Highly Illogical Behavior(20)

“It’s important that you know something, Lisa.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve been really scared—about Solomon and all the time he spends alone and in this house. And then you come along and suddenly he’s talking about swimming and getting a tan. I don’t know if it’s crazy to believe him or not. But we couldn’t dig that pool any faster if we tried.”

“You’re getting a pool?” Lisa asked, looking over toward the windows that face out into the backyard.

“He said he wanted one,” she answered. “He said he’d go outside.”

“No way.”

“I need you to promise me something, Lisa.”

“Okay.”

“Promise me you’ll stick around for as long as it takes to get him out there. That’s all I’m asking. If you get bored or just decide he’s not the kind of friend you wanted him to be—just please wait until we can get him out there, okay?”

“Okay,” Lisa said. “But, I . . .”

“Thank you,” she interrupted.

Just as she was about to ask more about the pool, Solomon stepped into the room and said “Hello.”

He was visibly unnerved, but no more so than the first time she’d come over. He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, with no socks. Lisa looked right at his bare feet and over to his mom.

“Okay. You guys can have the living room. I’ve got to run up to the office and . . . Sol, where’s your dad?”

“Right here,” Jason said, walking in. “Hi, Lisa. I’m Jason.”

Lisa stood up and they shook hands. He looked over to Solomon and smiled, giving him a wink.

“All right, let’s get out of their hair. Nobody wants two old people hanging around,” his mom said.

“I do,” Solomon joked nervously. “Tell us about taxes.”

“And what exactly is a 401k?” Lisa added.

Jason and Valerie walked out of the room, still laughing. Lisa sat down at one end of the sofa and Solomon sat at the opposite end, an entire cushion length between them. He flipped through movies on the TV screen in silence, never looking her way.

“You get shy on me, Sol?” Lisa asked.

“Sorry.”

“It’s cool. Got something in mind?”

“Not really,” he said. “I can’t be trusted with this. Here, take it.”

“Okay,” she said, reaching over to grab the remote from him. “So, let’s be smart about this. Comedy, sci-fi, drama, or horror?”

“No sci-fi,” he said promptly, sticking to his guns.

“Deal.”

“Your turn,” he said.

“Oh . . . umm . . . no drama.”

“Great. No horror. I hate scary movies.”

“Me too. Clark makes me watch them and then I can’t sleep for a week.”

“That’s actually spousal abuse,” he joked. “Okay, comedy then.”

“Thank God,” she said. “What makes you laugh, Solomon Reed?”

“I don’t know . . . slapstick?”

“I knew it,” she said. “I know this is old school, but are you a fan of Mel Brooks?”

A huge smile stretched across his face.

“Where’d you come from?” he asked her.

“Upland,” she said. “Keep up, will you? I vote Robin Hood: Men in Tights.”

“Is my mom paying you to be here?”

“No,” she said, scanning the screen for the movie. “But I do like to swim. And, you know, a free root canal would be nice, should the occasion ever arise.”

“She told you about the pool, I guess.”

“She did. And you’re going to swim in that pool, yeah?”

“That’s right,” he answered.

“She seems pretty psyched,” Lisa said. “That you asked for it, I mean.”

“No pressure,” he said. “Did she tell you my grandma bribed me?”

“No she did not. How so?”

“Said she’d buy the pool if I hung out with you.”

“Smart,” Lisa said before getting really quiet.

“Just the first time,” he said. “Not anymore. I want you here.”

“Oh good. I was getting scared this situation would forever ruin Robin Hood: Men in Tights for me.”

“That would be tragic,” he said. “I think my grandma’s hoping you’ll fall in love with me and save me from myself.”

“Too bad I’ve got Clark,” she joked.

“Too bad I’m gay,” he blurted out, closing his eyes and expecting the silence to be deafening.

“Yeah, too bad,” she said with a big smile.

She raised her hand into the air for a high five and he sort of just looked at it until she put it back down.

“I’ve never told anyone before.”

“Oh my God,” she said. “Thank you.”

“For being gay or for telling you?”

“Both?”

“You’re welcome. I sort of had a panic attack when you got here.”

“I figured. Your mom said you were trying to find socks.”

“She’s a bad liar,” he said, raising his foot into the air and wiggling his toes.