I’m smackin the middle of what Ayla callsgetting one of those ideas in your little head,and I can tell I’m not going to slow down.
It’s early in the evening on Saturday, and Stone should be showing up at any minute. With Ayla out of the apartment, I’ve got the place to myself. I figure Stone and I can do a quick crash course, learn the basic facts about each other, and we’ll be all set.
Of course, I should probably be in the studio or at least figuring out how I want the alley cat to dance for the purse dog. But if there weren’t a looming deadline hanging over me, I wouldn’t have thrown myself into this ridiculous distraction in the first place.
And any chance to win Milo back is worth the lost time.
It’s incredible, how much Stone is not my type. He’s not bubbly like Milo and me, and even though he’s sporting a Studio Ghibli tattoo, we have about as much in common with each other as a vampire would with a solar-powered robot.
But he’s hot. Not just regular hot, but, like,oh my god so fucking hot.
And he’s chill. It’s nice to be around someone chill, even if he does stare at the wall like a sad sack sometimes.
Hot and chill are the perfect qualities for a fake boyfriend. And since unavailable guys are Milo’s kryptonite, Stone is different enough from our friends that my new relationship will catch everyone’s attention and hopefully spark Milo’s interest in me again.
Desperate? Possibly. But so long as I tell my friends that Stone and I have broken up right after the second date, it will just be a little harmless fun.
A text tells me that Stone has arrived, and I buzz him up. I take a quick second in front of the mirror to fix my hair and assess myself. I’m wearing a pair of jeans that are flatteringly tight, not wanting Stone to be the only one with a hot ass at this study session, and a T-shirt with thin pink-and-white stripes.
“Looking good,” I tell myself with a wink.
Stone is, unsurprisingly, dressed all in black again. I let him in and offer a beer, which I had picked up special earlier in the afternoon, and his eyes drift around the cluttered apartment.
“If you were a real date, I’d apologize for the mess,” I say, returning from the kitchen.
He’s standing in front of the large case where I store all my favorite figures from old stop motion projects, his brow furrowed. “What’s all this?”
“First lesson about me. I’m a stop motion animator.” He turns, and I hand him the beer, then jerk my arms and legs in shaky motions. “You know, like old dinosaur movies orThe Nightmare Before Christmas?”
He laughs. “Cool. You made all these?”
“Yup!” I answer brightly and plop onto the couch. “And my roommate Ayla restores vintage clothes, hence the fabric spools and mannequin bodies.”
He glances around the rest of the apartment. Our work spaces and living spaces have fully merged at this point, with random strips of fabric decorating the back of the couch, miniature prop cars serving as bookends, and framed posters from old stop motion movies all over the walls.
“Stop motion,” he says. “Got it.”
“And you’re a full-time tattoo artist?”
“An apprentice.” He drops down into the brown armchair. “But yeah, it’s a full-time job. Been doing it for a year now.”
“What does it mean that you’re an apprentice?”
“It means the pay is shit, and I barely get to do any real tattooing,” he answers, his deep voice rolling.
I laugh. “That sounds like my job. I do the grunt work at an animation studio.”
Stone raises his bottle. “Look at that. We’re a match.”
I scoff. “You straight men. You think that’s all it takes to make a match?”
When he tightens his lips, I wonder if I’ve made the wrong assumption. I guess he didn’t explicitly say he’s straight, just that he isn’t gay. There are plenty of other options between the two.
Although, if he dates guys, he wouldn’t have to bribe someone into playing fake boyfriend. Not with those killer cheekbones.
“What else should I know about you?” he asks.
“Excellent question,” I answer. I scoop up the pile of flashcards I prepared. “The way I figure, we’ll say movie night with my friends will be date number three for us, so it won’t be a total disaster if you don’t know something about me.” I tap the cards on the coffee table to straighten them. “But I’ve prepared a few basics, so you’re not totally in the dark.”
