14 A Little Favor #3
When I saw the main characters kissing, I wanted to turn to Ross and do the same, but his eyes were fixed to the screen.
Soon, the scene got hot. I started feeling nervous.
Ross and I looked at each other. Embarrassed, I stared back at the screen.
He didn’t, though. I started clearing my throat, fidgeting, all the things that gave away how nervous I was, but I couldn’t help it.
And trying to stop doing it only made it that much worse.
At least I managed to keep my mouth shut.
Who knew what kind of ridiculous thing I would have blurted out if I’d talked.
The worst part of the day was over, so why the hell was I so on edge?
As we left, Ross said we should grab a bite out, and I agreed.
I was a little worried he’d pick somewhere fancy and try to get all romantic, but no, he stopped at a diner that looked like something out of the nineteen-fifties.
It started raining on the way, so we ran inside as soon as we got out.
The place smelled of coffee, old furniture, and fryer oil.
It was a funny combination. Everything in there looked dated: the tables, the chairs, the pictures on the wall, even the people.
It was clearly not a destination spot. There was just one couple there besides us, at the other end of the room.
Ross grabbed a table near the door and we sat across from each other.
“Call me crazy,” I said, “but I get the feeling you didn’t choose this place because it’s where your parents brought you when you were little.”
“How’d you guess?” He laughed. “Nah, this was Agnes’s favorite.
Still is. She’s crazy about the burgers.
The grill guy, I think his name’s Johnny, he’s been here for ages.
He’s a weirdo; he listens to the Spice Girls and Britney Spears while he cooks.
They must inspire him, because he can cook his ass off. ”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” I said, “because I’m starving.”
Our waitress came over soon—a tired woman in her thirties—and we each gave her our order.
Even in that, Ross was different from Monty, who always ordered for both of us, pretending to be a gentleman.
But whatever. I needed to stop thinking about him.
He didn’t deserve it. And I could finally, honestly say he wasn’t my boyfriend anymore.
Our burgers came out in no time along with our beers.
To my surprise, the waitress hadn’t carded me when I’d ordered one.
She barely said a word as she dropped them off.
After my first bite, I knew Ross had made a good choice.
I should have told him, but I couldn’t stop myself from chewing.
Only when I was halfway through did I put my burger down, eat a fry, and say to him, “You know something? I get the impression sometimes that you’ll talk about anything but yourself. ”
“Really? You live with me, though, Jen. I feel like you know me pretty well at this point.”
“Maybe. I mean, I know how you are . But your life, the things that made you who you are? I hardly know anything about all that.”
“Cool,” he said. “What do you want to know?”
I thought it over for a moment. I knew my real question was why he got along so badly with his father. But I couldn’t just come out and ask that. So I tried to come at it from a different angle, asking him to tell me about his childhood. “Was it happy? Sad? Were you a loner or an extrovert?”
“Probably more of a loner.”
“Were you weird?”
“It’s not that,” he said. “It’s just my brother was the fun, outgoing one. I didn’t have so many friends. I didn’t care, though. I was happy doing things by myself.”
“Sounds sad.”
“It wasn’t. Trust me. Plus, as I got older, people thought it was cool that I did my own thing. It made them curious, and I wound up with more friends than I would have had otherwise.”
“And girlfriends, I assume.”
“Yeah, I had a girlfriend. I don’t see why you need to interrogate me about that, though.”
“Ross, you literally know what kind of panties I wear when I get my period.”
“Fine. I had a girlfriend. Her name was Alanna. She was kind of like the first version of the Lana, you know.”
“Right down to the name,” I said. I remembered Will saying something about her. “How long did the two of you go out?”
“Not even three months. We broke up because—you’ll never believe this—Mike slept with her.”
I had been told that, too, but I didn’t want to let him know. So I acted surprised and sympathetic, but he didn’t seem to need it. He continued, “I wasn’t what you’d call in love, so it wasn’t a very painful breakup.”
He’d said the same thing about Lana. To think that Mike could be so funny and lighthearted and then treat his brother that way…
Ross said, “What about you? You’ve told me about the tickler, the guy you sexted, and Monty—he’s clearly a real catch—but have there been any other guys in your life?”
“I mean, I kissed this guy at a party one time. It was gross. He tasted like he’d been drinking battery acid. How old were you when you had your first kiss?”
“You mean like a real kiss, not a little peck? When I was fourteen. It was in front of my house. I had no idea what I was doing. I have the proof, which is that the girl never talked to me again. What about you?”
“I was sixteen. The guy in question was older, and he had braces, and every time I kissed him, it cut my lips. We tried going out for a month, in which time I got three pretty serious gashes, and at that point I said to hell with it.”
Ross laughed and shook his head. Now I’d pop the real question, “How old were you when you lost your virginity?” He smiled enigmatically, trying to wriggle out of it, asking me to tell him first, but I stood my ground. Finally, he admitted, “I was fifteen.”
“Is that even legal?” I asked.
“You’ll have to check with a judge. Now it’s your turn.”
“Uh…” I thought for a moment. “When did the school year start again?”
“I don’t know. Like two months ago?”
“OK. So let’s say two months and a week?”
“You can’t be serious,” he said.
“I am. I mean, I don’t know. I was nervous about the first time.
And he was kind of a brute, so I didn’t really trust him to be gentle.
But when I was already starting to pack to go, he convinced me that I needed to do it before I left, that I’d regret going off to school a virgin.
So we did it. And honestly, my first reaction was like: sex is so overrated.
It was fine, you know, but it wasn’t earth-shattering the way I’d imagined. Then I met you, of course.”
“And I changed your mind.”
“I didn’t say that, Ross.”
“I don’t need you to.” He took another sip of his beer. “I’m surprised. You didn’t seem like a virgin.”
“Come on now!”
“I’m serious.” I started turning red, and he laughed at me.
After that, we left off with the Q&A, paid the bill, and walked back to the car.
The whole drive back, I couldn’t stop looking at him.
Thankfully, he didn’t notice. There was a band playing on the radio, I think called Brainstorm.
I’d never heard of them but he knew everything about them, and his eyes gleamed as he told me their story.
I thought of Monty again, briefly, and I was almost thankful that his insane behavior had brought me closer to Ross than I’d managed to become on my own.
Ross realized at some point that I’d stopped responding to his little music history lesson, and he turned to me and asked, “Is something up?”
“Not a thing,” I said, smiling and looking out the windshield.
Yes, in the end, Monty had been a step in the right direction.