CHAPTER 167: TUESDAY (2)

They ate in silence for a few minutes before she asked, "So, does this mean you’ll never say ’I love you’ to me? And would you refuse a wedding ceremony, even if it was just the ceremony, no legal documents?"

"I’m reasonably certain that even just the ceremony carries some legal weight, and if I offered it to you, I’d have to offer it to my other girls, and that would open me up to polygamy charges. But even if polygamy was legal, I would probably refuse."

"But why?" she said, exasperated. "What would it hurt?"

"Because if you cannot be happy with me without a wedding ceremony, then we have no business being together."

"And what about the ’I love you’?"

She tensed, like she knew what he was going to say, but hoped she was wrong.

"If you feel loved, then you don’t need to hear it. If you don’t feel loved, then you are a fool if you believe it when you hear it. Saying it doesn’t magically make it true. Hearing it doesn’t magically make it true."

Her shoulders slumped, and in a small, dispirited voice, she said, "What’s wrong with wanting to hear it?"

She wanted to feel it, to know it, but was stuck on the idea that hearing it was proof.

He looked around himself at the people nearby.

"Robin, do you see that guy currently ordering food?"

There was a tall, handsome guy talking animatedly to the food truck owner.

She looked over at the guy, then looked back at him, confused.

"If he came over here and said ’I love you’ to you. Would you believe him?"

"No, of course not," she said, like he’d asked her if the sky was blue or water was wet.

"Why not?"

"What do you mean, ’why not?’ Isn’t it obvious? He’s a complete stranger?!" she said indignantly.

"Okay. Do your grandparents love you?"

"Yes, of course they do!" she said, sounding a little annoyed.

"But how do you know?"

"They just do! They’re kind and caring and don’t yell or scream at me. And they believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself."

She sounded defensive.

"Those sound like good reasons to believe they love you. But notice what you didn’t say?"

"What?" She sounded confused.

"The one thing you didn’t say was, ’because they told me.’"

She opened her mouth like she wanted to protest.

"When I asked you how you knew, you described actions! You described how they treat you."

She looked skeptical, like he’d tricked her, but she just couldn’t figure out how.

She probably needed time to think about it, so he distracted her with a different question.

"Did you ever talk to your grandfather about the ego poking thing?"

She flinched, then nodded.

"And?"

"He laughed," she said, annoyed.

"Laughed? That’s it?"

"No, he asked Grandma if my health insurance was up-to-date."

Hah! Her gramps has a sense of humor.

"And? Did you tell him what I told you?"

"Yeah. He said, ’boy’s not wrong,’ then he patted me on the back and said, ’don’t fuck it up.’ Then walked away."

She seemed puzzled. Did she not understand that her grandpa was expressing approval of him?

They finished eating in silence.

They were walking back and passing Big Burger when the Yokorian chick came out and spotted him.

"Jack!" she said excitedly.

She was wearing tight jeans and a loose top that hung off one shoulder. Her exposed shoulder was bare, so he assumed she wasn’t wearing a bra.

She ran up to him and stopped less than a meter from him, well inside his personal space.

"Did you finish the lab assignment yet? I’m still failing to get the reaction to precipitate."

They all shared the same lecture class, but the lab was split into two separate time slots, and the Yokorian chick was assigned to the other time slot.

"Hello, Naoko." He’d since learned her name. "I finished it the first time. I suggest you go back and read the instructions. Every. single. word."

From his observations so far, Naoko seemed extremely bright, and she had probably just skimmed the instructions thinking it was a simple lab experiment.

He’d shown the lab assignment to Nora and asked her if she had any advice. She’d told him that every one of Professor Berkheimer’s lab assignments were tricky. They were all designed to look like something simpler, but would fail if you didn’t follow the instructions precisely.

"Oh, come on! Can’t you just give me one little hint?"

She clasped her hands together between her breasts and bounced as she spoke.

"I just gave you a hint. Were you not paying attention?"

She frowned in concentration for a few moments, then a light dawned and she said, "Every single word?"

He nodded.

"Oh, okay. Um, that’s good advice."

Not wanting to be late for his next class, he started walking forward, and Naoko moved out of his way and turned to follow him on his left, while Robin stayed on his right.

"Is this one of your girlfriends?" asked Robin.

"No," he said.

"I wish!" said Naoko.

Robin looked up at him and asked, "Why not? She’s petty."

"I tried," said Naoko. "I practically threw myself at him, but he wasn’t interested."

"Threw yourself?" asked Robin.

"The very first thing she said to me was, ’You can fuck me in the ass’," he said.

Robin gasped. "No way!"

"Nuh uh!" said Naoko. "That’s not the first thing I said. I said I was jealous. Then I offered my pink rosebud to you."

Robin leaned forward to stare at Naoko, incredulous.

Then she looked up at him and asked, "And you said no?! Does that mean you’re not into butt stuff?"

"I don’t know, haven’t tried it yet. But that’s not the reason I turned her down."

"I also offered to suck his cock, but he declined that too," said Naoko with a pout.

Robin looked between him and Naoko and asked, "But why?"

"Why, what?" he asked.

"Why offer?" she said, pointing at Naoko. "And why refuse?" she said, pointing at him.