Page 102 of Sharkbait
“Like a grandfather clock but all about bugs? Each hour it chimes with a different bug sound. Cicadas are at seven. Crickets at eight. Mabel loves it. I’m learning to tolerate it.”
“Ah,” he says and shifts from foot to foot.
“If you really want your ears to bleed,” I joke, “then stick around until midnight. That’s when a swarm of bees sounds. It damn near jolts me out of bed every night.” I pause when he doesn’t respond. “Not that you need to stay until midnight. Clearly, we’ve been set up, so you can totally go if you want to.”
“Why would I want to go?” he says softly.
Is it possible that James is nervous?
Doubtful. He told me he was nervous the night we met, and that’s what made him talk nonstop.
But he’s not talking nonstop now.
He’s barely saying a word.
“For the record, I had nothing to do with this,” James finally says.
“Nothing?” I ask.
“I mean, Wally said we were coming here, and I knew I’d see you, but I didn’t anticipate they’d ditch us the way they did.”
“Me neither,” I say. “But can I tell you a secret?”
“Of course.”
“I’m not mad about it.”
He smiles for the first time since he walked in.
“Neither am I.”
He peeks at the little spread Mabel prepared for us on the coffee table.
“Take off your shoes and come on in, then. Relax. Have a seat.”
Look at me hosting all of a sudden.
He slips off his sneakers and follows me into the living room.
“Is that a VCR?” he asks as he sits down on the floral couch.
“It is. If you haven’t noticed, Mabel is pretty old school. Most of the stuff in our apartment are hand-me-downs from her parents. Oh and look, she left us some VHS tapes for our viewing pleasure tonight.”
“Alright, what do we got?” James shoots some popcorn into his mouth and sinks back into the cushions.
He finally seems to be relaxing a bit.
I have to laugh when I see the many choices she curated for us and the obvious thread that connects them all.
I hold the tapes up one by one.
“We have…10,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Dolphin Tale, Jaws, Splash,andFree Willy 1, 2,and3.”
“She’s a thoughtful friend, isn’t she?” James says.
“I don’t necessarily need to watch marine biology-inspired films in my free time, but yes. Mabel is a wonderful friend. “So.” I wiggle the tapes in his direction. “What’ll it be?”
“Oh,Splash, hands down.”
