The Pursuit

Eighteen

⬻Damien⤖

The dinner I made was one of my better choices, and I knew she needed to eat. With the food, and sun she got today, she'd be healing in no time. Plus the teasing, uh, she was eating it up and I loved it.

I didn't want to push her about this afternoon and her reaction to the young family so I asked her instead about her favorite things. She replied dryly to most of my questions, asking me them back in return. She was off from the ice stop we had but I didn't want to bring up any issues she wasn't ready to share.

"Where did you go to college", she asked when the conversation slowed down.

"Boston Univer-" I started

"Shut the front door!" she yelled, slamming her fork down on the table. "You did not!" she accused me. Her eyes were wide.

"Uh, yeah, I did, masters and all", I beamed back her.

"No fucking way!" she piped up another octave. "When did you graduate?" she asked intrigued.

I gave her a stare and shook my head playfully, "2009, why?".

"I went to Boston University" she calmed herself down.

I thought to myself about where I may have seen her before. "When did you graduate?", repeating her question back this time.

"2013", she shook her head as if something pulled her back into the darkness. I thought to myself about who I knew from BU and if they could have had any connection to her.

"You graduated in 2013? Huh?", I looked at her and she picked up her fork again and then a piece of her meal and took a bite into her second helping. "The only people I know who are your age, graduated in 2012", I shared. There was no way she would have been friends with my cousin. But I figured I'd ask.

"I probably knew them," she quipped back to me with a little snap to her.

"I highly doubt you knew my cousin. She wasn't such a goody-goody like you", I said assuming she was one of those nose in the books kinda girls. There was so much I didn't know about her or why we were even brought together like this but I wanted to know everything about her.

She reached for the bottle of wine on the table and filled her glass for the first time all dinner. I was on my second glass, assuming, again, that she wasn't a drinker. "Well excuse me, I think that's not a fair assumption to make about me or your cousin. I going to assume you will ask me differently if I know your relative", she sassed as she poured a healthy glass and put the bottle down. She looked me in the eyes and waited.

I wasn't going to apologize to her, I knew it would get her worked up if I didn't. "My cousin Ellie graduated in 2012 with her bachelors in binge drinking and public debauchery", I laughed thinking about the shit Ellie would get herself into. She learned well from my brother, that's for sure.  She tried so hard to rebel but it always came back to bite her in the ass. Her dad and my dad were brothers, we were close as kids but as we got older we went our separate ways.

Maggie took a sip from her glass and looked at me with wild eyes. I continued, "She was always behaved during the first few weeks of her  season but once the honeymoon period was over she was like a wild fox on the hunt in the streets of Boston. My uncle had to go up there time after time to keep her and her roommate in line for their scholarships", I looked at Maggie and she seemed to be start a giggle of disbelief. "I just made the assumption that you probably didn't associate with her, that's all, plus there were  probably dozens of Ellie's there".

"She was on a sports team? What's her last name?" Maggie mischievously asked and put her head in her hands just under her chin..

"Williams", I said and Maggie's face lit up and turned a deep pink. She put her hands down and stood from the table.  "What?" I asked confused.