Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Then . . .
Creed: What time is your last class today?
Liv: I have a project due tomorrow.
Creed: Bring it. I'll watch you struggle and provide moral support.
Liv: Romantic.
Creed: I aim to please.
Liv: I’d rather do this at your place if you provide the food.
Creed: I can do that. I might even see if Halston can join us.
Liv: He's working late.
Creed: How do you know?
Liv: He brought me coffee and a breakfast sandwich early in the morning. It has its advantages to attend the same school as him.
Creed: I’m a little jealous that I didn’t get to see either one of you earlier.
Liv: But we get to see you before you go to sleep. Unless you have an away game.
Creed: That’s it, I’m quitting hockey.
Liv: No, you won’t.
Creed: Nah, I won’t.
Creed: So . . . see you at my place? I’ll even cook for you.
Liv: You don’t know how to cook.
Creed: I’m learning just for you, baby.
Liv: That is either very sweet or a threat to my digestive system.
Creed: I own pans.
Liv: Owning pans is not cooking.
Creed: I own spices.
Liv: Name three.
Creed: Salt.
Liv: That’s one.
Creed: Pepper.
Liv: Groundbreaking.
Creed: The red one.
Liv: I’m calling Halston.
Creed: Do not bring legal counsel into this.
Liv: He’d support my right to edible food.
Creed: He would probably draft a contract requiring it.
Liv: Smart man.
Creed: Dangerous man.
Liv: Also brought me coffee.
Creed: You’ve mentioned.
Liv: And a breakfast sandwich.
Creed: You’ve also mentioned.
Liv: With the good bread.
Creed: I’m adding good bread to the grocery list.
Liv: You have a grocery list?
Creed: I have notes.
Liv: That sounds less reassuring.
Creed: Current notes: good bread, edible food, not just salt.
Liv: Progress.
Creed: I’m a fast learner.
Liv: You’re competitive.
Creed: Also true.
Liv: Fine. I’ll come over.
Creed: Bring the project.
Liv: Bring competence.
Creed: I’ll bring effort.
Liv: Effort is attractive.
Creed: Noted.
Liv: Don’t get smug.
Creed: Too late.
Liv: I can still go to the Vietnamese place.
Creed: I’ll order Vietnamese as backup.
Liv: See? Growth.
Creed: Just for you, baby.
Liv: And Halston.
Creed: And Halston.
Liv: Question. Is it normal to spend more time in a man’s apartment—your maybe boyfriend’s apartment—than with most of your friends?
Halston: Define normal.
Liv: Halston.
Halston: Liv. We are, all three of us, well outside normal. I would not start measuring now.
Liv: Helpful.
Halston: I do my best.
Liv: You do your most evasive.
Halston: Also true.
Liv: I’m serious.
Halston: I know.
Liv: I keep ending up there.
Halston: At Creed’s apartment.
Liv: Yes.
Halston: Does he ask you to?
Liv: No.
Halston: Does he make it hard for you to leave?
Liv: No.
Halston: Does he look like he wants to?
Liv: Halston.
Halston: That was not a no.
Liv: He looks like he wants me to stay.
Halston: He does.
Liv: You say that like you know.
Halston: I know how he looks at you.
Liv: And how does he look at me?
Halston: Like he is trying to be careful with something he wants very badly.
Liv: That is not helping my blood pressure.
Halston: I was not aware I had been retained to help your blood pressure.
Liv: You are impossible.
Halston: Frequently.
Liv: It is not only Creed.
Halston: I know.
Liv: Do you?
Halston: Yes.
Liv: Because sometimes I’m there with him, and I’m thinking about you.
Halston: Liv.
Liv: Don’t Liv me. I am already suffering.
Halston: I'm not stopping you.
Liv: You got very quiet.
Halston: I am choosing my words.
Liv: That is never reassuring from a man in law school.
Halston: I think about you there too.
Liv: At Creed’s apartment?
Halston: Yes.
Liv: While I’m there?
Halston: Sometimes.
Liv: While he’s there?
Halston: Yes.
Liv: Oh.
Halston: Yes.
Liv: That feels like information.
Halston: It is.
Liv: And what am I supposed to do with it?
Halston: Nothing you don't want to do.
Liv: That is very noble and very annoying.
Halston: It is also true.
Liv: I want to be there with him.
Halston: I know.
Liv: I want you there too.
Halston: I know that too.
Liv: You are being too calm.
Halston: I'm not calm.
Liv: You text like a man arguing before the Supreme Court.
Halston: My hands are not nearly as composed as my punctuation.
Liv: That was unfair.
Halston: It was honest.
Liv: So what are we doing?
Halston: We are not forcing a shape before it is ready.
Liv: That sounds like a legal answer.
Halston: It is a careful answer.
Liv: I hate careful answers.
Halston: No, you hate dishonest ones.
Liv: Also true.
Halston: Liv.
Liv: What?
Halston: When you are at his apartment, and you think of me, I don't want you to feel guilty.
Liv: And when I’m with you and think of him?
Halston: I would be concerned if you didn’t. Just as I know you understand that when we are with you, Creed and I are thinking of each other too. That is not disloyalty. That is the first honest law of us: no one is loved away from the others. We only ever love each other closer.
Liv: That sounds dangerous.
Halston: It is.
