Page 93 of Let's Talk About Love

“Do you want me to take you to the bathroom?”

“Why? I can change here,” she said, casting a bleary-eyed glance over her shoulder. “I trust you.” Without another thought, she pulled her dress over her head and slipped on her nightgown. She’d actually made an emergency trip to the store to buy a cute enough nightgown, not wanting to be seen in a ratty T-shirt and sweatpants. Her pride wouldn’t allow it. Alice had seen plenty of girls who could pull off thatI just rolled out of bedor theI’m flawless in ragslook, but she was not one of them by a long shot.

When she turned back around, he stood on the opposite side of the room with his back to her.

“You can look now,” she said. She shuffled on her knees toward the bed. He peeked over his shoulder before turning around completely.

“What’s with the face?” Even Drunk Alice could tell how relieved he looked. She tried to haul herself onto the bed, stopping halfway and face-planting.

“What’s wrong with my face?” He picked up her legs and placed them on the bed.

She rolled onto her back, and said, “Thank you for the boost, good sir. I require all your pillows for maximum comfort.”

He leaned in close to her face, squinting. “You’re lucky I like you.”

She sighed. “I know. You smell all minty.”

“Toothpaste.”

“Just like Ron and Hermione,” she mumbled.

Takumi chuckled, covering her with a blanket before crawling over her to his side of the bed and handing her all the pillows. He propped his head up on his elbow. “You know what else you do in your sleep?”

“Drool?” She lay on her side, holding one of the donated pillows to her chest.

“A little,” he admitted, “but that’s not what I’m talking about. You mumble-sing. I couldn’t figure out what song it was, but when I asked, you told me to shut up because you were serenading me.”

“You. Are. Lying.” Butoh Jesus, he might not have been. A fleeting memory of dreaming about singing while on a lake in a rowboat with him rattled in her brain. She buried her face in the empty bit of space between them.

He moved closer. The warmth of his body next to hers made her shiver when it shouldn’t have. His words were a soft whisper near her ear. “It was lovely, albeit off-key. I almost recorded you.”

“What stopped you?” She peeked up at him.

His fingers trailed over her shoulder. “I didn’t want you to get mad.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten mad. Embarrassed as all get out, yeah, but not mad. I think I was dreaming.”

“You dream about me?”

“I dream about everyone,” she said. “One time, I was the captain of a spaceship and you were the AI interface that wouldn’t stop sassing me in front of my crew.”

They stared at each other. Alice blinked first, but her eyes didn’t make it back to his. She focused on his smile, his lips, not wanting to kiss them; rather she wanted to touch them to see if they were as soft as they looked. The dangers of drunk-thinking could end in disaster.Her hand was halfway to his mouth when he asked, “Do you want to watch a movie?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, rolling away from her and off the bed. Like a sneaky cat, she usurped his spot and rolled onto her back. She breathed in and out, counting each breath while staring at the wooden beams overhead.

“What are you in the mood for?” he asked, remote in hand, already scrolling through the catalog.

Inhibitions gone, the truth spilled out of her mouth. “Romance.”

“I actually don’t like those kinds of movies.”

“Really?” She gazed up at him, surprised. “Why?”

“Because they try to sell the idea of true love and forever. I think that’s a really damaging idea. It doesn’t work like that in real life. It’s supposed to be fiction, but people rely on it and make it a standard to aspire to.”

“People like me,” she said without a hint of shame. She sat up, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment to get her bearings.

He gave her a funny look. “You like romance? In real life?”