Page 36 of Spring Fling
More comments. So much more room for judgment, but no one was saying anything negative. It was all mostly praise for doing something different and including a partner. How many of them wanted to see who was with him? Some expressed jealousy and wishes that they were in my place.
I nearly dropped my phone when it rang in my hand. Joe’s name lit up my screen and I quickly answered it, holding it to my ear.
“He—hey.”
“You’re looking at them again, aren’t you?”
I huffed out a laugh. “I wanted to know what people were saying.”
Joe was quiet for a long moment. “Does it bother you? That other people get to see me that way?”
My mind buzzed around the question. It would be logical. When you start a relationship with someone, there’s this expectation that they’ll be exclusive to only you. Joe had been doing this, and it was how he made his money. Maybe I was doing something wrong if he was questioning if I was okay with it. I thought I’d made it clear.
“I’m in those pictures, too. So if it doesn’t bother you that people can see parts of me, I don’t have room to talk.”
Another long stretch of silence filled the line before Joe spoke again.
“So, what does this mean for us? Is this a thing we do together, or…?”
Yeah, that was something we needed to discuss. Because if I wanted a relationship with Joe, that would be part of it.
“I wouldn’t mind doing it together.”
Joe’s chuckle gave me goosebumps. “Is that so, sweetheart? You want to get naked on camera with me and put on a show? That’s quite the leap in the last week.”
It was, but the proof was already right there online. On his page. In full color. I swallowed thickly because this was my opportunity to be brave.
“Maybe—maybe we can experiment with some different things.” I’d been pacing around my room the entire fucking time, and now that it was out there, I needed to sit.
“We can definitely visit that.”
I took a shuddery breath, nodding before realizing that Joe couldn’t see me. “I’d... like that.”
We finished our call and disconnected.
There was a commotion out in the living room, so I got up to see what was going on. Mom had pulled out a box and was going through whatever was in it. Dad stood over her shoulder, watching every last move.
“Casey, come on now. Would you relax?”
“How can I relax?”
My eyes widened. What had my mom so worked up and what was she searching for so frantically?
“It has to be around here. I swear. You don’t just misplace something like that.”
I cleared my throat and both of my parents stood bolt upright. Mom attempted to shove the box behind her back and only succeeded in spilling the contents all over the floor.
“Everything okay?”
“Things are fine. Your mother just thinks she’s losing it.”
Mom glared at Dad. “Don’t say that. I swear. I should have given it to him months ago and you’re not helping right now.”
“Given who, what?” They had my interest.
Mom slapped a hand over her forehead. “Your grandpa had this really old camera... It’s film. I know you mostly work with digital stuff. I’d meant to give it to you for your birthday. I think I’ve just been a scrambled mess since this summer.”
I nodded. Outside of Nathan’s rekindling things with Chase, our Uncle Drew had suffered a heart attack. He was Mom’s brother, and it freaked her out that she’d almost lost him. Again. The man had a history of bad health and all this other crazy family drama came out in the process.
