Furthermore, after our game I’m almost positive that he’s the one who bought all my books mere weeks ago.
Which means…
What does it mean? Apart from the fact he at least has casket-levels of disposable income…it means…probably that he didn’t know I was published before something my brother told him.
If we knew each other in any capacity beyond a mere moment, would he not have assumed that I’d have publishedsomethingby now? I’ve been story driven my entire life and loud about it, too. There’s no logical way he wouldn’t have checked, at least once, to see if I’d published under my real name like I have.
Floating atop the crystal clear lake water, I sigh and peer at the bright blue sky. Well past mid-afternoon, the sun has mellowed in its descent toward the horizon, leaving warmth without glaring light. A few minutes ago, Dominic offered to start packing up and left me alone here with my thoughts.
My thoughts aren’t being very helpful, though.
There’s too many holes in them. Too many puzzle pieces I’m missing.
But of course there are.
This isn’t a book.
The answer isn’toh so obviousbased on exactly the information the author deigns to provide. In real life, information comes on all sides, most of it unrelated. Instead of ared herring or two to throw the reader off, most everything is a red herring.
I don’t have Dominic’s last name, or first name for that matter. I don’t have his career information. I don’t even have his phone number. But still, even if I did, am I really looking for a simple answer or profile to give me the truth about this story?
No.
That’s far too dull.
I want more games of wit and curiosity.
I want to figure it out without that many cheat codes.
I want to decode why he makes me feel safe and like I’ve known him for years when there’s no way that’s possible.
The only people I’ve known foryearshave either birthed me, been in the same room as him, or are my boss. And, let’s face it, Ali surely doesn’t fit. Apart from the fact she’s agirl, Dominic hasn’t said anything that references anime the whole time I’ve known him. Even though we’re presently in an almost-but-not-quite beach episode.
I have now had the pleasure of chatting with Ali while she’s watching anime, and I can confirm that we’re both properly obsessed with it, whichmeansit is completely unrealistic to think that I wouldn’t have heard Dominic mutter something in Japanese by now if he and Ali are actually the same person. It’s impossible to watch as much anime as we do and not start mumbling the phrases in day-to-day life. For crying out loud, I don’t even affirm in English anymore.I understandorgot itorokayis always, unanimously,wakatta, and I just hope my tone relays my meaning, because I don’t explain myself afterward.
Crossing my arms, I roll my eyes, becausewhyam I even debunking the obvious? I can’t be grasping for that many straws.
Except, of course, I am.
I am because I don’t interact with that many guys consistently, yet ifIdon’t know him while I’m convincedheknows me, the only answer I have left is that he’s a stalker.
“Could Dominic be a stalker?” I whisper toward the sky. “Nah,” I mutter after three moments. “A stalker—I’d hope—would know more about me by this point in the plot.” Also, if he’s a stalker, my friends and family surely wouldn’t be this on board. Wynnter—for one—would actually kill him, not help him, regardless of how pretty he is.
Wynnter is, usually, so no nonsense.
Or at least I thought he was.
But maybe I don’t know my brother as well as I think I do, either.
He and Dominicliterallyset something on fire for this scheme. I saw the remains of that mattress on the curb for several days. And Wynnter definitely acted his part well where it concerned manipulating me into inviting Dominic to stay in my guest room. Despite now having a replacement bed, he’s been very quiet about saving his poor sister from putting up a strange man in her home—despite how adamantly against it he appeared at first.
Could Dominic be a friend of Wynnter’s?
Would that make any plausible sense?
He could have fallen in love by proxy, through stories or mentions…even though the idea that Wynnter spends any time at all chitchatting with his buds about his baby sister would be a wild foundation for this theory.
At this point, considering my very non-existent history with men, it’s the only thing that seems remotely probable. Yet it’s still weird for that to be the case if Dominic has only just recently learned I’m published. I imagine that the wordsall she does is writecome up rather frequently whenever I’m mentioned to anyone.
