Page 144 of Biggest Player
Me:
Something like that.
Me:
And stop saying things like that. I’m mad at you.
Dex:
Margot . . .
Me:
And stop saying my name like that.
Dex:
Please talk to me.
Me:
I am talking to you.
Dex:
I need to see you.
Dex:
Pretty please.
“What guy says pretty please anymore?” Cora’s lips are pursed as she sets my phone on the table in the teachers’ lounge, head shaking. “I still cannot believe he’s begging to see you. The audacity of this guy.”
“I know.” I pluck at my ham-and-cheese sandwich, not hungry anymore, picking the crust off. “What should I do?”
Her eyes are wide. “I wish I had better advice for you, but you’re dealing with an entirely different kind of man than I’m used to. I mean, last night Mark and I put an IKEA dresser together while eating a frozen pizza.”
So relatable—unlike Dex and his signing events and huge house and personal chef.
“Okay, pretend he’s normal, though. What would you do if you were in my position?” I can’t tell my mother about this; she would die. She would also tell me to do whatever I had to do to keep him because of all the money he has.
Money, in her eyes, equals stability.
“I don’t know—I run right toward red flags.” She laughs.
“What do you mean?”
Cora shrugs, digging a Cheez-It out of a lunch-size bag of them. “One, when Mark and I started dating, he almost never made plans in advance—and never on the weekends. Two, I didn’t meet his parentsuntil six months in. Three, he called me his ‘friend’ when I met his grandmother, after we’d already been living together for eight months.”
Oh shit. I did not know that about their relationship.
I gulp. “Uh. Okay, wow.”
“You should see your face.” Cora pauses. “My point is, I’m the wrong person to ask.” She eats a cracker and chews, thinking. “You know what you should do, though? Trust your gut. If something feels off, it probably is. And if it feels right—” She shrugs. “You’re the one who has to live with the consequences, and I won’t judge you, whatever you decide.”
My stomach turns. “I just don’t know what my gut is saying.”
Cora continues to snack. “Maybe you need to give it some time? It’s okay not to have all the answers—you don’t have to respond to him right away. You could take a step back, focus on other things, and see how you feel in a week or two.”
