“The only art on your walls is a Star Wars poster.”
“That I put in a frame. See? Adult.”
Lindsay tried to decide what she really wanted here. She sensed that Brad was trying to woo her in his own very Brad way. She couldn’t quite understand why.
“Anyway,” he said after he ate another chip, “you agreed you could spend time in the same room as me without us stabbing each other, so I partly just came by to say hi while I wait for Lauren. So, hi.”
“Hi.”
Brad ate another chip. “These are good. What do you usually drink here?”
“We come here for the martinis.”
Brad picked up the drink menu and grimaced. Lindsay suddenly remembered that, though he had a sweet tooth, Brad hated sugary drinks. When the waitress came by again, he ordered a scotch on the rocks.
They’d known each other inside and out once. How much of that knowledge had changed over time?
Some things probably hadn’t changed. Brad had a tattoo of two rolling pins that formed an X on the inside of his forearm now—that had definitely been added in the last five years—but she suspected a lot of other things were the same. He hated green olives but liked black ones. He added milk but not sugar to coffee. He had an allergy to horseradish he didn’t know about until he ate some one day in culinary school and then broke out in hives. He loved sci-fi movies and watching baseball games while snoozing on his sofa and reading thrillers. She assumed little of that had changed.
She sipped her martini and eyed him.
“What are you thinking now?” he asked.
“That I know you but I don’t. I was just mentally cataloging the things I remember about you.”
“Was one of those things my huge penis?”
Lindsay laughed despite herself. “No. I guess I’ll put that on the list. I was thinking more how you like your coffee, what foods you’re allergic to, which kind of movies you like.”
“Ah, okay. You like your coffee light and sweet, like, why even bother with the coffee? You’re allergic to pineapple, as we learned during the upside-down cake incident. And you like froufrou rom-coms but will never admit it. There. Did I pass?”
“Yeah, I guess so. What makes you think I like rom-coms?”
“Because despite your aversion to love and commitment, you teared up at the end of every one we watched together. You, my dear ex, are a sap.”
“That is not true.”
He shrugged.
“These are all superficial things anyway,” she said. “Me being allergic to pineapple doesn’t tell you anything about my personality.”
“No, it doesn’t. What does, however, is something I’ve always admired about you, which is that you are fiercely loyal to your friends, but as soon as someone does anything to cross you or them, that person is dead to you. I know this because I was on the wrong side of that once. And I’d like to be alive to you again.”
***
Brad knew he was running out of time. Evan would get here any minute, and although Brad and Lindsay were not exactly in private as they spoke in the middle of a crowded bar, none of her friends were here to overhear this conversation.
“What does that even mean?” Lindsay asked after a long pause.
“I think you should go out with me again.”
“Brad.”
“Hear me out. I think you should go out with me again. Not commit to anything, just go on a date or something, so that I can demonstrate to you that I am a good person and that we could be good together once we figure out that whole trust thing.”
“This thing with us didn’t work out the first time. What makes you think it will now?”
That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? “We’ve learned and grown as people?”
