“True, but since I’ve lived in Chicago for eight years, I consider it partially mine,” Dustin said as we looked at it.
The bean was a giant mirror-coated structure in Grant Park of downtown Chicago.
“Now, it’s obligatory that we take a selfie,” Dustin said, pulling out his phone and wrapping an arm around me.
“I thought you were anti-selfie.”
“Usually I am. But we’ll need this to show the grandchildren someday,” he winked.
I shot him a confused look, and he snapped the picture anyway.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” he said as he pulled up the picture. “Your confused face is my favorite.”
“You’re weird,” I laughed.
“You’re just figuring that out now?”
It was late Monday morning, so the crowds were gracefully thin. We went ice-skating at a public park, then got some hot chocolate and walked along the shore of Lake Michigan.
“So ... about last night,” I started to say. We hadn’t really addressed everything that happened.
“I was into it,” he said, sipping the hot chocolate. “Were you?”
“Into what?”
“The bunny stuff. I think we should try that again. Maybe I can play along too. I’ll put on a big bad wolf costume.”
I sighed. “Not that. I just wanted to say, I’m glad we cleared things up. I’m sorry for automatically assuming you were ready to have some other girl over.”
He gave me a kiss. “Thanks, babe. That means a lot. Like I said, I take this temporary arrangement very seriously.” A cool breeze blew off the lake and into our faces. The hot chocolate was hitting the spot.
“You keep saying that. I do want to know about this mysterious girl she mentioned, though.”
“Which girl?”
“The girl Jenny mentioned who stole your heart. Who is this girl? I’m not really jealous, just curious,” I said, trying to deny the fact that I could feel jealousy bubbling up in me.
“It’s ... a long story,” he shrugged. “I was younger when I knew her. Cupid’s arrow hits you harder when you’re younger. I really did like this girl ... but it was just a silly crush. I think I just didn’t get over it because she ghosted me.”
“That doesn’t happen a lot to you, I’m guessing?”
He shook his head. “But it wasn’t just that. It was ... a lot of things. Look, it was almost ten years ago. Jenny only remembers it because I was in college with her and I got drunk one night and ranted to her about it.”
“So you’ve known Jenny a while?”
“Like I said, we went to OSU together. She’s a good person. She’s out there, of course, like me. Which is why we were good friends.”
“And you dated?”
“Using the term ‘dating’ loosely.”
“She said you ‘dated,’” I made quotations, “so that you could get over this alleged girl you were with?”
We came to a portion of the pedestrian walkway along the lake where it was blocked off.
“All done,” he said, bringing his hot chocolate paper cup in a nearby trash can. “I’ll call us a ride home from here.”
I scoffed as he whipped out his phone. “So ... are we done with this conversation too then?”
