Page 41 of Out of My Mind

But she shot him a skeptical glare that cut through his mountain of words.

“It doesn’t. I just don’t feel like dating right now.” It was the truth, but it also felt like a lie for some reason.

Delia didn’t say anything back. She rolled over and wrapped him in a hug—well, as good a hug as she could deliver whilst on this beanbag chair.

“What’s this for?” Mac rubbed her forearms.

“I love you. I hope I don’t have to watch you get hurt.”

Φ

When Mac returned to the apartment, the lights were on and the TV blared from the living room. Gideon sat on the couch with a bagel and cream cheese.

“How was your Yom Kippur?”

“Solemn. I brought you back an extra bagel and schmear from Hillel’s break the fast.” He pushed it over on the coffee table. Mac appreciated the gesture, almost too much, since itwasjust a bagel.

But he schmeared it, too.

Mac shook it off and took a seat beside him. Gideon didn’t seem to be enjoying the sitcom he was watching. He put a tentative hand on Gideon’s shoulder and massaged out some tension. Why did this feel like a breach to him, when they’d touched each other all over?

“You doing okay?” Mac asked.

Gideon put down his bagel. Deep lines creased his forehead. “I think we should have sex.”

CHAPTER fourteen

Gideon

“Right now?” Mac asked.

“After we finish our bagel and schmears?” Gideon’s leg bounced up and down.Don’t think. Just do.That was how everyone else in his family lived. He might as well join in the fun.

“Gideon.” Mac studied his face, his thick eyebrows scrunching together in thought. He was still massaging his shoulder, and doing a heck of a job at it.

Gideon jumped up. His body was one of those bouncy balls that could fly off every hard surface from a light drop. An avalanche of stress rushed down inside him to his forehead. A brain freeze without the ice cream.

“My brother is having a baby.”

“That’s great! Right?”

Gideon paced in front of the fireplace. “He and Christina just got engaged. Because her family’s religious, they don’t want to have the baby out of wedlock. So they’re getting married the first week in December. My mom just heard about the engagement at Rosh Hashanah, and you know how she reacted to that. This is going to destroy her.” His heart raced as details from the day came back to him. “He texted me this today. Texted! On Yom Kippur!”

“I don’t think Noah is as observant of Jewish traditions as you.”

“Ya think?”

This was classic Noah. Dropping bombshells without warning, not caring who got hurt, leaving Gideon to clean up the mess. He probably waited until Yom Kippur to drop the news on him and his mom so they couldn’t respond right away. Yom Kippur sneak attack. Not cool, Noah.

“Why weren’t they using birth control if she’s such a devout Catholic?” Gideon asked aloud. “Every girl I’ve been with has been on the pill, and I still used a condom.”

It was the definition of irresponsible, the acme of Noah’s pyramid of shit that Gideon had been witness to his whole life. This easily topped Noah getting in a bar fight. It was even more of a shitstorm than Noah leaving his passport in an Amsterdam whorehouse. Their mom was on the phone with the embassy for days to get him a temporary visa. Gideon used to think that Noah did it on purpose so he wouldn’t have to come home.

“Fucking Noah.” Gideon pulled out his bottle of Jameson and poured himself a shot. If Mac wanted one, he could pour it. Tonight, he didn’t care if he was drinking alone. He needed it.

“Look on the bright side.”

“There’s a bright side?”