“Funny…well, not haha funny, but you know what I mean…hearinghow so many friends are losing their folks. I guess I’m one of thelucky ones.”
“I suppose so. But my mama’s still alive and kicking, as youknow.”
“I should…try to get to know her better, I suppose.” She saysregretfully.
“You’re welcome to…if you want.” I shrug.What are we talking about here?
Just asthe conversation starts to get awkward, the nurse comes in to takeGunner down to surgery. Blake joins us in the hallway as we big ourlittle brother adieu for now. “Y’all mind if I head back?” Blakeasks.
I nod.“Sure.” Then I turn to Ellie. “Y’all can head back, too. I’llstay.”
Shewaves. “No, it’s okay. I’ll stay, too.”
“Ell, your house is a mess. And I’m sure you don’t want toleave your sister to tend to all that.”
“It’s fine. My sister’s better at putting crap away than Iam.”
“You don’t have to stay.” I repeat.
“Look, you two figure this out.” Blake says, raising a hand.“Maverick, call me when he’s out.”
“Will do.”
Ellieand I sit in the waiting room, being told nothing about how longthe surgery may take, or what to do. We’re silent for a solid tenminutes before one of us says something.
“You think he’s in trouble?” Ellie asks. “With quittingschool, I mean?”
I shakemy head, sighing, sitting further back in the chair, parting myknees further apart, and resting my elbows on my knees. “I don’tknow. He hasn’t said as much, but Gunner’s a quiet kid, you know.Always been that way.”
“Sloane’s like that, too. And my brothers are quiet. I thinkI’m the only loud one.” She scoffs.
“It suits you.” I lie. That’s my least favorite trait ofhers.
“You hate it. I can tell.”
“Alright, maybe it’s not my favorite thing, but it still suitsyou.”
“Well, like it or not, it’s served me well, being the way thatI am.” She states. “I wouldn’t have what I have if I didn’t assertmyself.”
“I suppose so.”
“Y’all are afraid of me, aren’t you. I make you nervous. Whenwe’re not in bed, that is.”
I lookat her as though through a different set of eyes. “No.”
“You are such a liar.”
“I am not.”
“That’s why I think that we’re so not meant to be together,Maverick. I know that this isn’t the time or the place to tell youthat, but it’s true all the same.”
“You don’t make me nervous at all. You just…you’re a littledramatic for my taste is all.”
“You’re referring to back at my place. The way that I wasacting in the bedroom, right?”
I nod.“Yeah.”
“If y’all knew why I was being dramatic, you’d rethink thatopinion of me.”
