“Anything,” he confirms.
I mull over the possibilities, thinking about what I want. And, as sad as it sounds, I realize all I want is more time.
Time to spend with the people I love.
Time to enjoy my life.
Time to do work.
The issue is, I can’t do the first two without taking care of that last one. A large stretch of time is wasted on my daily commute. With an hour to get to school, and an hour to get back home—I could be spending that doing something else.
“Pick me up from my volunteer shift next Saturday and drop me off back here so I can get some work done?” I ask with a slight hesitation in my voice.
“Volunteering?” His eyes light up in interest.
I nod with a smile. “Evelyn and I do this thing every two weeks where we walk a class of kids through a small science experiment. It ends at around four o’clock, and it takes me a while to get back to the lab on the subway.”
Nate tilts his head to the side, seemingly puzzled. “You could have asked for anything—a trip to the Bahamas, a fancy dinner, a car even—and this is what you land on?”
When I nod a little too enthusiastically, he straightens. “Consider it done,” he says, and I can’t help but feel like I’ve won. “But on one condition. Tell me why it is that—”
Nate doesn’t get the chance to finish his question when an incoming phone call cuts him off.Momis displayed over a picture of him kissing her cheek. Sadness crosses his face, and he stares at the screen in contemplation, but he lets it go to voicemail.
“How come you didn’t answer?” I ask.
He lets out a long sigh, brushing a hand through his hair. “I’ve been avoiding her.”
“Why?” The question comes out with a scoff. It takes me aback completely because there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to be in his place.
“With everything happening in the news, I know she’s going to have her questions. When it comes to love, my mom doesn’t mess around. She’s been trying to set me up with her friends’ daughters for years, and now that I’m supposedly engaged, she’ll want to meet you. I can’t lie to her, Vivienne, and I can’t introduce my family to someone who’s leaving in five months.”
The words sting, but I can’t blame him. The deal between us is temporary, and his family life is permanent. Messing up that dynamic will have lasting consequences for him, especially with how much he seems to care about them.
I close the pastry box and push it his way, but he only slides it back to me.
“They’re yours—keep them. Eat them. Share them with your roommates when you get home. Feed them to the seagulls and rats. It’s up to you.”
I crack a smile, and before I know it, he’s up and standing. He salutes me goodbye, leaving me all alone in this janitor’s closet.
I sink back against the wall with a groan, staring at the closed door.
A strange emptiness settles now that he’s gone when I feel like it shouldn’t. I should be ecstatic, over-the-moon happy that I now have the rest of my day to focus on my chemistry. But I won’t lie, I’d rather be in his proximity than in the lab.
The banter. The flirty remarks. It’s lighthearted and fun. Honestly, I like the way he makes me feel. I’ve been going through the motions of life for so long. He changes it up.
My phone buzzes, and a warmth blooms at the sight of his name.
Nate:Enjoy the rest of the sweets, Wifey.
Nate:I’d like to say they were good, but they don’t compare to you. If on the sweetest scale you’re a ten out of ten, then those cakes were a solid zero.
I roll my eyes at the flirt that he is, but I’m smiling equally as hard.
He’s good at this, I won’t lie. And while I could tell him to stop—to abide by the first rule of our arrangement—I no longer care as much. This is what I needed—easygoing and playful teasing to counteract the negative.
Vivienne:Get lost, Nate.
Nate:The only place I ever get lost is in your eyes.
