“You got scolded?”
“I guess I wasn’t acting how she wanted me to act, so I’ve been sulking today, which is probably immature, but I’ve got a lot on my plate back home. I took time off to come here, expecting to be able to talk about whatever I wanted and do, for the most part, what I wanted, and that’s not happening, so I’m disappointed, okay? I’m sorry. I’m not disappointed in being here with you, if that’s what you’re thinking; just in general.”
“What did Nia tell you that she expected you to do?”
“Participate better. I did. I tried, at least. But I’m not good at games like that. I can’t draw at all. Did you see my attempt at drawing a hot dog? It looked like a penis with like… flaps or something.”
Carrie laughed and replied, “That wasn’t great, no. But your charades thing was good. People guessed it right away.”
“I got ‘tip of the hat’. All I had to do was tilt my head down and hold on to my fake hat.”
“Still, you got points.”
“You drew a whole thing up there, like a scene.”
“Well, Iama digital artist, so there’s that.”
“You’re a what now?”
“A digital artist. Freelance. I do a lot of character work and book covers primarily, but I have a whole side thing for people who want to take a photo or something and digitize it for themselves. I recreate it with my trusty iPad.”
“That’s cool,” Gage said.
“It pays the bills, but, yeah, I like it. What do you do?”
“I own a pool cleaning company,” Gage replied. “Well, it’s pool and hot tub service, and we do saunas and stuff, too.”
“Youownit?”
“I do. I have ten people on staff, and it’s hard for me to get away. I can only check my phone every so often here, and we’re really busy right now. I probably shouldn’t have even come here, but I needed it, or so I thought. Now, I’m thinking about going home.”
“You’re going to leave?” Carrie asked.
“What’s the point of staying if Nia thinks I’m here for the wrong reasons? Besides, I don’t want to cause anyone else any problems. Maybe I should just go and let everyone else enjoy the rest of their week.”
“Or, you could actually participate,” she suggested and held up the cards.
“Oh, come on. How are those supposed to help us get to know each other?”
“We won’t know unless we try. Let’s do three questions, and if you hate it, we stop.”
“Fine.” Gage laughed a little. “What’s the first one?”
“Oh,” Carrie said when she read it to herself.
“What?”
“It’s okay. We can skip this one. I think I already know the–”
“No, don’t skip it. I’m hereparticipating. What’s it say?” Gage asked.
“Do you believe in monogamous relationships? You already mentioned your situation, so I–”
“It’s not a situation; it’s sex. Sasha and I have good sex. That’s all. She loves her girlfriend. Her girlfriend loves her.”
“But they’re not monogamous?”
“They’re not.Iam,” Gage said quickly. “I’m not right now because I don’t have anyone to be monogamous with, but I only want one person. I like sex, that’s true, and I try to have as much of it as possible, but I’d like to have it with one person one day. I don’t care if we get married. Wecan, or we don’t have to, but I meant what I said: I came here for love, too. At least, the chance at it.”
