“What?”
“Bambi. That nickname. Benji started it, and I know it’s a bad thing when he says it. Does it not mean the same thing when you say it?”
My eyes danced between hers. “No. It doesn’t mean the same thing.”
“Then what does it mean when you say it?”
I cupped her cheek. “If you tell anyone I’ve seen this movie, you’re in big trouble. Got it?”
She snickered. “Yeah. I got it.”
“Promise to go back to campus if I tell you?”
She sighed. “Yeah. Okay. I promise.”
“In the movie, you know, Bambi, that little deer, isn’t really weak.”
“No?”
I shook my head. “No. In the movie, Bambi goes through a lot of loss. The loss of his mother. The loss of his forest. The loss of some of his friends. But eventually, Bambi finds love. Bambi finds a relationship with his father. Bambi has a family. Becomes the head of the forest to protect those he loves.”
She grinned. “Maybe you're more like Bambi than I am.”
I chuckled. “And maybe you’re strong, like Bambi. Stronger than you think.”
“You think I’m strong? That’s why you call me that?”
“I think you’re stronger than even you realize. So, yes. That’s what I mean by Bambi.”
She smiled. “I like that.”
I kissed the tip of her nose. “Good. Now. Let me know when you get back to campus. Okay?”
I slipped quickly out of her car before she could protest any longer. I closed the car door and turned around, watching as Dani sat there. Making her decision. Trying to figure out what her next move was.
Just keep your promise. Be good for me, Bambi.
Then I saw her car backing out of the parking lot.
“There we go,” I murmured.
I stood there, watching her until she drove off into the night, the sound of the car quickly dying in the distance. I sighed as I turned around, ready to hobble my beaten ass up the front porch steps. My raging hard-on kept jamming against the zipper of my jeans. It was well past time for another round of pain medication. And as I opened the screen door, the front door was ripped open.
Revealing my brother holding two white pills and a glass of water.
“I thought you’d never get your ass inside.”
I chuckled. “Me neither, to be honest.”
Then I took the pills and chugged the water, trying to wash my lust for Dani away.
“Come on. I got lemonade and food for you, Max. You can fill me in on what happened at the meeting.”
I sighed. “And after that, a long-ass nap.”
My brother laughed. “Yes, yes. A long-ass, drug-induced nap.”
5