boundless

aristotle

It was four o'clock in the morning, but I was wide awake, and so was Kate. We sat together on a couch in her bookstore. She sat on my lap, and in her hands, she held a copy of The Illusion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy.

"I don't think we should read it," She said.

I kissed her ear gently. "Why?"

"I haven't read it since we broke up."

There was a small silence that was filled only by the emptiness of the shop.

"I practically know it by heart," I breathed.

"I've tried pretty hard to forget it." She laughed slightly.

"Sounds difficult."

She nodded. "It is - It was. I never actually forgot about it. Little things always remind me of it."

I nodded. "That's the thing about good books. They stay with you."

"You want to know the bad thing about books?" She asked.

"Sure," I said.

"Sometimes they're so good that you get lost in them. Then you're disappointed when you remember that these characters don't actually exist, and life is just as shitty as it was when you started." She gave a small, petty laugh.

She leaned back and rested her head on my shoulder. "I forgot about this. I miss it."

"Staying up until four o'clock in the morning or talking?" I asked.

"Both," She replied as she shut her eyes.

"I do too."

"Would you ever think of coming back to New York?" She asked as she nuzzled into my neck.

"Maybe."

"I'm pretty sure the city misses you."

"I miss the city."

She smiled and looked up at me. "By the city, I meant me, you know that right?"

I laughed. "I caught on."

"Good. And Just so you know, California is the closest state to being the penis of the United States."

"Considering that I live in California, I'm going to have to argue that Florida is more of a penis than California."

"Florida is the gun of the United States. It's the metal penis," She concluded.

"You're tired, aren't you?" I asked.

"Extremely," She replied.

I rested my chin on her shoulder. "You know, I've actually been thinking about moving back for a while."

She looked at me with raised eyebrows. She could tell that I was lying. "More like a couple of hours."

"That's probably more accurate," I noted.

Then a distant look, that I had only seen a couple of times before, appeared on her face. "Now what do we do?"

"What do you mean?" I knew what she meant. I just didn't want to have to talk about it. But she couldn't just let me make a completely irrational decision without any questions asked.

"Carter, I know you want to make this, or whatever we have, work. But you live across the country. Moving here would be a big commitment."

"Listen, Kate, the only important thing I've learned in the past seven years is that this is my life. This is all it is right now. My life consists of you and a vacant store with completely crammed bookshelves. I'm happier with my life here than I am alone in my house with a computer."

A smile played on her lips, but she fought it. "Your reasoning is completely illogical and flawed, yet oddly philosophical."

"'Completely illogical and flawed, yet oddly philosophical' is probably the best description for everything I do," I commented.

She laughed as she stood up from my lap and stretched her arms. "Okay, Aristotle."