“No, I mean it,” Kip said quickly. “I’m not brushing you off. I really want to talk to you. Really. A lot. Like…so much.”
“Okay. I’ve got the game tonight and all, so…maybe—Would you come to the game? Do you think?”
“Yeah,” Kip said. “Sure. I’ll be at the game tonight.”
Scott nodded. “Good. Okay. And maybe after we could…get together. Somewhere?”
“Sure. I’d like that.”
Scott’s face brightened. “Yeah? Well—” He leaned in, just the tiniest bit, and Kip’s breath caught. But then Scott took a quick step backward and said, “—I’ll see you then.”
“All right.”
Scott left and Kip waited as long as possible to turn and face Maria.
“What. The. Fuck,” she said.
“Okay, that probably looked—”
“So you two are—?”
“Sort of. I don’t know. Just please don’t tell anyone.”
“Holy shit!”
“I’m serious! Don’t say a word. Promise me, okay?”
“I promise! Of course I promise! But you have to tell mesomething. I need some details!”
“One detail.”
“One?”
“One.”
She made a face that implied that she was thinking very hard, then grabbed a cucumber out of the fridge and laid it on the counter. She picked up a knife and held it near the center of the cucumber. “Okay, you tell me when I hit the approximate length.”
“No.”
She moved the knife a bit.
“Come on. I’m not doing this.”
She moved it again and raised an eyebrow.
Kip glared at her, and then rolled his eyes and said, “A bit farther.”
Maria screamed. “Oh my god! I knew it! You lucky bitch!”
“All right. Enough. Seriously. Keep this to yourself, okay?”
“I will. I will. I promise,” she giggled.
Kip laughed a little, relieved that there was someone else who knew about his relationship.
His relationship that he was going to make damn sure he fixed tonight.
* * *