“I’m not tired anymore.”
“Oh, okay.”
Quiet.
I should hang up, but I want to keep talking to her. “Remember how I said I didn’t want to be your friend?” I ask after a few minutes.
“Yeah?”
“I…I do want that. To be your friend, I mean. I’m sorry I was a jerk to you.”
“It’s okay.”
It’s not, but I don’t want to get into this right now, or ever. I don’t want to talk about my parents’ deaths at all.
“Maybe I can come over after I’m done with the museum,” I find myself saying. “And we can watch that movie together.”
“What? You mean,Pride and Prejudice?”
“Yeah.”
“Um…why?”
“What do you mean?”
She’s quiet for a bit. “There aren’t many guys who’dchooseto watch that movie.”
I shrug. “I’ve never seen it. Read the book for school, but I don’t really remember it.”
“So…you want to watch it? With me?”
I’d be lying if I said I wanted to watch it for the movie and not because of her. As much as I try to pull away from her, I just keep being pushedtoher. It’s like she’s got a huge magnetic charge, yanking me in.
“Yeah, I want to watch it,” I tell her. “Is it really that shocking?”
“Dude, I don’t get you. One bit.”
My mouth opens, then shuts, eyebrows furrow. “What?”
“I just don’t get you. But sure, you can come over. I won’t start without you.”
“I’m not sure how long we’ll be at the museum. Could take the whole day. I’ll text you.”
“Sure. If you don’t have time, we’ll just watch it tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
I can picture her smiling. “Cool. So I’ll see you? Have fun at the museum.”
“Thanks, have fun with your book.”
She laughs. “Oh, you bet I will.”
I wait for her to hang up, but she doesn’t. We sit here for I don’t know how long before I force myself to tell her I’ve got to go and hang up. I remain on my bed, staring at the floor as I think about our conversation. If she’s just a friend, why can’t I stop thinking about her?
Reaching for my sketchpad, I flip to the drawing I finished last night, before I went to bed. Artemis’s smiling face stares up at me. This is my third drawing of her. Why? What does it mean?
“Ryan?” Grandma knocks on my door.
