Page 85 of Isn't It Obvious?
“You are completely right. And I tell people I’m not into masochism,” she says.
Ravi arrives.
Raking his rain-curled hair off his forehead, his eyes immediately find Yael’s. His dark circles are pronounced, his stubble scruffy. For a beat, she isn’t sure if he’s happy to see her. But when she smiles at him, his lips twitch before he smiles back, and it softens his entire face. He looks at her like…
“Oh,” Gina says.
“Gina—”
“I’m leaving now,” she says, and rushes past Ravi with a simple nod.
He takes a small eternity to reach Yael, and when he does, her stomach clenches. Up close, his face is mostly taken with naked want. But there’s anguish there, too—another entry for her series, and she doesn’t like the direction it’s gone. “Hey,” he says.
“If you keep looking at me like this,” Yael says, “the students are going to suspect something.”
Ravi laughs, but it sounds tired. “I’ll try not to look at you, then.”
“Is everything okay with your family?”
Ravi half shrugs, shakes his head. “I’m… dealing with it.”
She peers over his shoulder—Zoe and JQ are early. “Come find me after?”
He nods, face suddenly solemn. “I’ll set up the chairs,” he says.
On second thought, Yael hates the way this lace chafes against her skin.
INYAEL’S PRESENCE,it’s easy to forget everything else. Or, maybe, it’s tempting to pretend.
Ravi spends book club waiting to talk to her privately, tugged between eager anticipation and dread.
But as the students leave, he finds Leo first.
“Hey, Ravi,” Leo says.
“I want to apologize. I spoke more harshly to you last week than I should have.”
“Oh,” Leo says. “I didn’t think you were harsh.”
Ravi feels his shoulders relax. “That’s good. I still think I could have said things better, though, so I’m sorry.”
“I told Alex I didn’t want to get back with him. I thought about it, and you were right.”
Ravi nods and presses his lips together, wanting to hide his relief.
“But I… I still think I want to tell my parents. I’m ready.”
Leo looks at him hopefully, like he wants some assurance that Ravi can’t give. “I hope it goes well,” he says. “You have my number—and Ms. Koenig’s—if you need anything.”
“Okay,” Leo says, and Ravi can tell it wasn’t quite what he wanted to hear. But he accepts it, anyway, and tells Ravi he’ll see him Thursday, before jogging toward the door.
Ravi finishes resetting the chairs, and Yael appears as he slots the last one into place. Her hair is pulled back from her face today, sitting atop her head in a cloud of curls, her braid tucked behind her ear. Instinctively, he takes a half step toward her. To do what? Pull her to him? Kiss her?
“I still have the apartment to myself,” Yael says.
Ravi wishes that he’d come up with a plan this past weekend. But he hadn’t, and he realizes now that it’s because he didn’t want to need one. That he wanted to suspend time and make good on his promise to see her again without ever dealing with the rest of it, as though that wouldn’t be unbelievably cruel. To her, and to him. “I can’t tonight,” he finds himself saying.
He watches Yael’s face start to crumple before she turns away. “Right, the family stuff. I’m sorry—”
