Chapter Seven — Alex
I keep checking my phone frantically every few seconds. I expect him to catch me. Am I seriously going to win this? I’m trying not to let myself get too excited, but it’s hard. Only thirty seconds left. I clutch my phone so hard my knuckles turn white.
He texts me: Congratulations. You can come out now.
I thank the hot dog stand guy and exit. To my surprise, Callum’s there about twenty feet away.
He raises his eyebrows. “Where were you?” he asks.
“I was, um, in the hot dog stand,” I say sheepishly.
“Oh,” Callum says, pausing. I stare into his piercing green eyes.
What’s he thinking?
The longer Callum stays quiet, the more nervous I get.
Does he think I cheated? One of the rules of the hide and seek game Callum and I just finished playing was that I had to hide outside, or more specifically, that I couldn’t hide anywhere indoors.
Which makes hiding inside a hot dog stand kind of a gray area.
The hot dog stand itself is outside, but I was technically hiding inside a structure.
I went back and forth with myself about whether I could hide inside the hot dog stand without breaking the rules. Eventually, though, I decided it’s a gray area. And if there’s a gray area in the rules, they should be resolved in favor of the person who didn’t make them. Which would be me.
Assuming Callum agrees.
“Is that…” I say, my voice faltering. I don’t want to say too much, but I want confirmation from Callum that I didn’t break the rules. ““Is that okay?” I finally ask.”I know a hot dog stand is kind of inside… but it’s kind of outside, too?”
Callum squints and grabs his chin. “Yes,” he says. “I think it’s fair to say it’s outside. Were you crouched down hiding?”
I shake my head. “No,” I say quietly. That was something I considered. I thought that would make it unfair if I crouched down and hid inside the stand. So I put on a hat and just pretended to be an employee, basically.
“Good girl,” Callum says, and my heart swells.
“Well, I mean, it could be a vehicle,” I say.
One of the other rules was that I couldn’t take any modes of transportation, like getting into cars, subways, etc.
“Hey, are you trying to disqualify yourself or something?” Callum asks, laughing.
“No,” I chuckle. I don’t know why I just said that. He’s right, I should take my win and run with it. But for some reason, his approval is important. I want him to think I earned the win.
“You weren’t driving the hot dog stand, were you?” Callum asks.
I shake my head.
“Well, the point of that rule is to stop you from getting around too fast, so I think it’s fine.
Besides, if there was ambiguity in the rules, that’s on me, not you.
I can’t blame a smart girl for taking advantage of what she’s given.
You can only work with what you’ve got. If a rule’s not written down, that’s on me, not you.
You deserve the win. You earned it fair and square. ”
“That’s nice of you,” I say.
“Not nice,” he says. “Just fair. I wouldn’t want to win by taking advantage of a woman, especially when I’m the one making the rules. That would be cowardly and weak. And I don’t do weak.”
“I like that,” I say.
“Well, as sad as I am not to have won this round, I have to say I respect your game play.”
“Really?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Callum says. “What you did was very impressive. What was your strategy?”
For the next half hour, I launch into it, animatedly explaining my tactics. Callum’s grin grows wider and wider. I can tell he’s genuinely impressed.
“Damn,” he says. “Were you on Mantracker or something?”
I shake my head, laughing.
“Well, you should have been,” he says. “Are you secretly a Navy SEAL?”
“Nope,” I say.
“Well, they’re missing out.”
I smile. Callum makes me feel better about myself than any man ever has.
“Well, I think this calls for a celebration,” he says.
“Really?” I ask. “I mean, it’s not good for you.”
Callum waves his hand. “What’s good for my girl is good for me.”
He pauses, as if he said something he shouldn’t. I don’t want to ruin the moment, so I hug him.
He pulls me in tighter, enveloping me. As I melt into him, I’m reminded again about how big he is. His chin rests on the top of my head. I breathe in his distinct scent of cinnamon and ash. I sigh.
I could stay like this forever.
After a minute or so, Callum pulls back. “Pizza?” he asks.
I nod and grin. “Pizza.”
The End