Highly Illogical Behavior(27)
“Are you getting tired of me? Is that what this is?” she asked, trying to stop her widening smile.
“Shut up. I just . . . I think maybe I’m ready to meet him.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I mean, it’s been over a month now. The guy’s going to hate me if I don’t start sharing you a little.”
“He has his video games,” she said, slapping Solomon’s words away in the air.
“I’m serious, though,” he said. “You think he’ll like me?”
“Why’s it matter what I think?”
“He’s your boyfriend,” he said. “Maybe we won’t get along.”
“That would be unfortunate,” she said. “However, impossible.”
“You don’t think the gay thing will bother him?”
“Bother him? Oh my God, he’ll probably volunteer to drive you to a pride parade on day one.”
“He can’t be that good.”
“I have this theory that he wears a Superman costume under his clothes at all times,” she said.
“His name is Clark.”
And then, like a sign from Jor-El of Krypton himself, Lisa’s phone started lighting up and vibrating on the table.
“Speak of the devil,” she said, picking it up. “Can you give me one second?”
“Sure.”
“Lisa Praytor, Girlfriend of Your Dreams,” she answered, shooting Solomon a big smile. “Uh-huh. Right. Well . . . okay. Can you do me a favor? Exactly. Thank you. Love you too. Okay. Bye.”
“How’s he doing?” Solomon asked, looking down at the puzzle.
“Super,” she said. “I’ll talk to him later, okay? About coming over.”
“Now I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be. I’m jazzed about this, Sol. Do you believe in destiny?”
“Not really. But I like the idea of you believing in it.”
“Then we’re all set, aren’t we? And you’ll see.”
“Lisa,” he said, knowing she could hear his quickened breathing.
Solomon had never had a panic attack in front of her, but there’d been a few close calls for sure—a couple of times he’d even pretended to go to the bathroom just so he could calm down and breathe like normal. He was sure she’d noticed, though, and just hadn’t said anything. Maybe it made her uncomfortable. Or maybe she was like everyone else and just didn’t know what to say or do. Most people would rather do nothing than risk doing the wrong thing—that’s something Solomon learned a long time before shutting them all out.
“Okay . . . okay . . . ,” she said calmly. “It’s okay. You’re good, Sol.”
“Sorry,” he said, leaning forward and resting his face in his hands.
“No apologies. Just breathe and count to ten, okay? That’s good . . . now exhale slowly at five. You’ve got this, buddy.”
He looked up at her, counting in his mind, and instead of hiding his face in embarrassment or leaving the room, he did exactly what she told him to do. It was five minutes of panic in an otherwise quiet, normal day—five minutes of near silence that told him more than any conversation they’d ever had. He was safe with her. She did something instead of nothing. And suddenly destiny didn’t seem all that far-fetched an idea.
FOURTEEN
LISA PRAYTOR
The second Solomon mentioned Clark coming over, Lisa knew she’d earned his complete trust. It wasn’t a far leap, of course, seeing as she’d practically become a member of his family. And what could’ve been an obligatory friendship with a disturbed boy had, in actuality, become one of the healthiest relationships in her life with one of the more levelheaded people she’d ever met. And, lest you forget, it was going to make all of her dreams come true.
It was finally time for Solomon to meet Clark and realize that no matter how well you hide, the world finds you and gives you reasons to come out of the shadows. Lisa had already saved him from complete solitude, so now it was time to give him another friend on the outside. She knew as soon as Clark walked in with that big sincere smile and those sea-green eyes that Solomon, gay or not, would be enamored. Clark was one of those guys whose club you want to be in. And it was something you could tell just by seeing him—a familiarity and kindness that made strangers approach him all the time to ask for directions or to see if he was someone they knew. It was a specific kind of effortless charm that Lisa couldn’t quite understand, but had certainly fallen victim to. And she was banking on similar results with Solomon.
When she left Solomon’s house later that night, she went straight to Clark’s and the second he opened the door, she looked him in the eyes and said, “It’s time.”
“Time for what?” he asked blandly, letting her in and taking a seat on the couch.
“Solomon. You. Me.”
“Oh. I didn’t think that was ever going to happen.” He looked straight ahead at the TV.
“Look, I know I’ve been gone a lot lately.”
“A lot?” he said, turning her way. “If I didn’t see you at school I wouldn’t even remember what you look like.”
“Like you’d ever forget that,” she joked.