"I was wondering," he starts, and I'm instantly rapt and staring at his mouth again. He never wonders out loud. "Did you always want to be a librarian? You read a lot as a kid, right?"
"I did, like so much. And while my librarian was my best friend when I was between the ages of eight and twelve, no. I wanted to be a marine biologist." I giggle, popping some beef into my mouth. "It's funny now--. I'm terrified of open water, and I'm downright phobic about sharks."
He laughs at that. Like for real laughs. I want more, so I launch into a story in the hopes I'll be rewarded.
"Like I'm so scared of sharks that I was playing this video game--"
"You play video games?"
"I do. I'm terrible at them but that's why easy mode exists. Anyway, so my quest is to dive into this underwater grotto and get something, but there are sharks down there, and in the game, you can't use a weapon underwater-- … you have to punch the sharks.Punch them. With your hands.Which, of course, I'm like absolutely not. So I get my bow and arrow and climb out on this branch--mind you I am way out of range to hit any of them." He's laughing at regular intervals, and I bask in the sound. "So for like twenty minutes I'm sweating trying to shoot those assholes, getting like two of them before I finally give up. I have to just do it. So I dive in. Start swimming for them, pumping myself up, because I'm about to fist fight several sharks. And like the second they see me they're charging me and that's it--. I lose it. I'm screaming and mashing the buttons and punching them and there's blood in the water but I don't know if it's theirs or mine and my life flashes before my eyes until finally, mercifully, they go limp and start to float to the surface and I swear to God, Grey--I have never been so scared in my life."
We're both giggling like idiots for several minutes before I sober, pausing.
"Do you think fish know they're wet?"
A big, deep belly laugh bursts out of him, and he can't stop, and then I can't either. He's just sitting there on my couch with his lo mien in one hand and his chopsticks in the other, forearms resting on his spread thighs, his smile big and perfect and blinding. I want to see it every day. Bonus points if I get to put it there.
When we've settled down enough and Grey is wiping his eyes, I dig back into my dinner, but my chopsticks won't work. Frowning, I inspect them. "I think they're broken. Why are my fingers so long? Have they always been this long?" And then it dawns on me. My gaze snaps up to Grey's, face split in a grin. "Wait! Am I high?"
"Yeah, peaches--. Pretty sure we both are."
I wonder then if I'm going to make some bad decisions.
I kind of hope I do.
CHAPTER 15
COME AGAIN?
GREY
Ihaven't stopped laughing in an hour.
No amount of crunches could have prepared me for a night sitting around with Molly, high as fuck, while I watch her lose her mind.
Between her questions--Isn't lasagna just spaghetti cake?--to her observations--My tongue is too big for my mouth. I can feel the couch breathing. I think the house plants are judging me. Your eyebrows are yelling!--I cannot keep it together. Like, I have the fucking giggles. At one point, I couldn't breathe. When she took a bite of her egg roll and the contents shot out the back, I almost choked to death.
My face hurts. My chest hurts.
Christ, she's gonna fucking kill me.
She's currently fishing around in the bags for the fortune cookies. "Aha!" She lights up, chucking one at me. My hand pops up to catch it on instinct. I'm almost as surprised as she is. "You are a glorious freak," she says, unwrapping her cookie. "Okay,now this is serious, Grey. Fortune cookies are either dead wrong, or they're on the nose."
I chuckle. "Is that how it works? They're either right or wrong?"
"Yes." The sound wobbles as it rides her giggle. She breaks her cookie and pops half into her mouth, her jaw slowing as she reads. "Welp. What does yours say?"
My skin is all buzzy, but everything else stills.Your future is closer than you think.I'm too stupid right now to think how to play it off, so I say, "You first."
She clears her throat and sits up straight, the color high in her cheeks. "Bad decisions are life's greatest teachers." She tosses it onto the coffee table and eats the other half of her cookie. "Called out like a mofo," she says around the bite just as Scout jumps on the table and shoves her entire head into my box of lo mien.
Molly's on her feet and tries to grab the cat, but Scout takes off, lo mien flying behind her and Molly on her heels scolding her. I shove the fortune into my pocket where she won't see it and pray she forgets. Hers was bad enough. Bad decisions?Teachers?And here I am, Mr. Don't Do It,teachingher shit I have no business teaching her.
I should feel regret. I don't. But I beat myself up all the same in the hopes that maybe I'll find the will to do the right thing and leave her alone.
When she comes back in, she's out of breath. "Foiled again. I'll get her next time." She flops onto the floor where she's been all night, putting the coffee table between us. It's covered in takeout boxes. I imagine sweeping them onto the floor so I can lay her down on it.
She's too young for you. And avirgin. You're not the guy who gets that. Who gets her.
