“Yes to what, exactly?”
“Yes, ask her.”
“Okay.” Gage exhaled, and it made Carrie’s own nerves almost disappear entirely because Gage was nervous, too.
“Yes, you should ask her, but also yes, I want to be with you tonight. If you do, I mean,” Carrie added.
Gage’s eyes widened, and she asked, “Tonight?”
“Here.”
“Here?” Gage asked in a much higher voice than she’d used a second ago. “As inhere? On this blanket? With me?”
“Yes, with you.” Carrie chuckled. “God, you’re so… confusing.”
“I’m confusing?”
“Yes. You were so, I don’t know, standoffish and tough, wanting sex and only sex, or so everyone thought, and now, you’re just…” She smiled softly. “You’re nervous and sweet. You’re beautiful, kind, and… I want to be with you, Gage.”
“Are you sure? Carrie, it’s your first time. I’ve been someone’s first time before, and I’m pretty sure she regretted it later. I don’t want you to regret this. I want it to be perfect foryou. We’re outside in the dark on a blanket. I only have bags of chips and pretzels.” Gage picked up a bag of pretzels with her hand and held it up. “You should have candles, music, and, I don’t know, flowers and stuff, and it should be in a bed.”
“If you want that foryou, we can go back to the house now. I’m sure the TV will play music for us, or we can grab our phones. I know there are candles. I’m not so sure about flowers, but we can figure something out. If you want that, Gage, we can go back and have it. But I don’t need that.”
“You don’t?”
“I want you here now. Look up, babe.”
Gage looked up into the sky.
“Stars. The moon. The trees. It’s perfect right where we are, and I can’t think of a better way to end my perfect day with you than to actuallybewith you. I want it to be you. I’ll admit that I’d be pretty pissed if you left me out here after or didn’t stay the night with me when we get back to the house, or if you decided to spend the next night with, like, Sharon or something, but–”
“I won’t,” Gage interrupted her. “I won’t. I don’t want anyone else here. I want you.”
“Okay. Then, have me,” she said and promptly realized how ridiculous that sounded. “That’s weird. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“It’s okay if you did,” Gage replied. “I’d like to… have you.”
“Are you nervous, or was I just projecting before?”
“No, I’m very nervous,” Gage revealed. “You have no idea.”
“But why? You’ve–”
“Not likethis. I’ve never done it like this before.”
“Like what?”
“With someone I want to make chicken soup for,” Gage explained.
“You really want me to get sick just so you could make me soup, don’t you?” She laughed.
Gage moved into her until Carrie was lying beneath her on the blanket, with Gage on top, staring down at her.
“I never want you to get sick,” she said. “But if you do, it’ll be really good soup. I’ll make it from scratch, if you want, but if you need it faster than that, I’ll run out and get the best soup I can find. Carrie?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not confusing. I’m just not this way with a lot of people.”
