He continues. “You pushed aside your own needs to take care of me when I went nearly catatonic back at the house. You told Reggie and Jalen that you would sacrifice your own defense if it meant helping mine without blinking. So, yeah, I stand by my statement. You’re selfless. And quite impressively so.”
My cheeks flame so intensely that I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt the heat from where he sits. I don’t know how to respond, so I keep the game going instead. “How about you? Do you like mushrooms and capers?”
“No, I hate them both. Favorite music?” he asks.
“I like a bit of everything,” I say. “You?”
“Oh, come on, you need to be more specific. What’s your go-to karaoke song?”
I laugh. “Do I strike you as the type of person who does karaoke?”
“I guess not,” he says. “Favorite holiday?”
I huff, because I already know that he won’t like my answer that I don’t have a favorite.
“Favorite Christmas album?” he asks, moving on.
I open my mouth to say Christmas with the Chipmunks but stop when a sly smile quirks his lips. “Nice try. You almost had me there.”
“It was worth a shot.” He shrugs.
“I think you have one more clue if you want to use it. Although I am feeling confident that I’m going to win this one. What was the prize again?”
“You still need to pick one, but I think I’m getting close, so don’t count me out just yet. Oh, and I forgot to ask earlier, but what is your favorite drink?”
“You should already know that one.”
He beams. “Other than the chocolate-covered strawberry latte.”
“Coffee in general, although my regular order is just a mocha latte. If coffee isn’t available, then just plain water.”
“What about soda or tea?”
“I used to be addicted to Dr Pepper in college, but I don’t drink it anymore. You?”
“I am more of a classic Coke guy. What did you study in college?”
“Nursing, but I dropped out before finishing my prerequisites.”
“Why?”
“That’s when my dad died.”
He nods slowly, and before he says the words, I already know he is going to ask me what happened. I’m surprised he’s waited this long, since he was probably curious ever since he read my blog post. Even though it’s painful to speak about the absolute worst day of my life, I find that I want to tell him, so I take a deep breath and begin to explain what happened on the morning of my birthday, March thirteenth, eight years ago.
Chapter thirty-eight
I WASN’T THERE
“WhenIwasinmy sophomore year at college, I was still figuring out the limits of my curse,” I begin, but pause to ask, “You remember me explaining the basics of my curse in the blog post, right?”
“Yes, I think I have a general sense about how you said it works,” he confirms.
“Good. That’ll be helpful for the story. When I was in my sophomore year, I was in my impulsive stage. I was experimenting with the idea of outsmarting the curse somehow, by canceling plans last minute whenever a new opportunity arose, driving around town taking different routes, that kind of stuff.”
He nods that he’s with me, so I continue.
“My brother Scott, my dad, and I had a tradition when we were younger of hunting for secondhand vinyl for my dad’s collection and then celebrating our finds with a big pint of ice cream while we listened to it play. Scott had already moved to New York andhad just met Gabe, so he was too busy to come out that year. I didn’t have any other plans, so I asked my dad if he’d be up for going record hunting with me, for old times’ sake. He had been feeling under the weather but said he would do whatever it took to make it happen. When my birthday came around, though, he asked if we could reschedule. I didn’t question it, because I already knew he was sick, and sometimes he gets sad on my birthday because it’s also the anniversary of my mom’s death.”
