He looked a little worried. “Do what?”
She practiced it in her head a few times before she actually said it. “Fuck!” That was surprisingly liberating. “Fuck! There. I said it. Not so bad. Fuck!”
“Something is not right with you.”
“I can’t believe I said it. But I’m in Vegas! Fuck! Fuck it. What a cool word. I see why you like it so much. I think I’m gonna play around with it a bit…like…like all Mafia. What the fuck, Luigi?”
He shook his head. “You’re disturbed.”
“And like a stoner. Fuuuuck, dude. Old English. Well, Basil, I believe this tea is fucking shite. Or…” Her eyes widened when the idea struck her. “Or like Snoop Dogg. Foshizzle mynizzle, motherfucker. I think cursing suits me, Kevin. It goes very nicely with my rapper shlong.”
“Rappers would never use the word shlong.”
She ignored that statement. What did he know about rappers? “Okay, give me something. I can do it. Throw any cuss word at me.”
He was fairly amused. “Shit.”
“Pffft! That’s not even a challenge. Shit. Fuck that shit. Did you see what I did there? Combo cuss. You can’t touch this.”
“All right. Bitch.”
“Bitch, please. I am on a roll today.”
A small smile flickered on his face, but didn’t quite materialize. “Cock.”
“I can…” She gave an exaggerated snort. “I can say that. Of course I can…say…that. C—” She cleared her throat. “C…co…I mean, it’s so easy. Co…cock.” Her face scrunched, because the word actually tasted bitter. “See? C-cock.” She smiled at him then. “Cock. There you go. Now you do something crazy.”
“You’re crazy enough for the both of us.”
“Aw, c’mon. Lighten up! We’re in Vegas.”
“I know, Jazz. I couldn’t possibly forget. You remind me every five seconds.”
She reached into her knapsack, took out her cellphone and tapped the icon for the camera. “For real. Just do something out of your comfort zone.”
His shoulders slumped. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. Something crazy. Something you wouldn’t ordinarily do. Oh! I know. You could smile. Huh? Wouldn’t that just be insane? Show off your cute little dimples. Or…better yet, you can pretend that you’re actually having a good time. What a stretch of the imagination, Kevin.”
Despite the fact that his face had hardened with irritability, he rose to the challenge. “Okay. Something crazy?”
“Yeah.”
“You want some jazz hands and shit?”
“Would you do that? That would be amazing.” She moved to stand next to him, lifting her phone to take a picture of the two of them. She wanted proof of this. “Go all out.”
She couldn’t take the picture just yet, because he was busy prepping himself for it.
“I’m gonna do it,” he said, bouncing on his toes like a boxer before a match. He even snapped his neck from left to right, loosening himself up for this moment.
He had a playful side and she kinda liked it. She was glad she’d decided to do this. He was cute when he let his guard down a bit.
He smiled, flashing those dimples and her anticipation built. “Okay,” he said. “I’m ready. Are you ready?”
“I’m so ready!”
“Good.” His smile disappeared. “Take the picture.” He cupped her face with both hands and before she even had a chance to think, his lips were on hers.
