Page 49 of Let's Talk About Love
She kept one hand under the fork to keep syrup from dripping onto his blanket. “Open up.”
“Wow.” He smiled with his mouth closed as he chewed. “That is really sweet.”
“The proper term isa tiny taste of triangular heaven.”
“If you say so.” He wiped his hands on a napkin and pulled out his phone. “How about some music?”
“Can I pick?”
“No,” he said, and laughed. “It’s my turn. Your basement musical selections, while interesting, have not really been for me.”
“Are those your nieces?” she asked, after seeing his lock screen. In the picture, he stood in a doorway with one girl on each hip. Someone else stood behind him, but only the top part of her face was visible above his shoulder.
“That was on their second birthday. They’re not even my kids, but they’re two of the best things to ever happen to me.”
Soft instrumental music began to play. She didn’t recognize the song, but knew jazz when she heard it.
“I’m going to be an aunt soon. Any tips?”
“Not really. I didn’t spend any time with my nieces when they were first born. Ask me again in a few years.”
“Really? That’s surprising.”
“It’s not that I didn’t like them or anything. I loved them before they were born, but I was scared.” Takumi closed the lid on his empty take-out box and moved closer to Alice. “They were born a month early so they were really small. Multiple-birth babies usually are, I think, but this was extreme. I had never seen a baby that tiny before. They had to stay in the NICU, but we were allowed to visit them, and I remember being terrified that if I held them, I’d do something wrong. So I didn’t and I might have developed a slight phobia. Winter break ended two weeks later and I had to go back to school.”
“But you got over it?”
“Eventually. My college was about four hours away. I only visited during holidays and maybe one weekend a month. I almost never saw them in person, but I Skyped with my brother a lot, so they got used to seeing me. On that day,” he said, tapping the screen on his phone, “as soon as I walked through the door, Mayumi spotted me. She got up andran—I didn’t even know they were walking yet, and she ran straight for me. I reached down, picked her up, and she hugged me. Megumi wasn’t far behind, so I picked her up, too. My brother took the picture.” He held up his phone to show her his lock screen again. “Anyway, I have a question for you.”
“I might have an answer.”
“Do you like me, Alice?”
Her heartbeat began to echo in her ears. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
“No.” He tore at the grass, pinching the blades between his fingers. “I mean, really like me. I know you’re attracted to me.”
“Is that a fact?” She leaned away.
“You’re not exactly subtle about it.”
Well.That wasn’t embarrassingat all. She made a mental note to work on her poker face.
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He grinned, but was also wringing his hands. “But that’s not all it is, right? You like me as a person, too?”
It took everything Alice had to not laugh at the universe’s perverse sense of humor. Her Personal Living God of Confusing Attraction, Takumi, wanted to know if she, Asexual Alice, liked him as a person.
Takumi covered both his eyes with one hand, tucking his chin into his chest. He murmured his next words so low, she almost didn’t hear him. Her pulse twitched in surprise, suddenly surging like a river flow. There was no way he had just said what she thought he’d said. It was a brief delusion created in Alice’s mind and projected onto him.
“Is it okay to say that?”
“Say what?” she whispered.
“That I like you,” he whispered back. “Everything you do and say is so endearing, and it’s ridiculous because I can’t stop thinkingI need this person in my life. I need to be near you. If I could stand close enough to you, maybe I could absorb some of your shine.”
“You are the most adorable parasite ever,” she said, hoping this wasn’t a delusion. Life could be cruel. But it could also be wonderful.