Liv: Halston. What are we doing?
Halston: Letting it become real slowly enough that none of us has to run.
Liv: Letting what become real?
Halston: Us.
Liv: Oh.
Halston: Yes.
Liv: We are in so much trouble.
Halston: No.
Liv: No?
Halston: Trouble was pretending this was separate. We are finally telling the truth.
Creed: Home game Saturday. You coming up?
Halston: I have a Corporations final Monday.
Creed: Yes or no, Saint Claire.
Halston: I can’t go to the arena. We’ll watch it at my place.
Creed: Sounds sensible.
Halston: Though Liv would prefer if we did it from your place. She said your kitchen table has good light.
Creed: She’ll know, she's been studying there.
Halston: Often?
Creed: Often enough.
Halston: That sounds like a careful answer.
Creed: It was.
Halston: Do you enjoy having her there?
Creed: Yes.
Halston: That was not careful.
Creed: No.
Halston: Good.
Creed: You could study here too.
Halston: At your kitchen table?
Creed: It has good light.
Halston: So I’ve heard.
Creed: Bring Corporations.
Halston: I suspect Liv will bring commentary.
Creed: She always does.
Halston: And you like that.
Creed: Yes.
Halston: You are being very direct today.
Creed: Home game Saturday. I’m saving evasiveness for the ice.
Halston: That was almost charming.
Creed: Almost?
Halston: I refuse to overpraise athletes before noon.
Creed: It’s 12:14.
Halston: My policy stands.
Creed: Come over Saturday.
Halston: I will.
Creed: Good.
Halston: Creed.
Creed: Yeah?
Halston: I would prefer your place too.
Creed: Because of the light?
Halston: Because she is there.
Creed: And?
Halston: Because you’ll be there after the game.
Creed: Practice was brutal today. Coach made us do bag skates.
Liv: I don't know what that is, and I'm afraid to ask.
Creed: You skate until you can't feel your legs. Then you skate more.
Liv: That sounds like a war crime. You should lawyer up.
Halston: I’m not going to defend him against his coach, Liv. You need to stop offering my service every time you think life is unfair.
Liv: You’re no fun.
Halston: I am plenty of fun.
Creed: Are you?
Halston: Be careful, Lafontaine.
Liv: Oh, that sounded fun.
Creed: I appreciate the support, baby. The next game is at home. Where are you watching?
Liv: Depends. Am I watching hockey or supervising your survival?
Creed: Those are usually the same event.
Halston: The arena, but after that, we’re going to my place. It’s closer to MSG. I’ll even have the driver pick you up.
Liv: You have a driver?
Halston: Sometimes.
Creed: Of course, he has a driver.
Liv: I am too under-caffeinated for rich people logistics.
Halston: Then I’ll make sure there’s coffee in the car.
Liv: You can do that?
Halston: Liv.
Creed: He can do that.
Liv: This is unsettling.
Halston: Efficient.
Liv: Unsettlingly efficient.
Creed: I like it.
Liv: You would. You’re both bossy in different fonts.
Halston: Different fonts?
Liv: Creed is bold with all caps. You’re an expensive serif.
Creed: I’ll take that.
Halston: I’m not sure I will.
Liv: You will. Quietly.
Creed: She’s right.
Halston: I dislike how quickly the two of you form alliances.
Liv: This is not an alliance.
Creed: It’s a coalition.
Halston: Worse.
Liv: Much more official.
Creed: After the game, I’ll meet you at the player exit.
Halston: In the suit?
Creed: In the suit.
Liv: Good. I have become invested in postgame hockey suits.
Creed: That’s new.
Liv: I am a scholar. My interests evolve.
Halston: Should I be concerned?
Liv: Always.
Creed: I’ll be tired, dressed, and probably starving.
Halston: Food will be handled.
Creed: Of course it will.
Liv: See? Expensive serif.
Halston: I'm not a fucking font.
Creed: You’re absolutely a font.
Liv: A very judgmental font.
Halston: I regret introducing the two of you.
Liv: You didn’t. I introduced you.
Creed: And I improved the situation by arriving.
Halston: That is one interpretation.
Liv: It’s the correct one.
Creed: I’ll see you both after the game.
Halston: We’ll be there.
Liv: I’ll be the one pretending I understand line changes.
Creed: I’ll be the one pretending not to look for you.
Halston: And I’ll be the one noticing both of you pretending, while watching Lafontaine’s perfect ass.
Liv: Final paper for art history is killing me. I have written and deleted the same paragraph seven times.
Halston: What's the paragraph?
Liv: Trying to explain why a painting is doing something the painter didn't consciously intend.
Halston: Send it to me.
Liv: It's bad.
Halston: Send it anyway.
Liv: [attachment: paragraph.docx]
Halston: Liv.
Liv: Halston.
Halston: It's not bad. You're using the word 'intent' when you mean 'effect.' Swap those two. The whole paragraph reorganizes around the new verb.
Liv: . . .
Liv: You're right.
Halston: I usually am.
Liv: Don't get cocky.
Halston: Too late.
Liv: I hate how useful that was.
Halston: No, you hate that I was useful before you finished panicking.
Liv: I wasn’t panicking.
Halston: You deleted the same paragraph seven times.
Liv: That is called revision.
Halston: That is called a literary hostage situation.