8. Love Grinch
8
Love Grinch
I pull out my phone near closing time.
Me: You owe me a coffee.
Almost instantly my phone dings.
Luke: I make good on my debts. Look up.
Luke enters Corner Books with Jerome on his heels, a carrier tray of drinks in his hand.
“You wore a shirt this time,” I say.
Luke places the carrier on the counter. “The sorority babes like me better without it, but I already cleared my head with a run earlier.”
“Shouldn’t it be empty by now?”
“Still ticked off at me? Is that why you haven’t texted?”
“I’m not ticked off. I texted you right now,” I say. “You were the one who left me on read after our last encounter.”
“That’s how it works? One for one?” Luke asks.
Jerome cuts in. “Not to sound ungrateful, but can you two bicker later? I really need that Bobby Ashton Midas touch.”
“We weren’t bickering,” we say in unison.
“And Midas didn’t end well,” Luke adds before I can.
I give Luke an appreciative smile.
“I know you’re magic,” Jerome says to me. “But Mya’s in the coffee shop right now. Shouldn’t we be over there instead of in a bookstore?”
“Oh, padawan,” I say, pulling a stack of graphic novels from behind the counter that includes Scott Pilgrim , Heartstopper , and Saga . “Research. Mya is into graphic novels.”
Luke grabs Saga from the stack and starts flipping through. “This is what she’s into?” he asks, eyes getting wide. “This graphic novel is … graphic.”
I almost blurt out what Luke was reading when we first met but Jerome is here. “It’s an epic, doomed romance set in a warring galaxy.”
“It’s a bunch of naked humans with animal parts and TV heads.”
“Let me see,” Jerome says, taking the book from Luke and settling himself in the nearest chair.
“What’s your plan? To have Jerome strip down and glue a pair of ram horns to his head?” Luke asks.
“If that’s what’s necessary, yes. I’m giving them common ground.” I take my macchiato from the tray. “I owe you a thank-you.”
“I owed you a coffee.”
“For our last conversation.”
Luke raises an eyebrow and I notice his lips move into that hidden smile he makes. “Are you ready to admit I was right about the glasses?”
“Not a chance, but it did make me think about Corner Books in a new way. It’s got a lot more going for it than I first saw.”
“Those glasses of yours are skewing your perception. You’re not good at seeing past first impressions.” Before I can tell Luke he’s wrong, he says, “I thought about our conversation too and where you were coming from. It opened my eyes. Want to do the same by explaining to me your obsession with matchmaking and romance, Casanova?”
I take the lid off my cup and swirl the contents around. “There are all the obvious reasons like loving love or escapism or living vicariously or beating the odds and finding true love against all obstacles. And whether it is in a movie or TV show or in a book, romance is something my mom and I share.” I stop for a minute to gather my thoughts. “I guess I like the feeling of connection that romance brings. We all want to be connected. We all want to be loved.”
“Humans are social animals.”
“That’s clinical.”
Luke seems to study my face before he says, “Casanova, don’t you think it’s potentially damaging to buy in to a belief system that is flawed?”
“Finding true love isn’t flawed,” I scoff.
“If it’s the only end goal, it’s limiting. Out of all the billions of people in the world, you’re meant to be with just one? Well, there go the polyamorous, the aromantics, and the asexuals. What happens if you don’t find that person? Or if it goes wrong? And it goes wrong a lot. You have to admit, the way people act in these stories is diagnosable.”
Like I don’t know that. I put down my macchiato, which has suddenly started coating my tongue in a saccharine way, and cross my arms.
Luke must notice because he runs a hand through his hair and says, “I’m probably not the romantic type. I don’t get why people can’t be clear and direct. I can’t even sit through those old Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movies. Those two idiots really do deserve each other.”
My jaw drops.
Luke sees Heartstopper and keeps going. “Another one I couldn’t get through. Everyone I know thought it was so cute, but it was a lot of manufactured drama.” Luke finally notices my face. “What?”
“Nothing,” I splutter. “Except you’re the only person I know who hates love. Seriously, who hurt you?”
“I don’t hate love. I just don’t like emotional manipulation. It’s the same reason I don’t watch horror movies.”
“You don’t love love,” I say. “Let me guess. You heckle at weddings too.”
“I don’t go to weddings if I can avoid them, but heckling might make them more bearable.”
“It wasn’t a suggestion.” I push Luke’s arm. The muscle is firm. He barely budges. “Besides ruining weddings, what do you do for entertainment? Action movies?”
“Right. You’re still on the frat boy thing,” Luke says. “I watch documentaries. Real ones. No reality TV.”
“No one likes documentaries. People only watch them to sound smart later. They’re the film version of reading a textbook. Your girlfriend must be one lucky girl.”
“I’m single.”
“Because you’re a love Grinch. You’ve got a rinky-dink little heart.”
“Ouch, Casanova. Your boyfriend must have his hands full with you.”
I suck on my bottom lip.
Luke glances at me. “Playing the field is legit too,” he says quickly. “I assumed the local romance expert must be off the market.”
I release my bottom lip. “I’m on the market. Not for lack of trying.”
“Why do you need to try?”
“Because romance requires vision but also work and effort and I don’t trust it will happen for me if I don’t make it,” I say simply and truthfully.
“Now who is a love Grinch? Why does it need to be some big effort? Can’t being with someone be as easy and natural as breathing?”
“Now who is the Casanova?”
I startle, having forgotten it’s not just Luke and I, when Jerome says, “This book is amazing. I didn’t know comics could be like this. There are more. Right?”
“I told you so,” I say to Luke. “You know how the Reading Festival has a bunch of opening acts?”
“Are you serious?” Luke asks.
Jerome looks at Luke as if he’s speaking another language. “It’s called Little Elm’s Big Summer Reading Festival. How else do we get people pumped for the big event but through a bunch of smaller ones?”
I can see from Luke’s expression he’s trying to figure out if we’re kidding or not. Little Elm takes its literature very seriously.
“Despite me being vocal about the Comic Arts events, they were cut from this year’s pre-festival programming due to budgeting.”
“But they were so popular,” Jerome says.
“I know. Which is why Corner Books is going to host its own book club and feature a graphic novel. How do you feel about horns?”
Jerome looks at me askance. “Horns?”
“It was all Luke’s idea.”