Page 76 of Wingmen

He deleted the entry, looked at himself in the mirror, and said, in Spanish, what his mother would have said if she could see him right now, and flushed the toilet and went out.

They were at his hotel, and Drew was naked on the balcony, looking over the rail at the moon. He went out behind her and slipped his arms around her waist.

“This view is insane,” she said, as he put his lips to her ear and kissed it. “I don’t think I would ever get tired of it.”

“Mm. I haven’t yet.” He braced his hands either side of her and looked over her shoulder at the restaurant patio six stories down. It was early enough that people were still there. “You wanna go down for a drink?”

Drew didn’t answer, and he got the feeling she was thinking about something. Her face was thoughtful as she watched the crowd on the patio, and when she turned around, she had a serious expression on that made him slightly nervous.

He hesitated, waiting. “What?”

“What’s going on here, exactly?” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, like, this.” She gestured between them.

“We’re hanging out? Having a nice time?” His stomach dipped with momentary panic. “Are you not?”

“No, I am. I just…” She sighed. “I guess I’m confused. Because to me, it feels like we go out, and we have a great time, and you’re funny and I’m funny, and we do bits and get along, and everything clicks. And then…” She searched his face like she was looking for words there. “And then we get back here, and… maybe we’re both nervous? Because maybe this is more than just a hookup? But I feel like…something’s not there. In the sex. Specifically. And I don’t know if it’s me, or you, or both of us, or what,but–” She chewed her lip, searching his face again. “Right? Are you getting that? Is it just me?”

Okay. So maybe he hadn’t been doing a good enough job.

He tipped up her chin with his knuckle. “Okay, Mami. Sounds like maybe you wanna try it again tonight–”

“You’re being weird,” she said. “Stop it.” She pushed his finger away with the back of her hand. “You dothis, too. This like…I don’t even know what to call it. This Casanova thing. It’s cute – I like it, but I’m trying to have a conversation with you. We’re not doing bits right now. Can we just talk like normal people?”

He blinked and stood there. “Sure.”

“Great.” She folded her arms and waited. “So can you talk to me? Because I really like you, and I would rather figure this out than just keep having sex that’s like…kind of weird.”

He scoffed and turned around to go back inside.Weird. Que joyita.

She followed him. “Come on, don’t walk away.”

“Pichea.” He waved over his shoulder.

“What?Hello?I don’t know what that means.”

“I said forget it!” He went to the mini bar and flung open the door. They were out of beer. She stood behind him while he squatted there and dug around inside to see if anything else was left.

“I don’t want to forget it,” she was saying. “I want to know why it feels like you don’t–”

Ay, puñeta, ya.Wasn’t this girl supposed to be different from the other ones? Wasn’t she cool and knew how to bowl and didn’t nag him and talk his ear off?

He found a single beer in the back of the fridge and pulled it out. When he stood up and turned around with it, she was still standing there.

“–because, to be honest, Elliot, it’s not super fun to fucksomeone when it feels like they’re just getting through it because they have to.”

“I’m not doing that,” he said, cracking open the beer and going back to the balcony. He snagged his boxers off the floor as he went and put them on outside.

She came out a few minutes later. He felt her standing behind him and remained with his forearms on the rail, smoking the cigarette he’d lit. Eventually she said, “I guess I’m gonna go.”

“Great.” He pulled on the cigarette and blew the smoke at the people down on the patio. Behind him, she did a little scoff of disbelief, and he turned around. “I thought youwere different,” he said. “But you’re the same as all the other girls. You act like you’re cool with everything, but really you just wanna stand there and tell me what I’m doing wrong.”

“Excuse me?”

He turned back to the rail and dragged on the cigarette, and they stood in silence while he blew the smoke and inspected the glowing orange tip.