Page 36 of Script Swap
“No, no.I mean, I wish.”
And Idefinitelyhadn’t meant to say that.
Chester’s eyebrows went up.
“Nope.”I shook my head.“Forget I said that.”
Chester took a commiserating drink of his smoothie.
“I mean, if he asked me, would I say yes?Absolutely.One hundred percent.Bobby is my dream man.He’s smart, and he’s funny, and he’s so sweet.Like one time, I was way too tired to reach the cake, so he put it on a plate and brought it to me.”
“You were too tired to reach it?”Chester asked.
I ignored that.“We haven’t talked about it yet.”And I tried to stop myself, I did, but the words kept coming.“We haven’t talked about anything, actually.”
Chester took a few more sips of smoothie.And then he said the words God never intended man to say to man: “Do you want to talk about it?”
I groaned.I slid down in my seat.I might have done a little tantrum-style stomping with my feet.“You too?”
“You realize my dad wanted me to marry you?”
That made me burst out laughing.I dragged myself upright.“I don’t know.We’ve talked about the future.About stuff.Plans.Like, are we going to try to plan a vacation for this year?Where do we want to spend the holidays?But we haven’ttalkedtalked.There have been these—these comments, I guess, when emotions are running high.But those weren’t exactly, um, conversations.”
Chester, bless his little heart, was staring at me.
“They were, um, special adult times,” I clarified.
“Got it.”
“Which isn’t exactly ideal for a conversation.”
“Oh my God, Dash, my dad thought we were amatch.”
Grinning, I said, “We’ve only been dating—God, it hasn’t even been a year.”
Chester’s flat look was not, to put it politely, flattering.
“What?”
“Don’t give me that.You know what you and Bobby have is more serious than that.”
And that was true.At least, I thought it was.But I said, “I think we’re both waiting for things to settle down.There are still a lot of moving pieces, you know?”
Chester’s answering noise was, again, unflattering.“What moving pieces?”
“I don’t know.Maybe I’m not ready to settle down.”
“Two weeks ago, you told me the only way you were leaving Hemlock House was in a body bag, and we were talking about going to the Otter Slide.If you get any more settled, they’re going to put up a headstone.”
“I mean there are a few things that need to change before Bobby and I take the next step.And it’s not Bobby, by the way.He’s perfect, and I love him.Just life stuff.”
“Like?”
Like me, I almost said.
But for once, I stopped myself in time, and I managed a weak, “Just, you know, stuff.”
It would have been bad enough if Chester’s answering gaze had been scornful or contemptuous or even amused.The compassion I saw there, though, was worse.
