Page 59 of Talk to Me

“You. Think. I’m. Cuuuuuuuuuute.” Theo rubbed his nose against my cheek.

I shoved him away playfully.

“Get off of me you big weirdo!” I barked playfully. “I’m trying to eat my sandwich. I don’t need your cooties all over it.”

“Admit that you think I’m cute,” Theo said, leaning closer.

“You’re cute!” I exclaimed. “Get away!”

Theo fell back into his seat with a satisfied laugh and took a giant bite of his croissant. He turned to grin at me, showing me his teeth covered in food. I groaned and looked away. My stomach was fluttering when I grabbed my Red Bull and took a healthy chug from the can. Theo chewed his giant bite and swallowed.

“So,” he said, mercifully changing the topic, “where are we going anyway? I should have asked before we left, but I assumed you weren’t taking me out to the woods to kill me.”

“Don’t count anything out,” I quipped.

Theo rolled his eyes. “Where’s your parents’ house?”

“Just beyond Riverside,” I said. “It’s a few miles out of town.”

“Where’s that?”

“East of here. By Muscatine?”

Theo gave me a blank look. “I’m not from Iowa.”

“Oh, yeah,” I chuckled. “Well, it’s east of here. Couple of hours. It’s about forty-five minutes from Davenport?”

He shrugged. “Still means nothing to me.”

We laughed and continued to eat and drink.

“Does the name mean anything? Riverside? Is it on the Mississippi, or…?”

“No,” I said, chuckling. “It’s near the Iowa river, but it’s really next to the English river. It’s nowhere near the Mississippi.”

“Oh,” Theo said. “That’s…Iowa for you.”

I laughed and took the last bite of my sandwich. “You know, Riverside is the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk.”

Theo whipped his head around to look at me.

“From Star Trek?” he asked.

“One and the same.” I nodded. “Canonically, James T. Kirk will be born in Riverside, Iowa March twenty-second, twenty-two-thirty-three.”

“You like Star Trek, too?” Theo gasped happily.

“No,” I said. “I just grew up near Riverside.”

Theo blushed and I laughed.

“I’m a geek,” he said with a groan.

“Nah,” I said. “It’s cuuuuuuuuuuuute.”

His blush deepened. I reached to fasten my seatbelt, realizing that enough time had passed to get back on the highway safely. Theo shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and mirrored my actions.

“Do you want your picture with the Captain James T. Kirk statue?” I asked as I pulled out of the parking spot and headed out of the lot.