Alex:I don't want to talk about the twinthing,okay?
Riley:Sure. But hurry up and get to the lame part,wouldyou?
Alex:That's it. I loved Dorothy because she ran away from home and started over somewhere new and wonderful, and she did it in kickassshoes.
Riley:Still waiting for this to get lame. Are you sure you're not interested in some Yellow Brick Roadgroupsex?
Alex:Sorry. No polyamorous or furryinterests.
Riley:Hmmm.
Alex:What?
Riley:Can't decide whether I'm disappointed orrelieved.
Alex:Okay, spill it. I want to hear about your far strangerexperiences.
Riley:I knew a chick. She kept adungeon.
Alex:Adungeon?
Riley:Yeah. I'd go on but you've had alongweek.
Alex:Not too long that I don't want to hear about a fuckingdungeon.
Riley:I've already won the weird game. Must save the dungeon for anothernight.
Riley:And…common misconception…dungeons are not always forfucking.
Alex:Whoa. I did notknowthat.
Riley:Yeah, true story.Goodnight.
Iflopped backagainst the mattress and stared at the ceiling. My phone went on humming with the arrival of new messages, and a huge part of me—thesomeonepart—wanted to respond. I wanted to talk with Alex all night, and that was why Icouldn't.
Notyet.
ChapterEleven
Riley
All conversation stoppedwhen I stepped into the attic conference room on Monday morning. I was arriving a couple of minutes past seven thirty, but I didn't imagine that level of tardiness required silence and six pairs of eyes glaringatme.
"Hey," I said, holding up the bag of tacos I'd procured for Shannon. "The taco truck had some generator issues this morning." I gestured to the gear grease on my trousers, hoping it served as adequate evidence of my delay. Of course I jumped in there and fixed the thing. It wasn't like I could show upwithoutfood for the mother-to-be. Nowthatwas grounds for some glaring. "Sorry, guys. We can getstarted."
My ass hadn't hit the seat before Shannon chirped, "Let's hear about the cocktail party first. The work cocktail party. The one you attended with awoman."
Ah.Fuck.
I snatched the bag away from her. "No tacos for you," I said. "Interrogators don't gettacos."
I should've expected this. I really should have. My siblings were creatures of many habits, and our favorite habit was pouncing whenever someone had a new relationship. That would've been peachy and keen if I hadn't historically been the one to initiate the pouncing, and thus was due for an inspection that redefinedthorough.
I probably would've expected it if I'd slotted my relationship with Alex into theRealandNot Temporarycategories.
"I can wait," Shannonreplied.
"I doubt that," I said. With my messenger bag on my lap, I sifted through the contents as if I had the entire Library of Congress stored in there and where oh where could my laptop be? "I'm starting to miss the days when you and Erin didn't talk about everything.Orever."
