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“Wait!” he cuts in, stiffening his back and looking quickly over to me. “Wait a minute. You’re talkin’ about Grant?”
“Of course I’m talking about him. Who else would I be talking about?” I’d assumed Travis had seen enough of us to know that Grant and I are a couple.
“Don’t know. Thought maybe you had some other guy on the side, and I was feelin’ like shit for Grant. Didn’t think you’d be wonderin’ about how he feels for you.”
“Why not?” Layne asks.
He gives his head a little shake. “Thought it pretty obvious. That man is crazy ’bout her.”
Layne claps her hands in excitement. “So you think he really loves her?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Then why won’t he say anything?” I ask, crossing my arms over my stomach and hugging myself a little. I’m feeling better. And also self-conscious. And also jumpy and excited and confused.
“No clue. Probably scared shitless that you don’t love him back.” He turns his head and smiles fondly at Layne. “Just like I was.”
Layne reaches out to take his hand, but her eyes are focused on me. “Well, that’s encouraging. Maybe you don’t need to worry so much.”
“Maybe.” I’m more hopeful than I was, but it doesn’t help with figuring out the next step. “But I still don’t know what to do.”
“Scare him,” Travis says without any hesitation.
“What?”
“If you don’t want to up and ask him, then scare him. Do somethin’ that makes him think he could lose you. That’ll get him goin’.”
It’s not the advice I expected, but it intrigues me anyway.
Scare him.
I wonder how I might accomplish that.
* * *
I spend the day brainstorming something I could do to give Grant a nudge in the right direction, but I don’t have any inspiration. Any possibilities I can think of—like asking back the key to my apartment so he can’t come and sleep with me at night or pretending I’m interested in someone else—feels too fake and melodramatic. It feels too much like a lie.
I don’t want to play a game with him. I just want to be secure in how he feels about me.
After dinner, I have no better ideas, and I wander around the camp aimlessly, wanting to stretch my legs and get some fresh air before I go back down into the bunker.
Maybe the obvious advice is actually the best here. Maybe I should just suck it up and talk to him.
If he ever gets home.
“Olivia!” It’s a male voice but not Grant’s. It’s Ben, the one guy my age from the bunker. He’s always been friendly to me. More so recently. Evidently he broke up with Tara when they were locked down a few weeks ago, so he’s probably a little lonely.
I pause to wait for him to catch up to me. “Hey. How’s it going?”
“Not bad. Are you busy?”
“No. Just taking a little walk. Not ready to go inside yet.”
“Me either.” He smiles at me. “Maybe we can take a walk together.”
I agree since I’m happy for the company. We stroll around the camp, talking casually about anything that crosses our minds.
We’re close to the gate when I see it opening. The sun is starting to go down, so I’m pretty sure who the new arrival will be, and my heart speeds up in anticipation.
