Page 11 of Out of My Mind

“Yeah.”

“Cool,” Mac said. He seemed surprised, and maybe a touch sad, to be right.

“I’m kidding. We’re throwing a party for new students at Hillel tonight.”

“Sounds familiar. Don’t give any naïve freshmen the wrong idea.”

“I’m laughing on the inside.” Gideon entered the solace of his clean bedroom with a new bed, washed sheets, and clothes that were folded or hung up. He changed into a navy blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, khaki shorts, and boat shoes. He went into the bathroom to get his puff of hair just right and spritz on cologne.

“Stop being awkward,” he whispered to himself.

He returned to the kitchen, where Mac was finishing up the last bits of his dinner. Still shirtless.

“I’ll be back later.” Gideon froze in place. Heat strangled his neck.

Did Mac just check me out?

He felt Mac’s eyes travel up and down his body for a split-second. It was so quick, and Mac was back to munching on his cereal, but Gideon caught it. He had given girls the onceover plenty of times. He knew what he saw. He wondered how much times that had happened over the past week. Gideon found himself puffing out his chest.

And did I like it?

“Make sure you put your spoon and bowl in the dishwasher when you’re done.”

Φ

Gideon hit on no freshmen at the event. They all looked so young. Was that really him two years ago? On his way home, he called his mom. He made sure to call her at least twice a week. He hated thinking about her all alone in their house. Talking to Gideon was the highlight of his mom’s week, and she never minded telling him that.

“How was Hillel?” She asked.

“It was a good time.”

“I still remember the spread they put out for parents weekend.” Gideon and his mom had joked about the bagels they served, how bland and chewy they were. Any bagel not produced in New York or New Jersey was instantly inferior. It wasn’t Hillel’s fault.

Gideon slapped his hand against lampposts he passed.

“How’s Beth?” She asked.

“She’s good. Happy to be back on campus.” Gideon didn’t miss a beat. He didn’t have any internal panic. He kept slapping lampposts.

“How’s it going living together?”

“So far, so good. She has so much stuff, especially in the bathroom. I have half a shelf in the medicine cabinet.”

“You never had sisters, so you don’t know. We don’t just wake up looking like this.”

“I’m sureyoudo.” He could feel his mom smile back.

“You need to send me a picture of the new furniture. I’m curious what her parents picked out.”

A question like that would’ve tripped up an amateur. The key was to always be two steps ahead. “You know what, we decided not to do that. We realized that it was pointless to get all new furniture when at most, we’d be living in this apartment for two years.”

“What about after graduation?”

“We don’t know what kind of place we’d get in New York. The apartments there are smaller, and the set we were looking at might not have fit.”

“Good point.”

In times like these, Gideon felt like Billy Flynn inChicago(the movie) doing his tap dance. It was only when he hung up that the usual cocktail of anger and guilt washed over him.