CHAPTER10
I haveto admit that I do love being on the back of Rob's bike. It's a wonderful excuse to cling to him, to hold on tight, and I can pretend that there are no issues between us, that everything is all sunshine and rainbows, and that my life isn't falling apart at the seams.
Rob’s right. The place is a total dive, but I get the feeling that most everyone inside is a regular.
“Do you want to eat?” Rob asks.
I shake my head. “I had a large dinner.”
He doesn’t ask about that, for which I’m grateful. I know, I know. I need to tell him about my father, but not yet. Not right now. I just need a little more time or some shit like that.
Or maybe I just need to put my big girl panties on already.
I open my mouth to tell him but then shut it again. Nope. Not just yet.
“If you want to eat, go for it,” I tell him.
“I usually always order something, even if it’s small, when I plan on drinking.”
“So you’re going to drink?”
“Is that all right with you?”
“Why would I care?” I ask.
“Because you can’t.”
I shrug. “Maybe I can later.”
“But the karaoke…”
Just then, a girl starts to sing. I look over to see that she’s wearing a shirt that barely covers her nipples. Guys are already trying to convince her to take her top off. Gross.
And what’s worse is that she’s singing badly. So off-key.
“Can you do better than that?” he asks.
“Too bad it’ll be years before you find out.”
“Nah, not if we pre-game it next time before coming here.”
“I suppose that would work, but maybe tonight, you could be the one to sing to me.”
“Not a chance.”
I laugh and shoot him a shy smile. We should probably talk more about what happened, but I don’t want to ruin things. It’s going so well right now between us.
But sweeping it under the rug won’t help things long term.
I clear my throat. "So… what's new with you in the time you were giving me the silent treatment?"
“It wasn’t a silent treatment. That’s when you’re silent when the other person was around.”
“So what was it then?”
"More like a separation, I guess."
I wince. “I don’t like that word.”