“They’d have to drag you off those sets,” I say.
“I’d still be there. I’d live in the walls. Or I’d have stolen everything that wasn’t nailed down.”
“Oh wow. Imagine the state of your bedroom with all those collectibles.”
“See? It could be worse.” Bo exhales gently, his smile holding. “What about you?”
“I think I’d like to be famous but like more of the creative, lesser-known side of things. Like a director or a screenwriter or something where I get to go to all the events and meet cool people but mostly get to focus on the work and not the publicity of being famous. Like you said—it’s way too much public perception.”
“I could see you being a director,” Bo says.
“Yeah? How so?”
“You have an air of authority about you.”
I snort. “Me?”
“Yeah, you,” Bo says, narrowing his eyes playfully. “You’re steady… like you have a calm under pressure way about you that I admire.”
“Calm…” I say incredulously. “Me? Did you happen to miss my spiral about dinner a few hours ago?”
“But that’s the thing. You communicated it all and we got on the same page. Now we’re a better team. That’s what a good director does.”
“Oh, and you’d know that. From all your experience on set.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s it, then?” I say, looking over at the deck as Bo tucks it away inside the box. “We finished the first question?”
“Yep.” He places the cards down on the coffee table. “Guess in nineteen more questions, we’ll be in love.” He waggles his eyebrows suggestively before checking his watch. “Want to watch a movie or something?” he asks. “I could grab my laptop.”
“Sure,” I say. “You can introduce me to this Andy fella.”
“Well, which one of his movies haven’t you seen?”
I stare back at him blankly.
“Which one haven’t you seen, Win?” Bo asks, concerned. I scrunch my face, looking up at the ceiling. “Have… have you not seen Lord of the Rings?” he asks, his voice slow and near cracking.
I shake my head, a small whisper of a laugh escaping me when his face quickly switches from pure horror to shock to amusement. Bo checks his watch, then looks back at me, then the coffee table, as if he’s calculating something. Then he looks back to his watch again. It’s strangely endearing how much this information has rocked him.
“Okay, if we start now, we can make it through the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring before midnight.”
“Midnight?” I ask wearily. “How long is it?”
“It’s probably better that you don’t know.” He stands abruptly, moves to circle the couch, then stills. “I cannot believe I’m having a baby with a Lord of the Rings virgin.” he says, near whispering. “This is amazing…” He takes off jogging toward his bedroom.
“I swear you were less excited to have sex with me than you are right now!” I call after him.
“Honestly? Maybe!” he shouts back from down the hall.
I made it two hours into the movie before I rested my head on Bo’s shoulder and drifted to sleep.
CHAPTER 18
Sixteen Weeks Pregnant. Baby is the size of an avocado.
This past week, Bo and I have fallen into a familiar pattern. I’ve had morning shifts all week, so I get up early, brew a pot of coffee so Bo has some when he wakes up, and head off to work. I go for a swim at the gym after work and arrive home just as Bo’s starting to prepare dinner. We eat together on the couch and tell each other about our days—not that I could explain to you in detail what Bo does for a living. He usually loses me once the word data is thrown around.
Still, I find that he’s so excited to tell me every part of his day that if I nod enthusiastically and smile along, it doesn’t matter if I truly understand. And I do like the way his face lights up when he talks about work. It inspires me to think of what I’d like to do after the baby. A camp might be the very big future dream, but maybe there’s a step between that might fulfil me more.
After dinner, I clean up, soundtracked by whichever record Bo selects from his mom’s collection. Yesterday we listened to “The Best of Etta James” and the night before was U2’s “Joshua Tree.” Joanna, like her son, was a woman of eclectic taste. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Bo’s mom while listening and doing the dishes, actually.
I wonder whether she somehow knows about the baby, like I’m hoping Marcie does. I like to think that they’re both in heaven, the ether, the afterlife—whatever you want to call it—proudly watching us fumble our way into parenthood.
Then, once I’m done with my daydreaming and tidying-up, we pull a question from the deck. The questions are a great tool to take little peeks at the inside workings of Bo’s brilliant, albeit strange, mind. What I find most interesting, so far, is that Bo seems to be someone who’s entirely indifferent or extremely opinionated and rarely in between.
You bring forty-six houseplants into the guy’s home, and he barely bats an eye. But you defend orange juice with pulp in it, and he’s ready to go to war.
Yesterday’s question—what is your most controversial take?—turned a normally agreeable Bo argumentative in mere minutes. I was mostly joking when I suggested that juice with pulp was superior if not equal to juice without. I was not expecting the guy to fly off the handle, but, oh, was it entertaining to watch.
I genuinely loved watching him wildly push his hair out of his face and repeatedly fix his glasses as he paced the room. He was near hysterical, ranting about how disgusting pulp is and how, and I quote, any self-respecting human wouldn’t subject themselves to bits in their juice.
His controversial take was that movie theatre popcorn is overrated and doesn’t taste all that different from the microwavable kind when you consider costs.
We barely survived our first fight.
But as exciting as our new routine has been, it’s on hold tonight. Bo has friends coming over, and I’ve yet to decide if I’ll make an appearance or hide away in my room all evening.
He checked that having them here was fine with me at least a dozen times, and I assured him repeatedly that it was. Still, I’m nervous to meet them. If I should meet them. Maybe it would be best to just let them have their night and not get in the way. But equally, it could be rude to avoid them. How does one introduce oneself in this particular scenario?
Hi! I’m Win. I’m pregnant with your friend’s baby. He took pity on me, and now I’m also his roommate. Yes, we’ve seen each other naked. And no, I haven’t quite decided whether I want to again or if that could mess everything up. But also, it’s hard to know what to do because these fucking hormones are making me so horny that I have to recharge my vibrator every night, and he sometimes wears glasses that make me feel like I could chew rocks and spit out diamonds. Also, do you happen to know, is he still in love with his ex? Does he talk about her? I’m not getting a good read on that whole situation, and I’m not sure how to bring it up. Anyway, hope you guys have a fun night!