Page 19 of The Other Side of Together

“He reads by candlelight?”

I shrug and nod. “Yeah. Kind of his thing. And collecting weird, abstract photos.” I nod toward a few pictures hanging above the table. A tree made of bike chains and a river made of wire and rope.

“That’s…unexpected for a detective.” She smiles and walks to the table, grabs Buddha, and sits across from me while I pour milk over the mound of Oreos in each bowl and stare at Buddha in Mei’s hand. Kinda wish I was him right now, Mei’s hands all over me, her fingers on—

I slide my bowl over a shriveled piece of cereal I missed wiping off this morning and jerk my eyes to her face.

“So, what you do,” I explain as Mei watches, “is pile Oreos in the biggest bowl you can find. Then you drown them in milk, and when I say drown, I mean, like a Pacific Ocean of milk. Then, you wait four and a half minutes exactly. They’ll be perfectly soaked and show your mouth a whole new world. Guaranteed.”

She holds the peas over her left cheek and eye, but her right eyebrow arches.

“And while we wait, you can tell me what the Buddhist said to the hot-dog vendor.” *1

She rests her elbow on the table. “What?”

I pop the lid back on the milk with my palm. “If we’re gonna hang out, you should know I tell stupid jokes. Done it forever, no matter how obnoxious.”

“I’m fine with that.”

“The hanging out part or the stupid jokes?”

She shrugs. “Both.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Cool.” I swirl my Oreos in the milk with a spoon.

“So, are you going to tell me the answer?” she asks.

“Was kinda hoping you’re a guesser.”

“I’m not.”

“But you like me to guess.” I look at the peas she’s still holding to her face.

She stares at me until her eyes talk. “Hi.”

I smile and lean forward, forearms on the table, and respond silently. “Hey.”

Her one eye blinks.

Both of mine hold it and say,“So…Face Eater…”

Her solo eye responds,“I still don’t want to talk about him.”

“I don’t wanna talk about him ever but…Face Eater is…”I push an Oreo into its milky grave with the back of my spoon. “This is where you fill in the blank.” My heart goes for a jog when I meet her eye again and I wanna fill in the blank by introducing our lips.

She presses hers together, but her eye tells me she understood my silent thoughts, loud and clear. Like a megaphone next to her ear.

I swear through a smile and hold up my hands.“Sorry! Just discovered a big problem with Eye Language. Can’t hide my thoughts from you. Even with your obvious disadvantage.”

“I like that.”

“I’d like it better if it went both ways.”

“We’ll see.”

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