Gabby laughs. “I bet she did,” she says, and I wince. I’m pretty sure she’s getting ideas about Su-Lin and me that we’re supposed to be avoiding, especially if Su-Lin is actually interested in this Warren guy. And if she is, who can blame her? I’m guessing he doesn’t have panic attacks or a pathological inability to say the g-word, and he’s probably totally, like, mentally and emotionally stable.
I wonder what Fong’s dish he would be. I both want to know and really, really don’t.
“Hey, I’ve got to run,” Su-Lin says. “Got to go climb the big wall. But I’ll drop by later, okay? We should hang out.”
Gabby looks a bit confused, but she smiles. “Sure. We’ll be here the rest of the day.”
I wave at them, then follow Su-Lin again, pushing through the crowds that are gathering around Jason’s wall.
“Who was that?” I ask.
“This girl who used to come into Fong’s a couple times a week,” Su-Lin says. “She’d always order the BreakupTub, though mostly it was for lost jobs, not failed relationships.Though there were a few of those, too. I’m so glad she’s happy now. Not all the sad regulars made it out so well.There was a guy I only remember as Moo Goo Gai Pizza who I heard lost all his money investing in animal breeding on the advice of his psychic. I guess there wasn’t a lot of growth potential in naked mole rat farming.”
I’m still trying to puzzle that out when we reach the rock wall. Jason stands in front of it scowling at a harness which I’m guessing is for Su-Lin, based on the size.
And there, sitting in the front row, is Warren. He waves, and Su-Lin waves back.
That jealousy seems to be carving a hollow in my chest.
“You guys are getting along,” I say.
Su-Lin squirms. “I don’t know. We don’t really know each other.”
This might make me feel better, if I didn’t remember exactly how into her I was the first time we met and she asked me to edit her videos. I spent the entire evening whining to my mom about how it was a really good career opportunity but I couldn’t possibly work with a girl that awesome and that gorgeous because I was never ever going to date again, and I would go crazy from not being able to pursue her.
I was right on the second count, anyway. I ultimately took the job, because I couldn’t pass up the chance to be near her, and also because the opportunity was truly too good to turn down.But I knew, that very first day, that she was someone I’d never be able to get enough of.
Given the way Warren is looking at her as she walks to the base of the rock wall to get harnessed—somehow she looks amazingly hot in her worn Converse sneakers and Bananya t-shirt—I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who wants to belaying her.
Thirteen
Su-Lin
This wall is even more enormous now that I’m standing at the foot of it, and the “lunch” I grabbed at the vending machine—two Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies—is congealing into a thick lump of sugar and fear in my stomach.
Also, this harness is ridiculous. It’s wrapped around my waist and upper legs, and I have a terrible feeling it’s going to wedge my frayed jean shorts firmly up my butt crack the moment I start climbing. Which might make for a nice view for Brendan down below, but really, cananyonelook sexy in this contraption?
Okay, Brendan does a decent job of it. He’s got the same type of harness on as me, with the rope he’s holding also looped through the carabiner at his waist. Jason’s producer on the show—a fellow climber named Nate who makes funny jibes at Jason or taunts him to do increasingly stupid things—is showing Brendan how to tug the rope for a sudden stop and how to hold it for a slow release.
I want to make all the jokes about Brendan’s slow release.
Then I look up at the top of the rock wall, and my nerves clamp my mouth shut. Which I know is a rare event.
Why did I agree to this? For a stupid belaying joke? (No, not stupid, that joke is #worthit.)
There’s no way out now. Jason has been promoting this as the “Jason Climbs Sh!tQuiz Show:Starving with the StarsEdition” since the moment I signed on, and the publicity is good for our launch tomorrow. Provided I don’t die. Although that might actually be even better for publicity, if worse for our show’s future.
The crowd is huge, all the seats filled and a bunch of people standing around behind them. Warren’s smiling at me from the front row, which doesn’t exactly make me feel better, especially after Brendan kept asking about him. I know Brendan wanted me to invite Warren to lunch, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him why I didn’t. If I told Brendan I didn’t want to encourage a guy who I thought might really like me, then that would inherently mean I’m not keeping things casual between Brendan and me, right?That I’m way too invested in us being serious.That I’m failing the plan.
Which I’ve already done enough of, between picking out a girl who turned out to be into me and what must be my super obvious jealousy of any girl he dances or talks with.
I need to be better at this.
“Here you go, Hobbit,” Jason says, much louder than necessary, handing me a pair of . . . water shoes? No, they must be climbing shoes. But they have that same sporty look, with the bright neoprene and the rubber sole. Also they look like they’d fit a six-year-old.
I wrinkle my nose. “I can’t wear my regular shoes?” I look longingly down at my chucks.
“You can if you want to slip off every step.”
