“How will I know if I like girls or boys?”
I adjust us to sit up on the couch. “Well, I don’t think you should look at it from a perspective ofgirls or boys. I think you should look inside someone’s heart, and see what you feel for them. It doesn’t matter what they look like on the outside.”
She purses her little lips while she thinks about that for a moment. “What if I love dogs?”
I toss my head back and laugh. “Humans can’t marry dogs. You have to be in the same species.”
Her eyebrows furrow. “But I love Ellie.”
Ellie’s head perks up from her dog bed across the room.
“You can love Ellie, but you can’t bein lovewith Ellie. Those are two different things.”
Giuliana nods. “So, are you waiting for a text from a girl or a boy?”
Both.
Either.
The whole weekend went by without a response from Presley. I texted her the night of the game, after Chance and I saw her on the KissCam. Atmygame. I rarely pay any mind to what’s going on in the crowd, but it was impossible not to glance up at the jumbotron while everyone was screaming about that douchebag’s hands all over my girl.
My girl.Fuck. I can’t even get a text back from her, yet I’m calling hermygirl.
But what are the odds that the three of us were in the same place at the same time? It’s like the universe threw us together again, after all this time.
Even Kellerman looked shocked as shit, and he never emotes. For some reason, I thought he might text me too. Reach out to talk about how crazy it was that we saw Presley.
I thought I’d getsomething. Anything. From either of them.
Yet here I am with nothing.
“Hellooo.” Giuliana pokes my chest with her index finger. “Boy or girl?”
I heave a sigh. “Girl.
“What’s her name? Who is she?”
I chuckle as she questions me rapid-fire like she always does. “Her name is Presley. I went to college with her. She was my girlfriend for a couple of years, and then one morning I woke up, and she was just gone.”
Giuliana’s eyes widen. “Where did she go?”
“I didn’t know. She was just gone. But the other night at my game, I saw her.”
Giuliana gasps. “You saw her?”
I nod. “She was there, and I tried to talk to her, but we didn’t have a lot of time. I asked for her number, and I texted her, but I haven’t heard back from her. I know I’m getting ahead of myself, and reading too much into it. She could be married for all I know—fuck, did she have a wedding ring on? I didn’t even think of that possibility.”
Giuliana clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “You said the f-word.”
“Shit, did I?” I scrub my hand over my face. “Shit, now I just said shit. Don’t tell your dad. I’ll give you twenty bucks.”
Her eyes narrow. “Make it fifty.”
Can’t even be mad at the kid. I’m training her to be a hustler.
“Deal.”
“Do you love her?” she asks.
