Page 92 of So Not My Thing
“I...can’t imagine that,” he confessed.
“I know. Your voice is a commodity, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But mine’s only for me.”
“And me sometimes?” he asked.
“And you sometimes,” I said, smiling. “If you’re good.”
“What about today on the stairs? Was I good?”
“Pretty good.” I smiled wider.
“Good enough that you’ll sing with me? Do our own carpool karaoke?” He was already reaching for my phone. “What’s your passcode? I’ll find us something good.”
“You can’t have my passcode,” I told him.
“Why not? You already made out with me. Are you saying your passcode is too intimate? You can have mine,” he said, rattling it off.
“We’re at passcodes already?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“I am. I can wait for you to catch up, but basically we’re at stage four of modern love.”
“Fascinating,” I said, every single molecule fluttering that he’d used the word “love.” “What are the first three?”
“I ask you out. Which I did a million times. You say yes. We have a good time. We kiss. We do that a bunch. Then I call you my girlfriend. Then we trade passcodes.”
“I disagree with stage three. It needs editing.”
“Calling you my girlfriend?”
“Yeah. You can’t just go around saying that.” I worked hard to keep my tone neutral so he wouldn’t know how hard I was fighting not to smile.
“You don’t want to be my girlfriend?”
“I’m saying that requires a discussion,” I informed him. “I’m not into unilateral decision-making.”
He dropped his head against the seat and groaned. “Anneke is going to love you.”
“Excuse me?” Hers was not the name I wanted to hear at the moment.
“Vocabulary nerds. Both of you. Hang on.” He pulled out his phone and tapped out a text, reading the words as he typed. “My...girlfriend...just...accused...me...of...unilateral... decision-making.”
“I’m not your girlfriend,” I told him. Even though he’d just called me that to Anneke. Even though it had felt so good to hear him say it.
“Okay, but what if you are my girlfriend in my mind?”
“Then you’re delusional.”
“What do I have to do to change your mind?”
“Probably ask.”
“Ellie?”
“Yes?”
“Are you always going to be this difficult?” He sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
“Yes.”
