I press the end button and look down at my phone. Lucy texted me that she’s going to sleep. I hit call just to hear her voice.
“Hey,” she answers.
I hear someone in the background say, “Who is that?”
“I’m at my mom’s,” she says.
I nod. “I was just calling to tell you good night.”
“Okay,” she says, then I hear grumbling in the background. “Night, Bens.”
“Good night, Lucy.”
“Good luck tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
I don’t want to end the call, but if I don’t, my fingers are going to freeze to death. I press the end button and walk up to the hotel room I’m sharing with Blue. When I walk in, Blue is on the other bed in pajama pants and a t-shirt with his phone in his hands.
He looks up when I close the door. “How’s the face?”
“Fine.” I sit on the edge of my bed, peel my hoodie off, and drop it on the chair. I pull my t-shirt off. I drop it on top of the hoodie. The cheek is throbbing now in a dull way. I lean forward with my elbows on my knees and sigh.
“What’s going on, cap?”
I look over at him and zone out for a second. My mind’s all over the place. After a moment, I say, “I asked G for permission to ask Lucy to be my girlfriend.”
He puts the phone down on his chest. “Yeah? What did she say?
“Got the greenlight.”
Blue nods. “Nice. How’re you doing it?”
I sit with the question, imagining all the different ways I could do it. “I’ve been thinking about it. I want — I want it to be romantic. I want her to remember it.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know yet. Maybe — flowers in the kitchen. The boys hanging back. I drop to a knee in the living room. Stanley films it on his phone for me from the stairs.”
Blue takes a moment to think. I don’t think it sounds like a bad idea because it’s not fully public.
He looks at the comforter and asks, “Would Lucy even like that?”
I stop, not knowing the answer to that. “I — what do you mean?”
“Some girls don’t want a big thing –– in front of other people. Some girls want it private.”
“Yeah.”
“Lucy doesn’t like it when Stan compliments her sweater in front of the boys.”
I close my eyes for a beat. He has a point. “Yeah.”
“Do you know if she likes flowers?”
