Page 56 of Isn't It Obvious?
“Are you going to read me a story instead of Daddy?” She eyes him skeptically.
“Yes. Daddy’s head hurts too much.”
Ravi pushes himself to standing, and Mia folds her arms across her chest. “Will you at leasttryto do different voices?”
Yael would be great at bedtime stories, he thinks. Which, in turn, makes him think of her thighs wrapped around him, her skin under his tongue. He clears his throat. “I’ll do my best, okay? Lewwe go.”
She stomps up the stairs after him, and at the top, demands that he “make her a toothbrush.” He runs the bristles under the water, squeezes a dab of Tom’s strawberry toothpaste for kids on the toothbrush, and hands it off to her. Mia pauses halfway through brushing, just to inform him once again that she’d rather it be Suresh doing bedtime.
Nobody told him that unclehood would require superhuman self-esteem. The number of times a day he’s informed of his inadequacies has gone up exponentially since Mia came into his life.
The first five pages ofWhere’s Halmoni?are all starts and stops. The brother and sister sound too similar, then too different, and soon it’s “ruining the experience.” But eventually, his inability to disguise his own voice proves useful, after all, and the soft, even drone of it makes Mia’s eyelids grow heavy.
Ravi stands up from the bed as slowly and unobtrusively as he can, breathing a sigh of relief when he steps away and Mia’s eyes are still shut. She looks so small like this, and his chest feels full with a swell of affection. He slips out of her room, leaving only the tiny dinosaur night-light on.
Downstairs, in the guest room (a little more his with the Adé Hogue poster on the wall and second plant next to Squirtle on the sill), Ravi retrieves his phone from the nightstand and finds two messages from Elle.
He has to take a deep breath before opening them—if it felt slimy to message her Saturday morning as if nothing had happened, it feels downright filthy to do it now.
Elle
I kissed someone this weekend, and I feel like I should tell you that
I’m sorry, that was really blunt. I know this isn’t something we usually talk about
Ravi scrubs his hand down his face. Fuck, he doesn’t like that. Which is ridiculous, because he had his hand up someone’s skirt earliertonight. He checks the time stamps—these are from a couple of hours ago.Are you still around?he sends back.Yes, she replies immediately.
Ravi
I kissed someone recently, too
Elle
Oh
Ravi
Why did you tell me?
I’m glad you did, for the record
Elle
It felt like I was lying if I didn’t. Why did you?
Other than that I told you
Ravi
Same reason
He rubs his hand over the stubble on his jaw, debating what to say next. Daring himself to be honest about what all this has become to him.I think I like you more than I should, he writes.
Elle
I know I like you more than I should
I think I hate whoever it was. And I know that makes me the worst kind of hypocrite, but it’s how I feel
