“He said he was sorry for what he did to you,” he said.
“Big fucking deal.”
“Then he told me he loved me.”
“I knew it!”I spiked a roll of socks onto the bed.“I can’t believe he actually said it.What did you say?”
“That I wasn’t interested.”He looked upset.I’d seen him angry but not distraught like this.“I just got out of there.The way he confronted me...We were alone.”
“You think he might not let it lie?”
“He’s had months to let it lie, and he hasn’t.And I’m not done with the film.When it comes out, I’ll have to do publicity, go to the premiere with him because it’s his film.I’m gonna have to see him again.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“I’m not putting you through that.”
“I’ll do it if it’ll help.You think he might try something?”
“Craig, nothing’s gonna happen with him.I love you.”
“I know.I mean, would he try something without your consent?”
“If you’d asked me that yesterday, I would have said no way.But after today...I tried to leave when he confronted me, and he blocked me.Then he grabbed my arm.”
“Shit.Did he hurt you?”
“No.He just held onto me, and when I pulled away, he put his hand on my arm again and told me he loved me.He could have stopped me if he wanted to, but he didn’t.”
“No, he used his size to intimidate you instead.He’s just like my uncle.He never left marks on me, but he made it damned clear he could have if I didn’t do what he said.Fuck that asshole.”
I wanted to punch Jack.I knew exactly how Eddie felt.“I’ll go with you to the premiere.I’ll go with you to every interview you have to do.If he puts a hand on you again, I’ll rip his nutsack off.”
He burst out laughing.“Thanks.I’ll take you up on that—the going with me to stuff, not the nut ripping.I don’t want to spend the next ten years visiting you in prison.”
I laughed, and the tension immediately diffused.“Okay, but if he tries anything, I’ll fuck him up.I don’t care how big he is.”I hugged him tight.
He hugged me, patted my back, and let me go.“Let’s get dinner.I’m starving.”
In the elevator, when I pressed B, he said, “Why’d you do that?”
“Because we’ve got a rental car now.We can drive to the restaurant.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said.
“We should buy a car.”Weshould buy a car.Together.I heard myself say that.And I freaked out that he might freak out that I’d said that.
What he actually said was, “It’ll cost.”
So he didn’t have an issue with us buying something together, only with how much it cost.
“I’ve been checking prices,” I said.“I’m not talking a new car, but they pay me decently at work, and since you’ve been paying half the rent, I’ve been saving more than usual.This trip will be nice, but afterward, it’d be nice to be able to go for a drive together or out to a show or a club and not have to catch a bus or the subway home or wait for an Uber.We could go on real dates.”I’d been thinking about it for a while, but I hadn’t said it out loud because it sounded...cheesy?Presumptive?But it was all part of this, us, together.
“I’d like that,” he said.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.We could go to a drive-in and make out in the car.”
