“So I’m your Superman?” he said with a grin.
“You keep telling yourself that.” I reached into the basket and grabbed the grapes along with a few crackers. I offered him some, and he bent down and bit a grape off the bunch in my hands. I heard one of my favorite lines from the movie and started to recite it. Closing my eyes, I brought my knees up to my chest, making sure to tuck the dress under my legs. I grinned and said every word.
“‘They didn’t agree on much. In fact, they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other every day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.’”
I giggled to myself, watching the screen.
“How many times have you seen this movie?”
“A least every other month with my roommates. I probably know the whole thing by heart, but that line is a favorite of mine and Mark’s.”
“Mark? One of your roommates is a guy?”
I glanced to him when I heard the small twang of jealousy. “Yes.”
He took another grape. “How close are you?”
“I met him when I got out of juvie. He’s the cousin of my other roommate, Cleo. He ran away with part of his inheritance. That’s how I was able to get myself grounded and start work afterward. So, to answer your question, we’re as close as can be.” I wasn’t making him feel better. He kept his eyes trained on the screen. “He’s like a big brother, and right now he’s back to dating guys, so you don’t have to be jealous.”
“I wasn’t jealous,” he lied.
“Says the man who tied me to a bedpost for kissing another man.”
“Can the woman who liked it so much that she begged for more really bring it up?” He looked at me lazily.
“Yep.” I grinned, and so did he. “Besides, if anyone should be jealous, it’s me. After all, you do work with your ex-fiancée.”
“I was wondering when you would bring that up.”
“Shouldn’t I?”
“I don’t care either way. If you want to know, I will tell you.”
I thought about it for a moment, going back and forth in my mind.
“You’re over-thinking it,” he whispered, amused. Reaching for the bottle, he refilled my glass. “I was engaged to Violet two years ago. We were dating, she got pregnant. I thought we’d become a family. Then one day she told me she got an abortion because she was asked to dance in Paris.”
“Wow—”
“It gets worse. She told me via a handwritten note. She never gave back the ring either, even after she’d gotten married to someone else a few months later. They were only together a year. I remember being thankful I hadn’t given her my mother’s ring because it was too plain.” He didn’t looked bothered at all, like he was telling someone else’s story, not his own.
“But she came back.”
“There were rumors she had an affair with the ballet director in Paris, so she joined Darcy Entertainment.”
“And you just let her?”
He looked at me, confused. “We needed a dancer. Though you did embarrass her when you upstaged her at the recital.”
“I didn’t mean to, and you’re a better person than I am. I can hold a grudge for years. In fact….”
Don’t, Felicity. I didn’t talk about my past, not with anyone, yet I felt like I could tell him. I heard Cleo telling me not to do it in the back of mind.
“In fact?” He waited.
Exhaling deeply, I faced the screen again. “I haven’t spoken to my father in almost a decade. It was my mother who taught me to dance and play piano. We used to sit side-by-side and play all the time. So many people wanted me to play or dance for them at recitals, at games. I got so many invitations. But I didn’t care about that. I only wanted to show my mother that I could be just like her. When I was eight, she died. Three days later my father brought home this other woman and her two daughters. They looked just like my dad, and they were only a few years younger than me. He didn’t explain anything. To her credit, the woman was never mean to me, but I hated her and I hated him. After I got into trouble, I never looked back. My life…. I’m a mess, Theo. There are days when I feel like there is nothing inside me. Like I’m a black hole. And the people I care about, the people who get too close, they get sucked in and die. No one wants the broken girl. People cheer you on when you’re a kid, but when you’re a teenager or an adult, they say, ‘Why aren’t you better yet? What’s wrong with you?’ I wish I knew the answer.”