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“Didn’t you just eat dinner?” I laughed as he eagerly swapped menus with me.
“Yeah, but that was over an hour ago.”
“Oh my God. You and your food.”
“Yeah, me and my need to nourish my body to stay alive. So crazy,” he muttered though he peered up with amusement when I giggled. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m more so laughing at myself.”
“Why?”
“Just remembering something from when I was a kid.”
“What is it?”
I looked up from my menu to find Drew’s undivided attention on me.
“You really want to hear a story from my childhood?” I asked dubiously.
“I thought that was implied when I said ‘what is it.’”
“Okay, relax, smart ass, and it’s not a good story, it’s just that when I was younger…” I trailed off, chewing my lip when I realized I didn’t actually want to say this aloud. It was probably only funny in my head. “Actually, I forget what I was saying. I’m all drunk.”
“You didn’t drink yet.”
“Maybe I drank at home.”
Drew caught my jaw and pulled my face to his. My heart stopped in my chest as he tilted my mouth up, holding my lips an inch from his.
“No.” His thumb stroked my jaw as he breathed me in. “You didn’t.” He lifted his gaze from my lips to my eyes and held it there for one painfully hot second. But in a flash, he released me and returned to being blunt. “Now tell me the story.”
Just like that, his attention returned to the menu – as if he hadn’t just done something ridiculously freakin’ intimate that required time for me to catch my breath.
Or maybe that wasn’t super intimate and you’re just overthinking things? I thought before promptly catching myself. Okay, stop. It’s way too early in the night to get this deep in your head.
“Um… yeah, anyway. Where was I again?” I mumbled to myself, pretending to casually scan my menu though I was honestly too flustered to read shit. “Oh right. Long story short, when my sister Kaylie and I were kids, we thought that once you were an adult and you stopped growing, that meant you didn’t have to eat anymore. We literally thought that eating just ceased to be a necessity once you turned like, twenty-five.”
Drew looked up again, eyeing me with feigned seriousness.
“So you guys were held back a few grades, huh.”
“Shut up!” He grinned big when I burst out laughing. “Asshole. If you must know, we were like four and eight when we thought this and it was only because my mom would make us grilled cheeses every day and just wait around to eat our crusts. And when we asked why she didn’t make one for herself, she said she only wanted a snack and adults don’t need to eat like little kids do,” I said, my smile slowly faltering as I finished the story. Okay, yeah. Definitely less funny said aloud, I nodded awkwardly as I peered up at Drew. I could see the humor in his eye flickering away as he looked at me and put two and two together.
Yep.
I grew up dirt poor and my mom was definitely hungry. She just couldn’t afford to eat and feed her kids too.
Well, hello, buzzkill, I scolded myself as I blurted, “Anyway,” and tried to think of a topic change. Come on, come on, hurry up, I desperately begged myself while coming up painfully empty.
Drew surprised me with a reassuring hand on my knee.
“So tell me about the Empire State Building. What’s up with your weird little obsession?” he said, returning his casual gaze back to the menu.
I blinked for a second of confusion, but then a little smile wiggled onto my lips. I knew Drew couldn’t care less about this story – he was just giving me an out from the last subject we’d touched on, since it clearly had me so flushed and embarrassed. It was a tiny gesture, but still a lot more than I’d ever expected from him.
“It’s also a boring story,” I warned.
“Tell me.”
