Grant pretended to pout. “You’re no fun.”
We all held up five fingers and began asking questions. It was a simple game; if we’d done whatever was mentioned, we had to put a finger down. Sofia continued to glower from the edge of the couch, but when it came time, she put her hand up as well.
The first round went smoothly. Arnie said he’d never traveled to another country, and everyone except me put a finger down.
“You’ve never been outside the country?” Eli asked incredulously.
“Is that so hard to believe? It wasn’t like we could afford to travel much when I was growing up.” There were a few trips I had been supposed to go on with Michael—one to Costa Rica and another to try skiing in Canada. Both times I’d had major anxiety about traveling a few weeks before. He had been understanding and let me stay home both times while I told him to go on without me.
Looking at Eli now—even barely knowing him—I couldn’t help but feel that he wouldn’t have let me stay behind. He would have insisted that I come with him. At the time, I had been grateful to stay at home. Now, I wondered what it would be like to be with someone who didn’t let me shy away from the things that scared me.
“I’ve never broken a bone,” Rachel said.
Eli held up his four fingers while he watched me put my first finger down. He nudged me with his elbow. “Not surprised at all.”
“Hey! It was just once when I was in high school. I tried out for the soccer team, in some misguided attempt at socialization, and I tripped over my own feet. Apparently, I didn’t know how to brace a fall.”
Eli chuckled. “I guess you’re lucky it only happened once.”
I pretended to be offended, but I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face.
It was Eli’s turn next. “I’ve never gotten a tattoo,” he said.
Rachel put a finger down, followed by me.
“Seriously?” Eli demanded, surprised by this revelation.
I blushed at the shocked looks I got from everyone there. “I’m notthatinnocent.”
“What is it?” Eli pressed, looking me up and down as if he could see it through my clothes.
“It’s a typewriter, on my back,” I admitted. “I got it after I wrote my first book.”
His eyes twinkled. “I can’t wait to see it.”
“Get a room,” Grant said, throwing a pillow at the two of us. Eli caught it while still looking at me with a devilish gleam.
Then it was my turn. My face grew heated as I thought of something to say. “Um. I’ve never...I’ve never moved away from the city where I grew up.”
It sounded kind of pathetic when I said it out loud, but Eli was the only other person who also didn’t put a finger down.
“I guess we have that in common.” He nudged my knee with his. “See? Not so different after all.”
“My turn,” Grant said eagerly. “I’ve never had a threesome.”
Arnie groaned and Rachel glared at him. “Clean edition, remember?”
Grant just laughed. I saw Eli put a finger down discreetly.
I shouldn’t be surprised—and I wasn’t. But it was so easy to forget that this Eli whom I was currently snuggled into, the one who’d saved me from the water today and stayed up late talking with me, was the same Eli who had also been in the news multiple times for his escapades. I remembered something he’d said earlier.
I’m worried that someone who doesn’t know everything about me might bolt the second we get out of here, once she Googles me and realizes I’m actually a piece of trash.
I promised myself right then and there that, no matter what happened between the two of us, I would never look up any of his previous indiscretions. Because they truly didn’t matter and didn’t define him in any way.
“Let’s move on,” said Rachel, looking at Sofia expectantly.
She sighed as if we were the most boring people on the planet. “I’ve never back-stabbed somebody on reality TV.”
