,” she says to my back as I begin climbing the stairs to my room. “You wanna skip studying and join me? Richie and Corbin will be there.” Richie and Corbin lived next door to us freshman year. Charlie is much closer with them than I am, but I would still consider them to be two of my closest friends.
“Nah. I’ve gotta get this grade up or I won’t be able to keep my scholarship next semester,” I reply, turning to give her a smile. “But have fun. And tell the guys I miss them.”
And with that, I close myself into my room and crack my textbook, even though I know I won’t retain anything I’m about to read.
* * * * *
Beeping from my phone at nearly 10pm draws my eyes from my notes. My face breaks into a smile when I see a text from Mack.
Mack: I’m daydreaming about that burger
Me: You should be. In-N-Out burgers are the tits
Mack: Did you just say tits?
Me: You know you can still see the message on your phone after you’ve read it, right? It’s not like it disappears
Mack: Nope. Not on my phone. The minute you read something it goes away. Into the void of messaging
