Nate: What is?
Jack: You, thinking I believe you.
Jack: If it were true, you wouldn’t be advertising it this way.
Nate: Why not?
Jack: Even back then you had respect for the girls you were sleeping with.
Jack: You never talked about them and what happened.
Jack: If I wasn’t sharing a room with you, I wouldn’t know as much as I did.
Nate: You keep forgetting that I had most of my sexual activities in their rooms and not ours.
Jack: Hm…
Jack: True. I’m not even sure you brought anyone to our room the wholefourth year.
Jack: Why?
Nate: Maybe my mind was somewhere else.
Nate: We just parked, we’ll be there soon.
JACK
I stuff my phone back in my pocket and pick up the drink that Evie is handing me. She keeps casting glances towards Ikram, who’s weirdly silent on the couch next to me, our thighs brushing each others. My wheelchair is folded next to him, waiting for me if needed.
I still can’t believe I’ve been walking a little. Even if it’s just from the dining table to the fridge, or ten minutes between benches in the park. And I’ve managed to keep it a secret from Prue. I want her to be surprised. To see that I’m getting better, and we can do more things that we couldn’t before. Like maybe just take a stroll to the park and play the storytelling game on passersby. Go to a cafe or a restaurant and it wouldn’t matter if there is a ramp or not.
With all that, I’m almost not upset about Dr. Patel denying my request.
Life is getting better. And for the first time in a long time, I’m excited to see what’s next.
Even if Nate is trying to play with my head.
I know they’re not really together. Grumpy Raph was an exception, but Prue is not into casual relationships. And maybe that’s my fault. Because of how I acted for a long time, she never really got the chance to date, to meet people and just have fun. No matter that I’ve changed my mind about all this now, and I’m all for her having the fun she deserves, I know she’s afraid. Maybe because of me. Or just because she’s a romantic, and she fears her storytelling brain embellishing a relationship into something that it’s not.
And Nate has always been a casual sex kind of guy. From the moment I met him until the very end, he did not do serious and commitment.
I tense a little as I see them enter the bar. He’s walking right behind her. Close. Like, his front is touching her back. I narrow my eyes to watch them move through the crowd towards the bar.
Right, they need to get their wristband if they want to have their single’s discount.
But why are they so close?
Am I missing something? Nate was not—
Right. Was. Hewasnot. I should have assumed that he could change in over 9 years. Maybe he’s the commitment type now. Maybe they were, indeed, having sex in his car just then.
I release a deep breath. Am I okay with that? I’ve changed. Prue is a grown up, and I don’t have a say to who she is dating—or not dating. Iwanther to be happy. To find love. To be surrounded by people who care.
Why not Nate?
No. Not Nate. He’s messing with me, he’s not really—
“Are you alright?” I snap my head to the side towards Ikram who’s looking at me with concern, and force myself to relax.
