Page 60 of Guy's Girl
“No.” She looks straight at Finch for the first time all day. “No,youdon’t speak. You shut the fuck up, okay?”
He does.
They all do.
Adrian thinks, then, that Ginny is like a top spinning faster and faster, losing control, and he wants to catch her before she spins right off the table.
He clears his throat. “Ginny?”
Everyone looks over at him in surprise.
“Want to... go for a walk?”
Ginny does not look like she wants to go for a walk. She looks like she wants to murder someone—preferably Finch, but if not him, she’ll settle for whoever is closest. Her eyes flare, seeming to burn at the edges. For a moment, his question hangs awkwardly between them.
Finally, she exhales. “Yeah. Fine.” She stands and storms down the side street, heading toward the river. Adrian nods to the boys before leaving. Finch doesn’t notice; he’s staring after Ginny, a strange expression on his face.
The Danube looks dirty in downtown Budapest. Ginny walks along the riverside, eyes glaring at the clouds of dust that puff up around her white sneakers. Adrian falls into step beside her, saying nothing. She walks fast, arms swinging, but her short legs barely match Adrian’s leisurely stroll.
“So.” Adrian clears his throat. “Are we going to talk about it?”
“No.”
“Okay, then. Should we talk about Tristan’s massive imposter syndrome instead?”
“What?” Ginny pulls up short. His question took Ginny entirely by surprise.
“I mean, come on.” Adrian grins.Bring her back, he thinks.You can do this.“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed him trying to be a European for the past two days.”
She pauses, scrunching her forehead. “Now that I think about it... heiswearing a completely different wardrobe than he does in New York.”
“I’ve never seen so much linen in one place,” he says. “Not even Positano.”
Ginny lets out a laugh. The sound makes Adrian want to pick her tiny body up and spin her around.
“And the pastries this morning,” he continues. “He wouldn’t shut up about how famous the bakery is. Then, when they showed up, he made me sit and listen while he walked me through what each pastry was.”
“Becausehe’sthe Hungarian expert here.”
“Exactly.” Adrian sighs. “I didn’t have the heart to tell him that no one in Hegyvidék would use an iPhone app to order breakfast pastries.”
Ginny laughs again, loud and unfettered, the way she used to. Just as it did a year ago, her laughter fills him in places he didn’t realize were empty.
“Feeling better?” he asks.
“Yeah.” She smiles up at him. “Should we keep walking?”
“Sure.”
They continue along the river, watching sunlight dance off the waves.
“I just...” Ginny starts, then gathers herself. “It’s just... I’m just fucking sick of it.”
“Sick of what?”
She kicks a small pebble. “Do you know what it’s like,” she asks, “being the only girl in a group of boys?”
“Can’t say that I do.”
