Gypsy

Chapter 21

·Adam·

The five of us enter Sammy's Place to find it packed. Usually we get here a lot earlier than this, so we end up having to wait for a booth. While we wait, Livia, Maddox, and Craig drift off toward the dartboards, while I take a stool at the bar next to Zara. We order a couple beers and after they come, we sip them in silence.

I'd actually had a good time tonight with everyone at Rebound, despite the embarrassment the name and Craig's not so subtle hinting had caused me. On the rebound would be an apt enough description of me if it were true. The fact of the matter is, I'm neither unhappy nor confused; I'm just single and a little bitter. But who wouldn't be if they were in my shoes?

Even now the thought of dating puts a foul taste in my mouth. I know that's what everyone wants for me and Zara, but that's not what this is. This is just a guy getting to know a girl; two people--who are as different as a Giant Percheron and a Pygmy Goat--becoming friends. That thought causes me to smile. Hell far, I'm as bad as she is.

"What's so funny?" she asks, offering me a tentative smile.

"Mentally comparing you to a pygmy goat."

"A goat? Really?"

"A pygmy goat," I correct her. "Learn the difference. A pygmy is--"

"I know what a pygmy is, smart ass. I'm just surprised you do."

I laugh as I look over at her. She is smiling, and there's that spark of fiery spirit in her eyes. She's gearing up to roast my ass, and though I think I've prepared myself for it I know I'm not ready. This is Micah's and Craig's area of expertise not mine, but I'm gonna take my licks like a man. And then I'm gonna laugh about it.

She surprises me by veering down a completely different avenue of conversation. "I had fun tonight, Adam. Thank you. Sorry I've been so pigheaded."

"No more than me."

She laughs and nods her head, then takes a pull from her drink. We fall into silence for a little while. When she finally speaks again, the laughter has left her voice. I look over at her, but she's watching Maddox and Craig throwing darts in the back of the room.

"Sorry about ditching you that day. Guess I could have handled that better than I did."

"Don't worry about it. Just do me a favor?"

"What's that?" 

She looks over at me and I hold her gaze, wanting her to know just how serious I am about this. Knowing what I know, I worry. And not just about her anymore. I find I worry about all of them now. I watch the news, I hear the stories. I know the kinds of things that happen in the place that they call home. If I had my way about it, they'd never go back there again. With those thoughts in my mind, I lean toward her a little, no trace of a smile left on my face now. 

In a voice I barely recognize as my own I say, "Don't disappear on me again."

She doesn't promise me, but that's okay. Her curt nod is enough. She looks away from me with a sigh and I know her mood has shifted yet again. This time she seems almost sad, and I know instinctively not to question her about it. She's not an open book, and I don't think anything I can say will change that.

"There's a booth free back there," she says and nods to the back of the bar. I look in that direction then slip off my stool.

"We'd better stake a claim before someone else does." 

She moves to stand next to me and then we make our way back together. I have a feeling our deeper conversation is over for the night, not that I'd expected much in the way of that anyway. But I wonder: how do you get to know somebody who doesn't want you to get to know them?