Page 57 of The Big Easy & Other Lies
A minute later, Bran dropped into his seat in front of me, three seconds before the bell rang and Mrs. Hebert called, “Pop quiz” to a chorus of groans. Monday was underway, but now that I had a lunch date, it already had a tinge of Friday to it.
* * *
Bran and Livvie both claimed other plans during lunch, so Rhett gave me a ride and we talked about the weather. Seriously. At Boudreau’s we slid into a booth, and Peggy nodded at us, not bothering to ask Rhett what he wanted.
“She’s giving you your usual, so speak up if you want something else,” I said.
“I’m excited to find out what my usual is.”
“It’s whatever you had last time.”
“Po-boy. Cool.”
We were sitting on the same side of the booth, and I wanted to slither beneath the table to the other bench. I’d slid in next to Rhett out of habit because it was the side I sat on when I ate with Bran and Livvie. Same side sitting was for couples, not...us. Feeling stupid, I stood and slipped into the other side.
He sighed and dropped his head back on the seat. “I can’t figure you out,” he said to the ceiling.
I wrinkled my nose. “Me?”
He straightened slightly. “Yeah, you. ‘Come to lunch with me but don’t sit by me in public.’”
“That’s not why I moved!”
“Then why?”
“I didn’t want to crowd you.” It sounded weak. “I shouldn’t assume you want to share your side of the booth.”
He stared.
“It made sense in my head,” I mumbled.
He flicked a sugar packet at me. “You make no sense at all.” It missed, but I got up and plopped back down beside him.
“Sorry. I will now always arrange my face into easy-to-read expressions.”
He slid an arm along the booth behind my head. “It would help,” he said. “There’s so much guesswork to figure out what you’re thinking.”
“About what?” I asked.
“Everything.”
“Oh, good. If it’s onlyeverything.” I waved my hand, brushingeverythingaway as if it were dandelion fluff.
He tapped the top of my head. “Imean, for example, that your text surprised me this morning.”
“Why?”
“Because you didn’t seem interested in hanging out yesterday. I thought maybe you’d see me today and give the ‘We’re cool’ wave from across campus.”
“I wanted to hang out but—”
“Let me guess. It’s complicated.”
I reached up and patted the hand now barely grazing my shoulder. “Ding, ding, ding.”
He captured my hand with his, both of them now resting on my shoulder. It was awkward and awesome. “I thought you might be mad about the...” He trailed off when Peggy stalked over with our drinks. She left and I prompted him.
“Mad about the...?”
