Page 13 of Puck You Both

Minute twenty-three, I pick it up. I read both messages again and type back one word.

Me: Friday.

Then, three more:

Me: Bring the puck.

Chapter 4

THEO

"BLINKER."

"The blinker is a spoiler. Nobody needs to know my plans."

"That Kia needs to know your plans."

I check my mirror. The beige Kia that has been disrespecting me personally since the last exit speeds up to close the lane I'm about to take.

"Oh, you want to play?" I floor it. "EAT MY ENTIRE ASS, BEIGE DEMON."

Patrick's right hand closes around the door handle.

I slide into the lane with plenty of room. Several feet. Two, minimum. A luxurious amount of feet if you aren’t a coward.

"Why did I let you drive?"

"Because you're answering campaign emails." I point at his phone. "Also, daylight loophole."

He finally looks up. "What daylight loophole?"

"You banned me from driving after dark."

"I banned you from driving my car."

"You specifically said after dark."

"That was before the Roundabout Incident."

“You keep calling it an incident like the city didn’t put four exits in one circle and expect people not to choose emotionally.”

He stares at me.

I stare at the road, because one of us has to.

The thing with Patrick is fresh, two weeks maybe, and already the best sex of my life, which is inconvenient. Great sex is supposed to happen with men who own decorative swords and think sheets wash themselves. It's not supposed to come from a man who keeps an emergency charger in his glove box and once paused halfway through blowing me to ask if my knee was okay.

I’m not attached. I just spend most nights at his place, know his Wi-Fi password, and bought him the good coffee because watching him drink the bad kind was ruining my mornings.

Unrelated behaviors.

I'm not going to ruin this by asking what we are.

Asking would destroy the arrangement. Questions lead directly to some man pulling on his pants and telling me I’m fun.

I know I’m fun.

People adore fun right up until fun takes up closet space or gets too loud at breakfast. Then comes the careful voice. The one that says, You’re a lot, Theo.