I press my face into his jacket, feeling calm. Is it his smell? Or the hug? I don’t know, but suddenly Ezra seems like the place I want to be.
We’re riding like that in silence for some time before Ezra’s voice sounds close to my ear. “Fuck, Mae. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what either of us aredoing.” I can feel the vibrations of his words in his chest. “But we’re stuck in this. I know this is not where you wanted to be. I know that. But this is our situation. We don’t have to be enemies. We can be, I don’t know,” he sighs, “maybe friends.”
I lift my face to him. “I’d like that. Also, it’d be lovely if you reverted to just one personality, you know.”
“What do you mean?” he asks with furrowed brows.
“I mean like decide for yourself if you like me or not, you know?” I sniffle. “Because it’s hard to predict when you’ll be the Ezra from New York or my Ezra.”
“Your Ezra?” he repeats with a wide smile.
I understand my slipup too late.
“Like the Ezra from the island when no one was around,” I try explaining, feeling embarrassment taking over my face. “The Mr. Jekyll Ezra.”
“That was your Ezra?” He doesn’t want to let this one go, looking at me with an odd smile on his face.
“Laugh all you want.” I smack his cheek lightly. “But I actually liked that guy.”
“Okay.” He smiles. “I can try being that. Try,” he adds meaningfully. “It’s hard to be that when I’ve just met him too. But I’ll try.”
“Thank you,” I sigh, leaning my head back on his chest. “I don’t know if I have any fight left in me.”
“You better. Because we have a big fight ahead of us.”
“Which fight?” I ask with confusion.
“The society one.”
“Oh, that,” I say unenthusiastically. “I’m not looking forward to that.”
“Neither am I. But it’s unavoidable. Me being married will be a topic of conversation for some time. I don’t know if your absence has been public knowledge because I hadn’t even heard about Wrong having another child until I met you.”
“I’m not surprised, unfortunately. I think they’ll be more interested in you. I bet you made the Forbes list.”
“You haven’t looked me up?” His head jerks back in surprise.
I shake my head. “I don’t even have a phone. Plus, I’ve never been into, you know, Googling and stuff.”
He watches me for a second before speaking. “You’re the oldest young person I’ve met.”
“My friend used to say that too,” I mumble, leaning back into his side again and not liking that Jeff and Ezra have something in common before they’ve even been introduced.
Sighing again, I picture all the awful stares I’ll be given when Ezra shows up with me anywhere. I’m not exactly a staple of society, with my runaway past and rebellious looks.
My rebellious looks.
I push away from his chest and look at his eyes sternly. “I’m not changing my hair.”
“I don’t expect you to.” His face is humorous.
“And I’m not taking my piercing out.”
He leans his face closer to me. “I won’t let you.”
I press my lips at him not letting me do something, but then I actually comprehend what he said and giggle. “You’re looking forward to that, aren’t you?”
He leans back, smiling. “Maybe.”
