Page 30 of Mostly My Boss
“I guess that can happen with a long-distance relationship,” I pointed out.
Daniel shook his head. “She’s all,you’re going to cheat on me, I know it.I told her, just because I was away from her, didn’t necessarily mean I was going to cheat. But oh no. She’s convinced.”
“Yes, but is that what you said to her? That you weren’tnecessarilygoing to cheat?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“That’s horrible,” I told him. “No wonder she has doubts.”
Daniel looked horrified. “What are you talking about? I just said, me being away didn’t mean I was necessarily going to cheat. Also known as being faithful.”
“Let me interpret for you how women hear things.I’m not going to cheatmeans you’re promising her not to cheat. I’m notnecessarilygoing to cheat means you may or may not cheat. You’re leaving the window open, which is all she heard. Totally different.”
“Women are fucked up,” Daniel said, obviously annoyed.
“No, I’m pretty sure we’re an entirely logical sex who also has a strong grasp of the English language.”
“You might be better off staying with us and eating turkey,” Ethan said.
“Nah, man, I’ve definitely got to go home now. In fact, I’m going to call her just to set the record straight.”
“Good idea,” I said.
Daniel put his cup on an available surface—there weren’t many—and left the house. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw that it wasn’t midnight yet. It was lame wanting to go home before twelve, but sweater or not, it appeared I still wasn’t interested in picking up random guys. And there was always work I could be doing.
“I’m going to call a cab,” I told Ethan.
He reached out to grab my hand. “Wait, so early?”
“I know, your plans with that girl probably aren’t until later, but I really don’t feel like hanging around just to be her placeholder.”
He winced and so did I. That had sounded super bitter.
“That came out bitchier than I meant it to. Sorry.”
He looked at me like he sometimes did when a professor was saying something that I could tell he was connecting with. As if, through all the noise, he’d singled out the most important fact.
“Does it bother you? Me hooking up?”
“No,” I spat. “Of course not. Don’t be insane.”
He lifted his eyebrows.
“We’ve already well established exactly what we are. And we are not the hooking-up type. Besides, I’m mad at you, like, five times a day.”
“Yes, I know. I irritate a lot of people. You’re the only who seems to stick around.”
I smiled and punched him lightly on the shoulder. “You’re probably feeding into my subconscious desire to fix the people in my life. But whatever. So I can go?”
“I’ll go with you,” he said and pulled out his own phone, presumably to call us a cab.
“What about the girl?”
“There will be others. You’re the only who’s going to cook me Thanksgiving dinner.”
“It’s just turkey, stupid.”
Then he looked at me with a serious expression, one that brought out a wrinkle between his thick eyebrows. “It’s everything, Jules.”
