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“Fuckme.”
“Now?”
I click on the email banner, opening the message. I slap a hand on the armrest. “My job talk at UW. The one I’ve been trying to rebook for two months. It’s scheduled for nextweek.”
“That’s fantastic! Wait. What exactlyisa jobtalk?”
“It’s basically an audition. There are a few candidates for the same role. Instead of sitting down interview-style—which you also do—you have to give a presentation to a bunch of people who would be your colleagues while they rip holes inyou.”
Her eyes widen. “Soundsbarbaric.”
I laugh under my breath. “Itis.”
“You could practice on me. Like Beck’s practicing onyou.”
Her thoughtfulness has my chest tightening. “Come on. You don’t want that.” Her face falls, and I rush to say, “Not because you wouldn’t get it, because it’sboring.”
“It’s not boring toyou.”
I steal glances at her because I’m not sure what that means. Or what I want it to mean. We’re in new territory, where she wants to do something because I like it. I’m not sure how I should feel about it, but I know what I do feel is warm andtingly.
She’s here, and for the last couple of weeks, we’ve been doingthis.
Not this exactly—sitting in theatres with teenagers. Hanging out. Refining the pitch to investors for the app. Havingsex.
The thing is, I wantmore.
Human beings are wired to be greedy, evolutionarily speaking. We don’t have off switches when we’ve had enough food orsleep…
Orsex.
It’s natural that I’m cravingher.
There’s no reason we can’t keep it up until Ileave.
When Ileave.
The truth is, whenever I start to think about this ending, my chest gets tight and my brain shutsdown.
“Want to get dinner after?” Renaasks.
I turn to find her looking at me. It would be easy to say yes. To this and anything she might askme.
I glance back up at the stage, where Beck and the other kids are acting out zoo animals. “You likesushi?”
We collect Beck at the end of the hour, and he’s talking about the assignments his teacher gavehim.
“You never sound this enthusiastic for my assignments,” Iquip.
“Sure I do, Wes. I just keep it under wraps,” he saysdeadpan.
I shake myhead.
“Hey, don’t you live around here?” Renaasks.
“Yeah.”
That’s how we’re at my mom’shouse.
