Page 59 of Let's Talk About Love
“Ew.” She let him pull her to her feet. “Exercise isn’t compatible with my lifestyle and it’s super dark outside.”
“There’s a park around the corner. I go there all the time when I can’t sleep.”
After a bit more whining (Alice) and negotiating (Takumi), they settled on a deal. He would make her a chocolate mug cake when they got back. He was a fast learner—bribe her with good food and she’d do just about anything.
NorCal summer nights were some of the best Alice had ever experienced. A dark sky, wisps of gray clouds, a bright moon, and a surprisingly warm breeze—she wished night could always be like this. They walked together, silent but comfortable, toward the park and pond only a few minutes away from his apartment.
“Do you know how to skip rocks?” he asked when they reached the edge of the pond.
She shook her head. “But I don’t want to disrupt the wildlife.”
(Her phone began to ring.)
A pair of sleeping swans huddled together in a grouping of reeds. She couldn’t remember if geese or swans were the hostile ones. Maybe it was both. Either way, she didn’t feel like being chased, tripping, falling, and getting pecked to death. When she told him that, he laughed.
“As long as you don’t throw the rocks directly at them, it’ll be fine,” he said, but kept walking.
(Her phone rang again.)
Takumi tilted his head back, exposing his Adam’s apple. “You can answer. I don’t mind.”
“It’s just my brother,” she said. “I might have a slight habit of hiding from my problems.”
“Ever so slight,” he said, eyeing her.
“I’d put my phone on silent, but I’m paranoid about missing something important.”
“How do you know he’s not calling about something important now?”
“Because he isn’t,” she said. “My mom is, uh, being kind of overbearing about school right now and she’s recruited my siblings for reinforcements.”
“How many do you have?”
“Just a brother and a sister. I’m the baby by about two decades.” She laughed, and explained the problem.
“That sounds rough. I wish I could help.”
“Can I ask—” His sharp glare made her laugh. “Sorry. Habit. How did you decide to be a teacher?”
“It’s because of my nieces. I didn’t realize how much I liked being around kids until I started spending time with them regularly. My brother couldn’t believe I was able to teach Mayumi how to read when she was three. Megumi still isn’t that into books, but she loves music. I’m thinking about signing her up for piano lessons.”
Alice frowned. “Okay, but how did you get from that to teaching?”
“Because being a teacher seemed like the easier path than taking my would-be business administration degree and trying to find any job that would take me.”
She snorted. “I almost declared business. My mom wouldn’t have it, too vague, so we settled on temporarily undeclared as a compromise.”
(ADAM. STOP CALLING.)
Alice slumped forward, throwing her head back and dragging her feet.
“There, there.” Takumi rubbed her back.
“Do you ever feel like everything terrible always happens at once? It can’t just be one hard thing—ohno, the universe or God or fate or whoever points at you, and says, ‘YOU WILL HAVE ALL OF THE PROBLEMS. ALL OF THEM. RIGHT NOW.’ And then just drops an existential crisis on your head for funsies.”
“It doesn’t seem that bad?”
“It feels like it and I’mlucky. I have the uncanny ability to literally push all my responsibilities to the corner of my mind and pretend like they don’t exist. Alice Bubble is a Thing.” She stood up straight. “But this time, people won’t freaking let me. Every time I check my e-mail there’s like ten messages from my brother. My sister texts me every morning at 5:45—like she wakes up and her first thought is to torment me. Oh, and my mom is the worst of all. She doesn’t even use words anymore. Emojis are her new best friends.”
