Page 78 of Places We've Never Been

We circled a couple more times in silence. “I didn’t force you to play video games,” I said.

He let out a single laugh. “Yes, you did.”

“You didn’t like them?”

“I liked them.”

“Then you need to rethink your definition offorce.”

“Fine, I knew that if I wanted to hang out with you, I had to play video games.”

“Hadto? That’s just as bad as force.”

He smiled. “The bison game? Was that his unexpected question?”

“What?”

“Was that the answer to a question youforcedTy to ask you?”

I gasped and shoved his chest. He laughed and his grip shifted on my waist, sending a tingle up my spine.

I swallowed. “No. That wasn’t the answer to a question. You think I’d say that in my interview? Do you want to be a bison or a car, Dean Collins?”

“Why not?” he asked. “It’s funny. More you.”

“More me than what? My other answers?”

“No…sort of. You should sound prepared, but you can probably relax a little more, say how you’re feeling, not what you think she wants to hear.”

“That’s how most things in life work, Skyler. We say what we think people want to hear.”

“Like your Instagram.”

And here it was. Good. We needed to hash this out. “What do you mean, like my Instagram?”

“Nothing. Never mind, just forget I said that.”

“I can’t forget you said it. Explain it to me.”

“It just doesn’t feel real.”

“You’re saying I’m fake? My answers are fake, my Instagram is fake. My friends are fake.”

“I’m saying you’renotfake, but looking at your page makes it seem like you are.”

“Why? Because I post a few selfies?”

“I’m just surprised at who you’re hanging out with these days.”

“You know my friends?”

“Some of them. I did grow up there, Norah. I know that crowd.” His voice was full of judgment.

“They’re nice, Skyler. We take care of each other. You saw how Leena rescued Willow the other night.”

“From being drunk…”

Why was he making me feel like I had become the worst kind of person? “I don’t get drunk if that’s what you’re saying. And neither does Willow. It was an accident.”