“You really haven’t changed. Still daydreaming.”
“No, I guess I haven’t changed much—just enough to decide I’m not going to stay at Nora’s house.”
“And how’d she take that?”
I shrug. “Not well, but it’s not like my relationship with my mom was ever great, right?”
He looks at me quietly.
“What?”
“I was thinking about what you said—about not being popular. Do you really want that, or do you just want it because you think people will like you more if you are?”
“Says the star football player and law student.”
“Wow, looks like our moms kept my file updated over the years.”
“Yeah, she’s really proud of you.”
He shrugs this time. “She’s more like Nora than you’d think. Now answer my question.”
“I don’t want to connect with people just to be popular. That’s not the point. I really want to learn how to make friends.”
“You do know how to make friends. Aren’t you close to the Oviedo girl?”
“Yeah, but just her. I don’t want to be the weird girl. Someday I’ll have kids and they’ll look up to me. I don’t want to raise little humans who don’t know how to socialize.”
“Whoa! Where did that come from?”
“What do you mean?”
“Kids. Raising babies.” His face is pure agony. “You’re two years younger than me, and you’re already thinking about that? We’ve got, like, a whole decade ahead of us!”
I laugh. “There are girls my age who are already single moms, Ben. There’s nothing wrong with thinking about marriage and kids.”
“Tell me about your life right now,” he says, clearly changing the subject to escape the baby talk.
The waiter brings our food, and I watch him in silence for a moment, remembering how he was as a kid.
“You said I haven’t changed, but you have,” I say. “You used to be so shy. Was it football that made you open up?”
“I think the sport helped a lot.”
“With women?” I tease.
“Yeah.”
“What’s with you guys not wanting anything serious? Ethan’s already thirty and still bouncing from girl to girl.”
He doesn’t say anything, so I pretend to scold him.
“Code of silence, huh? Like, don’t say anything that might get you in trouble?”
“Something like that.” He smiles, but then a few seconds later, his face turns serious. “I could change my mind about that.”
“About what?”
“Being with just one person.”
