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Something in the pit of my stomach wasn’t so sure that Tilly was being honest. Her body language was all over the place, and she struggled to look me in the eyes ever since she spotted the bulging envelope on the table.
“But wait, I don’t get it.” I pressed, crossing my arms. “After he said it, he looked at me and panicked. Why would he do that? What does that have to do with me, Tilly?”
“Nothing, it’s tampons. And, you know, other girl stuff.”
“Your mom didn’t mail you tampons.” I rolled my eyes. “What’s in there? Come on, stop being weird.”
“Fine. Okay, but…” Tilly closed her eyes, a line forming above her nose as she breathed in deeply. “I asked my mom to send your letters.”
“Oh,” I said, scratching the back of my neck. “That’s sort of sweet.”
She still wouldn’t look at me.
“Tilly,” I said, trying to get her to make eye contact with me. “It’s okay, you don’t need to be embarrassed. I think it’s nice that you want to have them here with you. Like taking a walk down memory lane or something. Why is that such a secret?”
Smiling, I wondered how many letters there were. I must have sent her one every few weeks while I was gone. I’d sent so many but had never seen them all in one place before. “Can I see? It’s been such a long time.” I asked, genuinely curious to see how big the stack would be.
“I’m really hungry,” Tilly said, still clutching the large envelope to her chest. “Why don’t we have breakfast first—”
“C’mon, it’ll just take a second.”
“Wyatt,” she snapped, pressing her eyes tight. “Not right now, okay?”
“Fine, all right,” I said, taking a step back. “Let’s go eat.”
“Thank you.” She looked annoyed and relieved in equal measure.
Something was up.
We ate our donuts in silence. Dutch attempted to inject some levity into the tension that lingered at the table. Hopping back up on the counter, he took a sip of his drink and asked, “If you could make out with a cartoon character, which one would it be?”
“Are you serious?” Ronnie asked between bites, making a face. And I wondered if, secretly, she was regretting her choices from the night before.
“Deadly serious.”
“Well, then, you have to go first.”
“Dude, it’s obvious. Jessica Rabbit. There is no other valid choice. Have you seen her? She’s sex on a stick.”
“Okay, I guess I’ll give you that,” Ronnie said. “But she seems like the obvious choice. There are no sexy male cartoon characters…are there?
Tilly shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Oooh, Gaston. Beauty and the Beast. He’s got all kinds of muscles,” Ronnie said, biting her bottom lip and nodding. Tilly laughed.
“What about you, Norway?” Dutch asked, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged on Tilly’s counter.
“Can’t say I’ve ever given it much thought.”
“I call bullshit. Cartoons are, like, your life, man. I saw the packet in your backpack. Matilda the Magic. Badass, dude.”
“Dutch!” Ronnie snapped at him before putting her hand over her mouth.
“You were going through my stuff?”
“No, not intentionally,” Ronnie said.
“How do you go through someone’s bag unintentionally?” I pressed, feelings of agitation building in my gut.
