Page 69 of Let's Talk About Love
“Oh, come on! It’s a Rainbow Fish! Like the book!”
“I’m not wearing that.” His voice still hadn’t lost that morning-after edge—a half rumble an octave away from vocal fry—even though it was already nine thirty at night.
“Do you know how hard it is to find these in the summer? It’s lightweight with a breathable fabric.” She shook it in his direction, plastic scales shimmering in the comfortable lighting of his living room. They sat together on the couch, Alice’s Bag o’ Goodies at her feet.
“No one told you to buy that.”
“You said I knew best. Onesie is best.”
“When did I say that?”
“Last night right before I left when you agreed to the wallow sesh.”
Takumi frowned, dark eyebrows pinched together, struggling to remember. Eventually, he sighed. “Can you believe I’ve never been hungover in my life? I ruined a perfectly good six-year streak.”
“Six years? Someone started drinking early,” she teased. “Totally not judging, by the way. So, onesie, yes?”
“It hurts to even look at that thing. Why is it sovibrant?”
“Because it’s actually mine.” She grinned and pulled a second onesie out of the bag. “You get to be the brown bear. Look, it even has little ears on the hood.”
“You are way too excited about this.” He took the onesie anyway.
“It’s true. I am. I’ll calm down in a little bit.”
After changing, gathering blankets and pillows, making all the junk food she thought he would at least try, and selecting the first movie of the night, they returned to the couch and settled into their blanket nest.
“And so,” Alice said, “it begins.”
He wasn’t a fan of horror movies, but had agreed to try one. A low-budget film about a haunted hotel where every room led to a different hell dimension.
(She pretended not to notice each jump scare that worked its magic.)
(She also pretended not to notice how he moved closer to her during every suspenseful scene.)
“Relax,” she whispered, closing the gap between them to sit shoulder to shoulder. Takumi chose the next one—an adventure movie about a group of people who had a lethal imbalance of adrenaline to common sense and decided to scale an infamous snowy mountain for fun.
(Becausewhatcould possibly go wrong?)
“These people are dumb,” Alice said, biting her slice of pizza clean in half. “I don’t care. I’m judging them and their life choices because they’re just dumb and they’re making me physically uncomfortable. If I’m going to risk my life, it had better be to save someone else.”
One of the hikers slid down the mountain feetfirst and collided with a jutting rock. His bones popped out of his legs upon impact.
“Jesus Christ!” Alice burrowed under the blankets so she wouldn’t have to watch. “You promised it wasn’t gory!”
“I forgot about this part.” He tugged on the blankets. “It’s okay. Come out.”
“HIS LEGS. TAKUMI. HIS LEGS.” She uncovered her head to glare at him. “This better make you feel better, because if I sit through this whole movie and you’re still upset—”
“I’m not upset.” He tapped her nose. “Thank you for tonight, but I don’t want you thinking that I go around moping and getting drunk over my ex, okay?”
“That’s not what I meant.” She huffed, turning completely away from the TV screen. A wolf had appeared. That wouldn’t possibly end well for the hiker in the red jacket. “I shouldn’t have said that. It’s okay to miss her or what you had because it was special to you, I think. When someone you love does something terrible to you, everyone tries to make you feel better by saying you’ll get over it and that you should hate that person, but you don’t. Maybe you can, maybe you should, but you don’t want to. So, yeah be upset. Sorry.”
“That was a lot,” he said lightly.
“Seeing that guy’s bones outside of his body put me on edge. I talk a lot when I get nervous.”
Takumi turned the volume down (right when the wolf attacked!Gosh). “I don’t have any more energy to waste on her. I don’t want our past to feel like one giant mistake, you know? I don’t like thinking she’s a horrible person all the time, because she’s not. Or she didn’t used to be. I don’t think”—he took a deep breath—“I don’t think it’s wrong to cut people who feel toxic to you out of your life even if you love them. She’s pretty mad about that.”
