“No, I bet you’re not,” I mumble.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” I sip my tea. “I’m sure you don’t have trouble getting people to be interested in you.”
“Why do you say that?”
I scoff. “Because you’re attractive, obviously.”
Wilder pauses, tilting his head. “You think I’m attractive?”
I feel my cheeks burn, but I nod anyway. “Well, yeah, I have eyes.”
A sexy smirk spreads across his face, and my insides instantly warm. “I happen to think you’re attractive too.”
My brain stutters over that. It’s not that I don’t think I’m attractive, but I think I appeal to a certain kind of person—the kind who values other things over physical looks.
I’ve never seen the inside of a gym other than in PE classes in school. I don’t do much of anything except play on my computers and build games. I’m pale because I don’t get any sunlight. The muscles I do have aren’t visible. I’ve even got a little bit of a stomach pooch, probably from all the pizza I consume. So I’m definitely not used to a man who looks like Wilder thinking I’m attractive.
“Thanks,” is all I manage to say. “That’s nice of you.”
Wilder chuckles. “Nice of me.” His smile fades as he seems to study my face. “Have you been told otherwise?”
“Not really.”
“Then haven’t you been made to feel that you’re attractive?”
“Um, no, not by people who look like you.”
“People who look like me?” he repeats. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Well, I’m cute and you’re hot, and those two things normally don’t go together.”
“Says who?”
“My experience.” I take another sip of the tea now that it’s not scalding hot anymore.
It’s got a hint of sugar in it, but otherwise it’s pretty bland. Tastes nice though, and it’s soothing.
“It was never the jocks who looked at me, or the guys who go to the gym all the time, or the super popular kids in school. It was the kid who sat next to me in math club. Or the science club geek. It was the computer gamer or the tuba player in band. Those are the kind of guys who look at me, but that’s not the kind of guy you are.”
“How do you think you know so much about me?” Wilder asks. “We’ve barely met.”
“You have a vibe. You’re sophisticated and worldly. You’ve literally been to hell and back. I’m gonna assume that you don’t spend your free time playing video games.”
He laughs softly. “Can’t say I ever have, no.” He shakes his head. “It took me a while to even understand and adopt some of the technology and things that have changed around me in my long life. At first, I had no need for it, but eventually I started to see that there are benefits to technology. Like telephones.”
“Telephones?”
He nods. “The invention of the telephone was a big change for society, and it’s only gotten more and more advanced with cell phones that act as little computers nowadays. I don’t even need an actual computer. I can just use my phone.”
“Yeah, that’s true. I forgot that you were alive when none of that stuff existed, not even landlines, right?”
“Correct. Not even cars. It’s been quite a whirlwind of technology, from electricity to indoor plumbing to cars.” A nostalgic look spreads across his face as his gaze softens. “I still remember seeing my first automobile. It seems impossible when you look at what they’ve become now. I never would have been able to imagine it back then.”
“Wow, yeah. I can only imagine. What about television? Was that really cool?”
“I found it interesting, but I was very deep in my own world at that time. I still preferred live performances like the theater.”
