When Love Bites

17 Contracts

Chapter 17 Contracts

It sounded like we were constructing a contract. "Okay." I grabbed two pens and two legal pads from my work stuff and met him at the table. I handed him one of each. "Where do we start?"

"Bullet points I guess. I don't know nothing has ever been important enough to me to do anything remotely like this."

I sighed. "How about two columns? One for things that you are unwilling to budge at all on. The other for things you might be willing to give to the other. Maybe we can meet in the middle somewhere."

"That should do."

I stared at my blank pad for a few minutes after drawing a line down the middle. In the willing to give up column, I wrote labels. In the unwilling to budge category, I wrote partying with your ex.

I took my notepad, made 3 columns, and labeled them: Really want to do, not able to, and scared of, then started populating my list.

I was having a hard time with this. I tore off my page and crumpled it up. I started a new page and did what I do best. I just started writing. I am willing to give up needing to use your name and all but one label. I need to be able to talk about my boyfriend. I am willing to not push you into anything in exchange for you not going anywhere with your ex except for work-related business. I want permission to talk to Marisa about us. He was writing a lot down. I set my pen down.

I had a fairly decent list, but it was so simple to me. There were the things that I wanted to do, there were things that I didn't want to do and there were things that I was afraid of. I looked up when she put her pen down. "Done?"

"I think so. I think these are my absolutes. Everything else is workable."

"Okay, would you like to go first. Ladies first. I insist." That felt like me. I smiled despite the matter feeling like it should be grave. It was just a little silly and off the cuff.

I pushed my list over to him. "I think it's easier if you read it."

"I think mine looks like hieroglyphs and shorthand." I pushed the list over to her. "See, this is Avi's Chicken Scratch. It goes with Kevin's chicken song, which ironically is written in this very chicken scratch somewhere." I looked it over briefly and reviewed what I had written.

[Avi's |Want to do Meet your friends * get to know them before openly confirming our relationship, be referred to in your conversations as 'boyfriend' without being named, explained as being mildly famous and very shy, concerned worried over stupid stuff, Talked about in stories that are not too descriptive, like a literal description of me or something that I did publically

|Not able to *to be a public couple (yet) - like pictures on social media and stuff, I want to be seen out with you, give up my best friend, be rude to anyone (my ex specifically)

|Scared of *being public, large public displays of affection -- learning to hold hands and hug more and small kisses on the cheek and forehead, being labeled but you got to call me something when you talk about me]

We actually weren't that far off from each other. It was definitely a start. I looked up at him trying to read his reaction. He was pulling on his beard as he read. There wasn't much there, so I knew he was thinking.

I raised my eyebrow at her. I wanted to tell her how silly she was because there was a very clear misunderstanding there, but I got what she was getting at, but didn't understand the jealousy, I got the 'she really the opposite of likes' my ex-girlfriend. "Okay. Talk now I guess."