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It feels like all the air in the room has been sucked out, and I stare into his eyes as tears spring up into mine. “Do you really?” I whisper.
He nods.
“Then let’s stay here. Let’s not go to their galas or dinners. Let’s not even go to the club. Fuck the whole plan, Adam.” As I blink, my throat stings with emotion. “Fuck them.”
“Okay,” he says, and a smile cracks across my cheeks as I take his face in my hands and kiss him hard.
“You’re good enough. You’re more than good enough,” I mumble against his lips.
* * *
I don’t even know what time it is when I finally emerge from my apartment. After the talk this morning, Adam and I showered together, had sex again, and then he drifted off to sleep. Since I couldn’t sleep myself, I climbed out of bed and cleaned my apartment for a while, scrolling the app for updates on our videos.
I said we were done faking it, but I hope this doesn’t mean we’re done posting videos. There’s a part of me that really loves that part, and now that we get to do it for real, it should be even better.
The sound of voices coming from the front of the Laundromat makes me pause as I close the stairwell door behind me. It’s a man’s voice, and he’s speaking loudly. For a moment, I pause.
Then I hear Gladys and Mary break out in laughter and my shoulders melt away from my ears. It takes me a moment before I recognize Dan, one of the regulars, telling an animated story like he always does. Walking through the rows of washers toward the front, I smile as I reach the crowd gathered there.
At the front of Gladys’s Laundromat is an eight-foot white folding table covered in food. Around the table are mostly regulars and a few newcomers, quickly devouring the meals in front of them.
For many of them, this might be the first warm one they’ve had in months.
“Hey,” Gladys calls when she sees me coming. “Come get some enchiladas. They’re delicious.”
“Sure,” I say with a sleepy smile as Mary hands me a plate. Waving to the guys and one girl sitting around the table, I lean against the counter and take a bite of Mary’s famous chicken enchiladas. When one of the guys gets up to offer me his seat, I shake my head and insist he take it.
While I eat, they continue their conversation, and I feel Gladys’s eyes on me.
“You okay?” she asks, turning her back to the conversation.
“It’s been a long weekend,” I reply with honesty.
“Adam’s treating you right, I hope.”
As I take a bite, I nod at her with a smile.
“He showed up here last night looking like a mess. I tried to tell him you weren’t home, but he just sat in the stairwell for over an hour and waited.”
“Yeah…I know.”
For a moment, she just watches me, and I wait for the nugget of wisdom I know is coming.
“He seems like a good guy,” she says.
To which I immediately reply, “He is.”
“But…”
I glance up at her, not quite understanding why there has to be a but. When she doesn’t say anything, I realize there’s a big but I’ve been harboring. Aside from everything Adam has been going through and this whole fake dating scheme, there is still a lot that’s keeping me from saying,Yes, this is the one.
I set my plate down and turn toward her. “He and I are so different, Gladys. We come from different worlds. And I know. I know…love conquers all—and I’m not saying that’s what this is. But…eventually, the honeymoon period will fade and reality will set in and all the things that separate us will be insurmountable.”
Pressing her lips together, she nods. Then to my surprise, she agrees.
“You’re right. They will.”
“Wow, that’s encouraging,” I joke.
