I started to protest, but really, I loved this car. For the fun of it, though, I told him, “This is kidnapping,” as he climbed in the other side.
“How? You agreed to come to my house.”
“Forcing me into your car is kidnapping,” I replied, primly folding my hands into my lap and tucking my legs to the side looking as innocent as I could.
“I held the door open, and you got in willingly.”
“It was coercion. You wouldn’t tell me your address.”
“I’m okay with coercion, but let’s get our felony counts correct.” He grinned at me. I just shook my head and looked out the window in order to hide my smile.
“What if I wanted to shop afterward or get dinner or something?” Hassling Bo was like foreplay, too. I suspect he thought the same.
“I can take you,” he shrugged.
“Oh sure, you’ll go shopping with me at the mall.”
“Why not? It’d be interesting.”
“How so? And I thought real men didn’t like to shop.”
Bo grinned wickedly. “Oh, real men enjoy shopping for some things.”
I knew he was going to make some reference to lingerie or guns so I just said as ominously as I could, “We shall see.”
Bo must have taken this as tacit permission because he started the car and peeled out of the parking lot like a teenager with his first car. Bo played music that I’d never heard before, a kind of punk rock with a big band sound. A distinctive male voice bellowed out the lyrics, singing that I was the one who told his secrets, the one who let him down.
“What kind of car is this again?”
“See, that’s another thing. A guy would know.”
“Who cares what car it is?”
“You asked,” he replied glibly.
“I was making small talk! It’s not like I peruse Car and Driver every day. I may not have any interest in cars, but there’re plenty of girls who do, so it’s completely sexist to assume a guy would be more likely to know what kind of car this is whereas a girl would not. There are girl mechanics. I’ve seen them on TV.”
“Sounds like we have the basis for another lab study. We can run it after the mayo test and before we shop for shoes or whatnot.”
“Even Pixar put a female in their lineup during the movie.”
“She wasn’t a race car.”
“There’s a car hierarchy?” I raised both eyebrows.
“In the movie, McQueen was top dog.”
“A hot dog, you mean.”
“Are we really arguing about animated cars?” Bo threw back his head and laughed. “AM, this is why we should be spending more time together.”
I didn’t reply to this out loud even though all my girl parts were yelling “Yes!” Instead, I asked him, “Tell me about your place.”
“It’s in a gated subdivision about twenty miles west of campus.”
“I would think that real men wouldn’t need to live behind the security of gates.”
“Well, you may be right, but real men are interested in a good deal.”
“Are you kidding? Women love deals. Retailers know this. Men’s clothing is never on sale because they know you’re easy marks.”
Bo shrugged. “I never said that men were superior. Only that they were made differently.”
Bo handled the vehicle confidently, his large hands resting lightly on the wheel and shifting smoothly from one gear to the other. He looked just as powerful in this sedentary position as he did sitting in the classroom or striding across campus. Bo was a head turner. When he walked into a room, people noticed. He seemed to suck up the void.
When you engaged with him, you realized that whatever fantasy construct you had created in your mind wasn’t even remotely close to the interesting creature that he really was. Which, I supposed, only added to his mystique. He was funnier than I thought he would be. More self-deprecating. And maybe even bolder.
“I can feel you staring at me, you know,” Bo remarked.
“What else is there to look at?”
“Are you saying I’m the best-looking thing in the entire city?”
“If you need the praise because you can’t operate without a certain amount of adulation, go ahead and interpret my comment in the way that makes you feel the best,” I said soothingly.
“I’ll just assume you’re too shy or embarrassed to admit your adoration of me.”
“I’ll just assume you’re so insecure that you turn random comments into compliments.”
“We’re getting to know each other so well,” Bo said cheerfully. “This bodes well for our future.”
“Should we stop for superglue?” I asked. “We’ll need that to seal the cap on the jar.”