Page 27 of Dear Adam
I don’t know directions very well so I’m turning left outside the restaurant.
I’m wearing a red dress. Unless someone has stolen your phone in the ten minutes we’ve been texting. Then it’s a pink dress and I’m turning right.
I chuckle and type out a quick,OMW.
OMW? Obscene madwoman where? Are you trying to ask for my location discreetly? Is this a ploy? Levi, if this is really you, tell me what your favorite color is.
I turn down Meeting Street and sure enough, I see a girl wearing a red dress typing furiously into her phone. I pull up beside her and roll down my window.
“Do you even know what my favorite color is?”
She jumps, but relief washes over her face as she walks towards the car. “No. But if you said something more complex than blue, I would’ve absolutely known your phone had been stolen.” She slides into the passenger seat gracefully and takes a look around. “I didn’t peg you for a turquoise man, though. Or one to have motivational quotes on their car freshener.”
“‘‘She believed she could, so she did’ really just sets my mood for the day, you know?” She giggles and shoves her phone into her handbag. “This,” I say, gesturing to the dashboard that’s all of three feet wide, “is the Teenie Mobile, my mom’s most prized possession.”
“That’s what I’d say too,” she says with a wink and an elbow in the arm.
“Careful. These puppies are huge, remember? I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” I flex my right arm, and her cheeks flush to the colors of raspberries as she tries to hide a smile.
“Is it alright if we watchSleepless in Seattleat your place? Mom and Dad are both home right now, and I’m not really in the mood to feel like I’m in high school again,” I say, then realize how that must’ve sounded. “Not that, you know, there would be anything for them to walk in on. I just…I…Did you even really want to watchSleepless in Seattle? I can just take you home if you want,” I ramble and immediately want to kick myself in the face.
“Oh, we’re definitely watchingSleepless in Seattle,” she says. “You can’t ruin a perfectly good date by texting someone with that kind of temptation only to let a girl down.”
Perfectly good date?“So, you were on a date?” I ask, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.
“Yeah, with Hudson, the guy who works for my dad and with Adam. He’s…something else,” she says.
“Oh yeah? Like what?” I press. I hope I’m not being too forward, but Ineedto know how this date went.
She sighs and says, “For starters, he found a smudge on every wine glass they brought him. Then he ordered me spaghetti squash and himself a ribeye. Oh, and here’s the kicker: when I looked at my garlic toast, he freaked out about the number of carbs in that one piece.”
“Yikes,” I say, mentally preparing my attack on Hudson. I’m envisioning a full on Old West quick draw, complete with tumbleweeds.
“Levi?” she says, interrupting my fantasy.
“Hmm?”
“Are you hungry? Have you eaten?”
I’d actually just eaten dinner with my mom and dad, but I wouldnevertell her that and risk losing out on spending time with her. “Starving,” I fib.
“Me too. I left before I actually got to eat anything. Can we swing through a drive-thru?”
“I wonder when Hudson realized I left,” Aly says, curled up on the corner of her couch, a chicken tender box cradled in her hands. She’s changed into an oversized sweatshirt and a pair of cotton shorts, and her wavy hair is pulled back with a thick scrunchy. Even her greasy fingers and the way she talks with her mouth a little full don’t stop me from finding her absolutely beautiful right now.
I’m sitting on the opposite side of the couch with my chicken sandwich in one hand and Pretzel curled in my lap. I shrug my shoulders and say, “Who knows. I bet he finished his ribeye though.”
“Probably,” she laughs.
I hit play onSleepless in Seattleand she settles deeper into the couch.
“I can’t believe Pretzel is curled up on your lap right now,” she says, and I detect a hint of jealousy.
“She probably just wants me for my chicken sandwich,” I say and give Pretzel a scratch under her chin.
“I thought we were getting along so well and then this morning, I found out she chewed a hole through every single pair of underwear I have. A not just a little tear here or a little rip there. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say a specific part of every pair is missing.” Aly chews on a fry, her expression sullen. “I think she really misses Adam. It feels kind of weird to be watching this movie without him, doesn’t it?” Tears well in her eyes and threaten to spill over.
“Hey,” I say, picking Pretzel up from my lap and scooting us closer to Aly. “You okay?”
