“One? You’ve said one truthful thing? Wow, Beats, such a good start.” I laughed. “Okay. Let me guess. Was your favorite dog named Bruce?”
“No. I’ve never had a dog. I’ve had other people’s dogs in houses I’ve lived in, but none named Bruce.”
“So why’d you say that?”
He kept his eye on the water, swirling a finger through it. Apparently, he wasn’t going to answer.
“Okay. Can you speak Spanish?”
“No.”
“Are you vegan?”
He smiled. “I lick discarded pizza boxes. I’ll eat anything that doesn’t move, and even a few things that do.”
“I’m just confused as to why you’re lying to me about your life.”
He shrugged. “I thought that’s what you’d want to hear.”
“Lies? That sort of defeats the purpose of getting to knowyou. So, what was the one truthful thing you said?”
“I actually haven’t said it yet,” Beats replied, keeping his gaze lowered.
“You can say it. This is your safe space,” I said, opening my arms to encompass our surroundings.
He looked up. “You hurt my eyes.”
“I what?”
“You hurt my eyes because you’re so pretty. That’s fact.”
His one truth blew me away. And that he’d saved it for me… my heart fluttered.
I wanted so badly to reach over and brush the hair from his eyes, but I didn’t dare. “Really? You think so?”
“Like you don’t already know.”
“I don’t. I think you might have an overinflated idea of me, Beats. I’m not a hot commodity at school. Far from it.”
“Not possible.”
“Uh, very possible.”
He arched his brow. “What kind of freaky institution do you go to?”
“One where the girls are way prettier than me.”
“Impossible.”
“Again, very possible. And they’re mean to me.”
A slow head shake accentuated the furrows in his forehead. “Because they’re jealous. They know you’re someone special. One day, Grace Note, the world will fall at your feet.”
He sounded so sure of his prediction that he almost made me believe.
“I’d settle for one drummer boy.”
Beats’ eyes lingered on me before he dropped his hand into the water, midway between our tubes. An invitation. I reached over and accepted it, our fingers lacing together perfectly.
