“Keep your voice down,” he scolds, and I roll my eyes.
“I’m serious. Why on earth would you two get married?”
His brow furrows as he sits up a little straighter. “Because we love each other.”
“You really think she’ll say yes? She has her whole life ahead of her.”
“Yes, I think she will say yes, and I have my whole life ahead of me too, Beau.”
“Well, not nearly as much!”
He lets out a heavy sigh, clearly brushing off the insults I’m hurling at him, but he never responds with the rise I expect. Instead, he just pushes his shoulders back and waits. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. It’s like a joke that’s gone too far. I got over the fact that they were screwing, and I learned to accept that they were living together, but I expected it to end any day now. This weird little fling of theirs can’t last forever.
“You’re not going to have kids, are you?” I ask, racking my brain to remember if Charlie ever mentioned wanting them when we were together.
“No. We’re not going to have kids.”
“Then, what’s the point?” I ask.
“The point is that we want to make a commitment to each other. Someday, you’ll meet someone you want that with.”
“Not likely. I mean, it’s only been a year. How do you know in ten years she’ll still want you?”
He leans forward, letting his features soften as he scrutinizes me for a moment. “Not all marriages end in divorce, Beau. Not all relationships are bad. Some couples don’t work and some just do. Even if you think they don’t make sense or they come from different places or are different ages, when you meet someone that wants what you want, it just fits. Someone who makes being you a little easier. When you find that person, you’ll know.”
Right about now, I could throw something unfairly cruel his way, something about how I thought I had that with Charlie, but I’ve spent long enough making my dad pay for what happened with my ex-girlfriend. It never changed a damn thing anyway. So, this time, I don’t say a word.
But I do wish I could tell him that whatever the hell he’s talking about just isn’t in the cards for me. Because every girl I date never fits. They either want what I can’t give or give me what I don’t want. There is no compatibility with other people when you’re a self-absorbed asshole only looking out for yourself—or so I’ve been told.
“I hope you know I’m telling you this because I wouldn’t do it without your approval.”
“Bullshit,” I bark back. He’s lying, and I know it. “You want my approval, sure, but you would do it anyway.”
His mouth turns up in a small smile as he shrugs. “I do want your approval, though.”
“I don’t care. I really don’t. I think you’re crazy and probably a little stupid for expecting someone like Charlie to commit the rest of her life to you, but I’m not gonna stop you. It’s your funeral.”
He laughs. “Technically, it’s a wedding, but thanks.” We fill the silence with small talk, and he seems a little more relaxed now, as if he just needed to get that part off his chest. I still can’t picture him up at the altar with Charlie, but I’m going to choose not to think about it anymore.
Rule #5: You’re kinkier than you think.
Beau
Someone nudges my arm, and my eyes pop open. I’m staring up at the popcorn ceiling of Dash and Brody’s apartment. I must have nodded off after those hits off the joint. I lost count of how many times it made its rounds.
Brody’s offering me another, but I shake my head. Why couldn’t the asshole just let me sleep?