Page 74 of Haunt the Mall
He frowned. “What?”
Awkwardness paralyzed me. I scrambled for a better response. I didn’t mean to smack talk his parents or imply anything bad. But that had to be hard, always being analyzed. Maybe that was why he was close-lipped about his family situation and most other aspects of himself. “It…kinda explains why you’re so into think-pieces,” I said.
“Huh. Perhaps.” He cuddled back in.
Phew. Crisis averted. Yet thirty seconds later, I found myself pawing at him and asking, “So, what does your sister do? What’s she like?” Was she closer to Jennifer or Tori on the personality spectrum?
He sighed and turned so he was half on top of me. I giggled from the increased pressure.
“I think we should stick to movie commentary,” he said.
Heat flooded my face. “Oh, sorry.” I didn’t realize I was prying. Or maybe family stuff was too real for a fuck buddy.
One of the characters in the movie scoffed, asking another one, “Why are you like this?”
Because I loved him. Because I wanted to know everything.
I smothered my needy urge to claw into his brain and heart. I knew enough. Wasn’t that what he said earlier?
“I’ll try to stop asking questions,” I said. "Especially about your family." It was half an apology. ‘Please don’t be mad that I care.’ How messed up was that? I couldn’t tell if it was better or worse than almost fucking him before I knew his name.
He shifted to study me. The blue TV screen barely glimmered in the dark reflection of his gaze. “My sister's smart. She builds tech,” he said. “I can’t really talk about it.”
“Oh, top secret stuff.” Was that it?
“Very private.” He nudged my nose with his, a breath away from a kiss.
I had to stop caring about random stuff like his sister and his childhood. None of it mattered that much, right? I’d still love him. He’d still want me. Maybe part of our attraction was rooted in a balance between knowing one another intimately and the thrill of a mystery. I didn’t want to spoil anything.
A flick of black drew my attention to the right of the bed. Jinx peeked at us, his front two paws at the edge of the mattress. His ear twitched.
“Aw, Jinxy, I forgot to give you a treat. One second.” I scooted out of Victor’s arms. At least my cat communicated openly.
Jinx trilled a purr and rubbed against my leg as we headed to the kitchen.
Victor propped himself on his forearm. “Do you want me to pause this?”
“I’ll only be a minute.” I got Jinx one of his green stick treats from under the sink, then broke it in half over his bowl. “There you go, cutie. Thanks for helping me get lucky,” I joked, stroking his back as he dove in for a snack.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
< AJ: Hey, hate to bother you on your day off, hope all is well >
Oh, god. AJ never texted me for fun. What was wrong?
< AJ: Everything’s ok, I just want to let you know we didn’t get to everything during close. We tried, though. >
What? This was our busiest season. We needed to stay on top of our tasks more than ever.
< Me: What still needs to be done? >
< AJ: New inventory. Restocking all the sizes. We found a huge pile of discards in the dressing room and under the counter, so it took an hour to rehang and clean up >
This would seriously set us back for tomorrow. I couldn’t go there myself and hang up clothes in the middle of the night.
< Me: Why weren’t you hanging up clothes throughout the shift? >
< AJ: Bree tidied it before we left, but it must’ve gotten busy… >