Not pregnant? Oh, but can you imagine how beautiful a baby Brooke would be? I try to keep my eyes from bugging out of my head while she continues.
“It’s stupid, really. I’m so freaking stressed out that I didn’t sleep last night, and I haven’t eaten either…so it all caught up with me. I think I’m dehydrated too. Would you mind getting me some water? “
“Of course.” I quickly head to the kitchen, relieved for the distraction. I quickly grab some stuff and head back.
I watch her push herself up into a sitting position as I unscrew the cap for her.
“Here, drink up.”
She takes a sip and then looks at the plate I set on the nightstand. “What’s that?”
“Crackers with Cheese Wiz and a little box of raisins. I think you should eat something.”
“Cheese Wiz?” The edges of her mouth turn up. “I didn’t think they made that anymore.”
“Oh sure. I get mine at Seven-Eleven.” I watch her eat a few raisins and take a tiny bite off a cracker. I can tell she’s tentative about the Cheese Wiz. “Don’t worry, it’s still good. That stuff never expires.”
“Precisely,” she says, wrinkling her nose. When she finishes most of the water she lays back on the bed. “I’m so tired,” she says softly.
“Why don’t you nap?” I suggest, desperately hoping she’ll stay.
“Okay, but only if you lie with me,” she says, her voice already fading.
I kick off my shoes and crawl up on the bed, settling in on my side facing her.
“I didn’t sleep either. Maybe I’ll nap too.”
She reaches over and our hands link. My heart surges somehow sensing that despite whatever she learned during her visit to my bathroom, that she still accepts me. She isn’t going to cast me out.
I take a deep grateful breath. I feel so much calmer with her here next to me, her hand tethering me to her. I start to surrender to the exhaustion.
Right before I close my eyes and fall away from the waking world, I say a silent prayer of thanks. There must be a geek-loving angel with a tender heart looking over me and my girl.
I blink slowly, taking in the lavender light. Brooke is nestled under my arm and I sense her stirring. What time is it? How long have we been asleep?
“Nathan?” she whispers.
“Yes,” I whisper back.
“You’re awake.”
She gently squeezes my arm and then rolls over and grabs the water bottle. I get up to use the restroom, and when I’m done I carefully pull all the papers off the mirror and shove them in the bottom drawer.
When I return I see she’s eaten several of the crackers and the rest of the raisins.
“Feeling better?” I crawl back up on the bed and study her face.
“Yeah.” She rolls over to face me. “Hey Nathan? Can we talk about something?”
“Sure,” I respond, immediately nervous.
There’s a silent minute where she seems to be considering her words. She looks troubled, and I try to steel myself for whatever she’s about to say. Finally she smoothes out a wrinkle on the bedspread and looks up at me.
“There’s stuff we’ve been keeping from each other, isn’t there?”
I nod slowly. Oh no, where’s she going with this?
“I’ve known for a while that there was something up with your thing with Dani, but I didn’t want to say anything. I guess it sort of gave us a buffer, a comfort zone. You know what I mean?”
I just nod and look down, afraid to admit any specifics yet. I need to tell her I love her, but it hasn’t felt like the right time. I’m not sure I’m ready for all of this.
“And I know there’s something about your comic book that you don’t want me to see. You’re afraid I’m not going to like something, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I whisper. “You could say that.”
“And there’s a lot I haven’t told you about my situation with Arnauld. I’ve only told you parts because…well, I guess because I needed a buffer too.”
“Yeah,” I guess so. “So you’re really not going to marry him?”
“No.” She smiles. “I never would’ve married him. Even if I’d never met you. I wouldn’t have married him, I swear.”
I nod, taking a deep breath and letting the relief seep through me.
“This is the deal,” she explains. “I’ve been so stressed, so worried…I mean you have no idea of the hell that it’s been inside my head.”
Her face twists up in pain and she runs her hand across her forehead.
“I’m sorry,” I say quietly as I inch closer to her. “Can I do anything?”
She lies still for moment thinking, and then her expression fixes somewhere between hope and fear. “You know what I need? I need a week of no worries, just fun, just happy. Yeah that’s what I need…happy twenty-four, seven.”
“Okay,” I stammer, having no idea how I can facilitate that.
“Here’s the thing. Arnauld is leaving for New York tonight. He has meetings there all week that he couldn’t get out of. I told him last night that I wouldn’t marry him, and he insisted that I take the week to think it over. We are meeting the night he gets back.”
“So you’re going to think about it this week?”
“No, like I said, I have no intention of marrying him, but I agreed to talk again because it was the only way he’d get off my back. We rehashed everything last night for hours. He just wore me the fuck out.”
I can see the price she’s paid by the exhaustion in her expression.
“And that’s my point…I don’t want to think about anything for a while. I need a goddamn break from agonizing over how to get out of this mess, the things he’s doing to sabotage my job search, and how to salvage my career. The worst part though is my guilt from pulling you into this disaster, then worrying about how I can protect you from him.”
She looks up at me, the concern and care she feels so evident in her expression as she continues. “It’s just all too much. So I just want to be free from any heavy thoughts for a few days.
“Okay, so what can I do to help?” I ask hopeful.
“I want to have fun….fun with you. I’m always happy when I’m with you. You make me feel special and appreciated.”
I smile widely. “I’m so glad, Brooke.” I guess I’ve done a few things right.
“And I want to make you feel the same,” she says softly.
Wow.
She runs her fingers up my chest and looks up at me. “You know what I really want from you?” She gives me the sweetest smile. “…I want to be wooed.”
My breath catches. She didn’t just say that.
“You want me to woo you?”
“Yes, but for the record, I don’t want to meet any small relatives yet, and I’d like to take the ballroom dancing lesson with you. I don’t want you dancing with some middle aged woman in Lycra.”
I grin. She wants me to woo her. “So a week of woo…I think that can be arranged.”
“Good, and woo week starts now. I want just happy times—no heavy conversations. We can have those talks next week. Just fun for now, okay?”
I nod enthusiastically despite my anxiety of the looming Arnold and B-Girl reveal. This isn’t the time to worry about worst-case scenarios.
I reflect back over all she’s said and I can’t believe it…she wants to be with me.
“So to start, can you read this to me?” She has a coy smile as she reaches into her back pocket and pulls out something folded up. I watch her beautiful fingers pull the folds apart and press it out against the bedspread. When it’s as smooth as possible she hands it to me.
I hold it up in the dim light, and recognize my writing. It’s the note card I wrote and taped on the mirror, just after I called her this morning. It’s written in bold letters, all in caps.
TODAY IS THE DAY I WILL TELL BROOKE THAT I’M IN LOVE WITH HER
Oh, my. Here we go…
Animate Me / Chapter Twenty / A Two-Way Woo
“Forget them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come with me where you’ll never, never have to worry about grown up things again.” ~Peter Pan xix