A Sensitive Arrangement

Chapter 8

The ice cream was quite soft by the time we got home. Honestly, I'm amazed it wasn't melted. I had managed to convince Julian that his plan of driving around to every store in the country was completely futile. But that didn't stop him from repeating his process at every other shop within a mile of the original one. I was exhausted by the time we finally collapsed on the home theater sofa.

"Do you feel any better?" I asked.

"A little." He sounded only vaguely satisfied. I knew it was still killing him that he couldn't destroy them all.

"For someone who spent his entire adolescence in the tabloids you sure seem pretty worked up over this one."

"Most of those were curated." He muttered, as if I should have known this.

"Curated?" What the hell did he mean curated?

"I mean, I won't lie to you. I was intimate with a lot of those girls." He confessed, somewhat sheepishly.

"I don't think I want to hear this." I admitted, tempted to put my hands over my ears and start making loud noises. Somehow, I doubt that would have helped the mature vibe I was trying to give off after our conversation last night.

"But I think you need to. Ali, what would it look like if America's most eligible bachelor had never shown any interest in women? There would be rumors, that I was gay, asexual, secretly some sort of plant life-form. And that would be fine, until you turned eighteen and we started dating. And then the real rumors would fly, and those ones would be a little too close to the truth. Arranged marriages are obviously frowned upon in today's society, but child grooming, that's a PR death sentence, as it should be." He was right, I knew all this. I had practically said the same thing to Olivia a week ago. But after he kissed me, none of that seemed to matter.

"This isn't child grooming." I winced. The term sounded so dirty I didn't even like it coming out of my mouth.

"I know. Because I'm not going to let it be. Until you're twenty-five, you are more than welcome to date whoever you'd like. And the more I think about it, the more I think you should. Just to see what it's like, and what else is out there."

"Twenty-five?" I questioned, before even processing the rest of what he had just said.

"It's the age that was agreed upon." He explained

"By our fathers." It didn't need to be said, but for some reason I felt like it should be.

"I was consulted, but I think that was more of a formality. They weren't really expecting a thirteen year old to bring a lot to the negotiations." He was trying to lighten the mood. It would have worked better if he had been more careful with his terminology.

"Negotiations? We really are just a business transaction."

"We are not. We are, well I don't really know if there's a word that sums up everything we are. But it is the furthest thing from a business transaction, I assure you."

"What if I don't want to date other people?" It came out brattier than I had intended it to, especially after he had just been so sweet and reassuring.

"Then that's your right, I guess. I can't make you do anything. I just think it would be good for you to go on a few dates, albeit with a bit more caution and better judgement than last night. Just so you can get some experience."

"Experience?" My eyes widened. Was he implying what I thought he was?

"Not that kind of experience." He clarified, perhaps a bit too emphatically. "Just, you know, knowing what you like."