Page 42 of Promising You
“No. Let’s get an apartment so we can live together.”
“But we’re in college. We live in the dorms.”
“We don’t have to live in the dorms. We can live off campus. There are plenty of apartments close to campus.” He waits for me to pour the batter in the pan. “So what do you think?”
I set the bowl down, finally getting the fact that he just asked me to move in with him. “Are you serious?”
“I’m totally serious. Living in the dorms sucks. And you always say that you hate sharing a bathroom with 20 girls. This way you’d only have to share with me.”
I was not at all expecting this and now I’m not sure how to react. Move in together? At 19?
“Garret, my room and board is paid for. I don’t have money for rent. You know that.”
“I’ll have my dad put your room and board money into a rental fund.”
“I don’t have a car. How am I supposed to get to class?”
“Hmm. That’s a problem. What if I bought you a car?” he asks cautiously.
“No. Absolutely not. You are not buying me a car.”
“Then I’ll drive you to campus. Or we’ll get a place on the bus line.”
I watch him as he continues to think, trying to find a way to make this work. It’s so sweet. He really wants this, and I think I do, too, but it seems too soon.
“Let’s just put a hold on the moving-in-together idea, okay?”
He goes back to the stove and stirs his chili. I can tell he’s disappointed and I hate disappointing him.
I put the cornbread in the oven and go stand beside him. “It’s not that I don’t want us to live together. I just think we should wait. At least one more semester. And besides, I practically live with you already. I’m always in your dorm room.”
“That’s not the same as having our own place. We need an apartment, not a dorm room.” He adds another secret spice to the pot. “Once you taste this chili, you’re going to want a kitchen so I can make this, and all my other secret recipes, all the time.”
I take a whiff of the chili. “You have other secret recipes?”
“Tons. This is just one of many. And you could have them every night if we lived together.”
I turn him away from the stove and give him a hug. “Garret, I love you and I really do want to move in with you. Just not this semester, okay?”
“You haven’t even tried the chili yet.” He pulls away and takes a spoon from the drawer, then dips it in the chili, holding it out for me to taste. I take a bite.
“It’s good. Really good. Way better than the chili I normally make.”
“Yeah, so?”
“I still can’t move in with you. Not yet.”
“All right.” He kisses my forehead. “At least you like the chili.”
“What smells so good in here?” Frank appears, rolling his wheelchair into the kitchen.
“Garret made chili,” I answer. “And I’m making cornbread.”
“One of my favorite meals,” Frank says. “Thanks for making dinner. I thought you two would go out for dinner tonight.”
I take a seat at the table next to Frank. “We wouldn’t leave you all alone. I’m here to spend time with you.”
Garret sits next to me. “Is there anything you want to do tonight?” he asks Frank. “I could go get some movies.”
