Chapter 20
Mariana: I'm reminding you what the new plan is.
That's her response to my last text. A while later, a follow up.
Mariana: Beware. My mom has mentioned a couple of times she hasn't had a chance to chat with you. I think she's looking for her moment.
Yeah, well, too late.
I'm still considering if I want to say anything else, when I get a third text.
For someone who said she might not respond, she's a liberal texter.
Mariana: My mom thinks you're still very handsome and asked me if we're spending a lot of time together, since your friends are becoming my friends.
Dom: I hope you implied we don't pay enough attention to each other for it to matter. That was the plan, wasn't it?
Mariana: That's exactly what I did, but I'm not sure she believed me.
Unfortunately, I did tell her you and I were fighting a lot, that day at University.
So I think she's suspicious of all our politeness.
It sucks. I bet she thinks I'm senseless and I’ll be tempted to go back to you only because we had a really good thing once upon a time.
At least in this we're on the same page. Both Mariana and I are betting on not going back.
Dom: We won't, so it's fine. What did she say? We control our behavior and if we're good, criticism will land empty. Eventually we will be free of people's expectations.
Mariana: The way you're phrasing that is filling me with hope. /sarcasm
I glance at her and catch her putting her phone in her pocket. The conversation is done for now. We probably won't interact much for the rest of the night, and I make myself relax. This really could be the start of a dynamic we can survive.
Or so I think, until I see a visit to a local library appear in my work calendar a few days later, with only Mariana and me listed on it.