Page 76 of Break the Ice

‘Hey, how’s it going? Reservation for two under Abelman?’ Josh says casually to the server, who shows us to our table, tucked away in a corner. He reserved a table too. This feels planned and I love that. ‘We won’t need menus, just two frozen hot chocolates—’ he says.

I put my hand up. ‘Hold up, bud…’ I put my hands out asking for the menu. It’s massive but I scan it quickly. I didn’t come all the way here just for drinks.

‘But we just had dinner,’ Josh reminds me.

‘I’ll have a pecan pie and some chips, French fries, thank you.’

‘You want that pie à la mode?’ the server asks.

Josh might blush the most he’s ever blushed at anything in his life.

‘Always,’ I say, grinning.

‘For sure, guys. Take your time and I’ll be back.’

I watch him rearrange himself on his seat, too shy to even look me in the eye. ‘You know, you may have to get over your shyness if we’re sharing a bed again,’ I tease him.

His eyes widen. ‘Yeah, about that. We don’t have to be in my bedroom if you don’t want to. Ignore my mom. You said we had the fun in England, the fun was done.’

It makes me giggle to see him so panicked. ‘All right, Dr Seuss. It’s no biggie. We can be roomies. I guess if we’re faking this thing then we need to make it look legit.’

‘Like when you told my family you were an astrophysicist,’ he says. I wondered when that might come up.

‘Do you not think me capable of astrophysics? Rude!’ I joke. I see him waiting for my explanation. ‘The fact was, Trayvon and Lenny gave me the low-down on your Avery. MIT finance major, she wants to be a corporate lawyer, blah, blah, blah. So I felt the need to level up and match the status,’ I tell him.

‘You did a masters in psychology,’ he tells me. ‘That’s pretty awesome.’

I pull a face. I don’t know how to take that compliment. ‘Yeah, but now I work in events organising ridiculous parties and doing vacuous hashtagging on social media,’ I say.

‘Don’t put yourself down,’ he says casually. ‘I wish you’d told them about your psychology background.’

‘So I could look smart and educated?’ I joke.

‘No. Because your dad told me how hard you worked for your masters and I think you’d be a brilliant educational psychologist. I think you have the potential to help so many kids and that’s exciting. For you and for them.’

I sit upright at that, at how he projects me into a future I’m still so uncertain about, the faith and belief he has in me. In a life where I’m usually the little sister, the butt of the jokes, the wild unserious one, it’s surprising to hear someone refer to me like an adult.

‘You’re pretty cool and smart,’ he adds.

‘Go on,’ I urge him.

‘And nice.’

‘Nice? I suggest you go back through your thesaurus and find a better word.’

He laughs. ‘Positive.’

‘Like a battery?’

‘Loyal to a fault.’

‘Better…’

‘Pretty.’

‘Well, that’s always been achingly obvious. You’ve also seen me at my absolute worst, so I will take that, kind sir,’ I say, leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. He’s getting used to the cheek kisses and I like that.

‘But you know, it’s kind of fun to build a backstory to how we met, the nature of our relationship. The improvisation stuff is very fun,’ I tell him.