“Thank you.” The words come out on autopilot. I’m not sure if I feel them yet. “Where’s Tara?”
Arizona hooks her finger pointing at the doors behind her. “We said goodbye inside. I dropped her with her boyfriend on my way out here. Why?”
“I’ll tell you in the truck.” I turn on my heel and start marching toward the parking lot the second I get the words out. The things that just went down out here can’t be gossiped about out in the open for the world to hear. I need to sit. In private. Where I can hear my own thoughts before I share them with anyone. Even Arizona.
“Dude, you’re kinda freaking me out now,” Arizona calls after me. Then I hear her break into a jog to catch up with me. “Did hedo something gross? Because he seemed totally cool inside. Like, I was pleasantly surprised by him. My douchebag meter didn’t register a thing. And you know I can spot any and all douchey tendencies a mile away. It’s my magic.”
“He wasn’t gross,” I set her mind at ease. This much at least, I can offer even in public. In fact, I’m happy to publicly announce, Knox Marley is not gross. Not at all. Not one little bit. A non-gross rock star in every way.
“You have your rambling face only you’re not saying anything out loud. It’s totally unfair. I can tell you’re having a million ridiculous thoughts and I can’t laugh at any of them because I don’t know what they are,” she mutters. “And we both know you need me to laugh at them. Otherwise, you lose track of what’s legit and what’s insane.”
“Right, a problem you also seem to have. Clearly, when left to your own devices, your judgement goes straight out the window,” I grumble back.
“I know you’re not referring to my scoring you a face to face with your fantasy man.”
We’ve reached my truck. Thank God. “You don’t think what you did was a little insane?”
“Sure. But you forced my hand when you bolted. You think I drove my happy ass all the way down here to take you to this show just to have you skip out on the best part?”
I don’t answer her this time. I can’t. She’s not wrong. Goddammit. Meeting him was absolutely the best part of tonight. Possibly the last decade. Maybe longer. Though I can’t go much higher before I reach Sloan’s birth and that will stay in top spot forever and always.
Clearly, Arizona claims my silence as a mini victory, because she’s grinning smugly by the time we’re both finally in the truck, doors shut.
This is it. The moment I put everything into words and make it real.
“Knox Marley and I exchanged phone numbers.”
Arizona’s face seems to freeze up at the words. “You did what now?”
“He asked me for my number,” I say again, slower this time. “And then, for extra measure, and as he put it, ‘to make sure I know who it is and actually answer’, he put his number in my phone as well.” And, because I know visual aids help, I hold up my phone for her to see. “Look. That’s him. He did that.”
For a second, she just stares. Then, she lets out a laugh. “Holy-shit-goddamn-woman-it’s-Knox-answer? That’s what he put in for his name?” She laughs some more. “Aw, it’s cute. You two already have a thing.”
“Don’t do that, please,” I beg her. “Don’t act like this is real. Like this could actually go somewhere.”
“I’m not acting.” She sounds instantly serious. “Thisisreal. And it actually could go somewhere. At least as much as any other occasion in which two people exchange phone numbers after briefly flirting with one another.”
“He’s not just some man who asked for my number. He’s a freaking rock star!” I screech whisper, trying to control my hysterics but only succeeding in terms of volume.
“I know. I’m guessing that’s why you chose to give it to him.” She winks. “You know. Because you usually don’t.”
“Are you saying I’mthatsuperficial?” I gasp.
“No, I’m saying your standards arethathigh. It’s either fantasy man, or no man at all.”
I have been going the no man at all route for long enough to make that statement sound somewhat true. “To be honest, I’m not sure why I gave it to him. I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly while it was happening.”
“I’m glad you brought that up.” Arizona turns sideways a bit and scoots into the seat some more, pulling her left knee up in her efforts to get more comfortable. “Let’s talk about that part now. The ‘while it was happening’ part.”
I take a breath and try to reorganize all the thoughts and feelings that have been running amok inside me from the moment I answered what in hindsight was a very suspicious FaceTime call from Arizona.
“I mean, you already know the beginning. I’m assuming you heard every part of our video chat?” I want to be sure before I move on.
“Every part. Yes. It was glorious. Your reaction to his reaction of you was my favorite part.” She nods, eyeballs getting buggy like they do when she’s really getting into the story.
“Yeah, what was that, by the way?” I’ve been putting off freaking out about that ever since it happened. Given all that followed, there just wasn’t time. “Was my hair doing something weird? Did I have the camera at a horrible angle?”
“You’re not serious.” Her expression goes from entertained to disapproving in two seconds flat. “He reacted that way because he thought you were hot! Not because you looked weird or grotesque in any way.” She shakes her head. “Good God, woman. Does the trail of Ebenezer’s work ever end? Your self-esteem can’t really be that much of a shit show.”
