“I know you’re not akid,” he said. “Just… how old are you?”
“Twenty,” I said.
“Then I guess we’ll just have sodas.”
“How old areyou?” I asked.
“Twenty-four.”
“Okay, that’s not creepy then,” I said. “Good. I want a Coke.”
“Look at us,” Lee said after a girl came and took our order, “making small talk. So, are you from Goose Run originally?”
“No,” I said.
“Cool. Where are you?—”
“Where areyoufrom?” I shot back before he could even finish asking the question.
“I was born in Norfolk, but my parents moved to Emporia when I was small enough I don’t remember living anywhere else,” he said. “My grandparents, my dad’s parents, live in Hampton Roads, but they’re both from the Philippines originally. My mom’s parents are from somewhere in South Carolina, but she hasn’t spoken to them since she broke the news she was marrying a Filipino guy, so I’ve never met them.”
“Oh,” I said, wondering why he was telling me all this. I’d asked where he was from, not his whole family history. And I’d only asked in the first place so I didn’t have to answer him. “What happened to your dad?”
“Cancer,” he said, and I gave a guilty jolt. “Me and Sam were just kids. So it was pretty scary, you know, when Sam got diagnosed too. Like everyone kept saying she had fantastic odds, but that’s pretty hard to keep in mind when you remember your dad passing from the same thing.”
I felt bad I’d asked. Small talk wasn’t meant to include dead parents probably. But what the hell did I know? “Oh. She’s okay now, though, right?”
“Yeah.” His smile was full of relief. “I mean, she still has to go for regular checks, but the doctors have given her the all clear.”
“That’s good,” I said and added, “I like Sam.”
Lee’s expression softened. “It was rough for a while there. She’s fine now, but I still feel like I need to watch out for her, you know?”
“Yeah,” I said, thinking of the nights I stayed awake listening for the roar of Cash’s dirt bike.
We talked some more while we waited. I told Lee about the time Bobby’s goose chased a little kid down the main street, and he told me about the time Sam had tried to smuggle a kitten home and cried for days when her mom returned it. We didn’t talk about anything important, just dumb shit that had us both laughing, and by the time the server came back with our meals, any first date nerves I’d had had disappeared.
I didn’t waste any time attacking my burger, and holy shit, it was incredible. It was so good that when I caught Lee’s mouth quirking up in a smile as I licked sauce off my fingers I ignored it, too invested in the food to bother giving him shit. And even though it was a decent-sized burger, I wasn’t going to turn down free food, so once I was finished I stole some of Lee’s food as well. If he hadn’t meant it about sharing, then he shouldn’t have offered.
It didn’t take long until I was full, though, and I pushed the nachos away.
“I’m done,” I said, leaning back in my seat and patting my belly. “It was good, though,” I added, because for some stupid reason I wanted him to know he’d picked a good place for our date.
Lee gave a small pleased smile, and my insides danced in anticipation. I’d never been on a date before, but it seemed like this one was going pretty well. And now we’d go somewhere and I’d give him a blow job to finish off the evening, right?
Wrong.
When we drove back toward Goose Run, I kept waiting for him to pull over into a parking area, but he didn’t. We pulled upoutside my house and he cut the engine. He leaned over toward me, and I was just about to tell him that I wasn’t going to blow him in full view of my house when his mouth brushed mine. It was hardly even a proper kiss. I didn’t even register it until it was over and Lee was already leaning back.
“I had fun tonight,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow at work, okay?”
What?
“Yeah, okay,” I said and got out of the truck.
I waited until he’d left before I walked into the house, wondering if that unsettled feeling in my stomach was rejection or if it was something even worse—the growing realization that Lee didn’t just see me as a quick and easy way to get off, but as an actualperson.
And I really wasn’t sure what to think about that at all.
