“Working, sadly.” I have that meeting with my dad and his producers on Monday, and I don’t want to be jetlagged for it.
“Cancel it,” he says decisively.
“Whoa tiger.” I laugh. “I actually do have a job. I can’t just gallivant around the hinterlands of America on short notice.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Let’s look at our calendars and find a date.” I pause. “It’s funny that I’ve never seen you in your own environment. Like, I’ve never been to your apartment.”
“I’m dying to go to your house. I bet it’s so girly and cute.”
My house actually is girly and cute.
“I bet yours is full of doilies and cats and those wood blocks that sayit’s wine o’clock somewhere,” I joke.
“Yep,” he says. “And dead bodies.”
“That goes without saying.”
Seth asks for the check and I get up to go to the bathroom.
I take in my reflection in the mirror.
Usually I feel critical of myself, but right now, in this moment, I think I look pretty. Maybe it’s just the lighting, or the flattering color of this dress, or the way my hair turns wavy in the humidity.
Or maybe I’m seeing myself through Seth’s eyes.
I consider refreshing my lipstick but then decide it’s pointless. I want to kiss Seth with these lips, and I’m not sure how he’ll look in Nars Jungle Red.
“Ready?” he asks when I get back to the table.
“Yep. Where to next?”
“It’s a surprise.”
He takes my hand and we walk out to the parking lot. We make it as far as his mom’s car. I push him against the door and kiss him.
The last dregs of anxiety I’ve been harboring melt away once his arms are around me. “You,” my body thinks. “You.”
“Mommy! Eeeeew! They’re kissing!” a little boy cries.
“Knee that kid in the balls,” I whisper to Seth.
He laughs into my hair, pulling me closer.
We make out for what must be five minutes, until we’re both sweaty and sticky from the heat.
I step away and rub my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Let’s go to a hotel,” I say.
Seth shakes his head. “Nope. I have a whole day planned for us.”
And he does. Our next stop is the aquarium where we went on our second date. We wander through dark rooms, past otherworldly floating jellyfish and tanks boasting schools of angelfish, butterfly fish, and prehistoric-looking monsters called porcupine fish. It’s both captivating and deeply creepy, in the way of all aquariums.
We step out into a room with a giant sea turtle lolling in a huge, open pool, and then to something called the Shark Room, which I drag Seth through quickly. I do not fuck with sharks. This leads us to the aquarium’s most famed inhabitants: two giant manatees.
“I can’t decide if they’re cute or hideous,” Seth says, taking in their roly-poly bodies and snubbed snouts.
