Page 103 of Flirtasaurus
“You two close now?”
“No. Yes. Well, we were. Until I fucked it up.”
“Somehow, I don’t believe that.”
“What?”
“That you fucked things up.”
“Why not?”
“I just can’t imagine you fucking up any relationship. You’re like the sweetest, most thoughtful guy I’ve ever met.”
“Well. I’m not so sure Lou would agree with you.”
“Who’s Lou?”
“Louise. My sister.”
“Oh.”
I peek up at his face, and he’s staring up at the ceiling.
“Anyway, she’s in California, so distance is also a thing. And she’s pretty wrapped up in school stuff, as she should be, so I try not to bug her too much. She’s studying to be a marine biologist.”
He’s giving off proud big brother vibes now, and it’s just a little bit adorable.
“Sibling scientists, huh?”
“Ha. Yeah.”
“Your mom must be psyched!”
“You’d think, right?”
“No?”
“Is she proud? Probably. But I think her disappointment that we both moved so far away from her sort of outweighs the potential pride. We come from this tiny town in Nebraska, where no one ever leaves, and if they do, they always come back when they’re ready to settle down and raise their kids. So Louise and I certainly aren’t the norm. I think it’s pretty telling, though, that we both chose professions that take us as far away from our landlocked little lives as possible. Easy to feel trapped there. But even more so in that house. Louise chose the ocean. I chose actual outer space.
Seriously, I used to lie in my bed at night, listening to them yell downstairs, and I’d just stare at my glow in the dark ceiling stickers, praying for the day I could get away by literally rocketing myself to the moon.”
“You’re so…”
“What?”
“Open.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“No. You are.
“Open about what, though?”
“Everything! I’m not used to that in guys. Not in the ones I’ve dated and certainly not from the ones in my family. I’ll be the first one to smack a bitch for perpetuating stereotypes, but the emotionally repressed Irish Catholic dude thing, at least in my experience, holds pretty true.”
“Your father. Are you serious? You’d callthatman repressed?”
“He likes to shock people. But try to have a heart-to-heart with him, and you’ll be sorely disappointed.”
