Page 102 of Flirtasaurus
“Your point? I’ve been busy! What you just did would be like if I assumed you’d already seenThe Sixth Sense,so I casually dropped the fact that Bruce Willis had been dead the whole movie.”
His entire face falls. “What? Are you serious?”
“OhmyGod, you haven’t seen it?” I feel like a complete asshole.
“Of course I’ve seen it! It’sThe Sixth Sense!”
“Don’t scare me like that, you doof!” I yell and hit him with a nearly flat motel pillow.
We laugh together. He really has the sweetest, most genuine laugh.
When we get quiet, we lock eyes and smile.
Silently, Ralph shuts off his laptop and places it back on the nightstand, then lies back on the bed with one arm behind his head. He reaches his other arm out to me.
“Come here, you,” he says.
I find that there is an offer I can’t refuse.
I nuzzle right into that spot between his shoulder and his heart. His heavy arm drapes across my back, and his fingers start to play with my hair. It makes me want to cry.
“Do I really not ask you questions about yourself?”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not. What you said really hit me. I couldn’t sleep. Think I finally dozed off like an hour or two ago.”
“You sure it wasn’t this luxurious cardboard mattress we’re sleeping on?”
“No, it was definitely you and what you said.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. I think I needed to hear it.”
He continues to play with my hair. I feel goose bumps rush all over my skin.
“I know you may not always feel it, but you’re incredibly lucky to have the family you have.”
“Not what you experienced, huh?”
“Not at all.”
“Can you tell me about it? Your family?”
“Not much to tell,” he teases me.
“What a punk! You tell me I don’t ask questions. Now I am, and you’re—”
“Chill, Callie. I’m messing with you.” He chuckles. “What can I tell you? It… Well… it sucked. I don’t think my dad ever wanted kids. He never seemed into it. I could tell even as a little boy. He just always seemed to be phoning it in, like I was a distraction he’d rather not deal with at that moment. Or any moment, really. I think he mostly went along with starting a family to make my mom happy, which didn’t work. I mean, she loved us, but… that’s another story. Anyway, once my sister came along, things really got bad between them. I remember feeling relieved when they finally got divorced. At least the house got quiet again.”
“Hm. I’m guessing it was good that you and your sister had each other through that, yeah?”
“Sort of. She was just a toddler when they split. But the fun and fighting between good ole maw and paw continues to this day, so she’s certainly experienced her fair share of the dysfunction.”
“Sorry.”
“Eh. It is what it is.”
