The bartender, though, noticed, and that’s when we got kicked out.
For a while, we just walked and talked.
I told her, “I’m not the only person you’re going to be sexually compatible with.”
“I know,” she said, “but until I find someone else who is, I don’t think it’s fair for you to just leave me hanging in the breeze.”
“I’m sorry,” I told her, “but that’s just the way it is, and that’s the way it has to be.”
We talked some more after that, and I do remember her apologizing for coming on so strong with Leila, though she didn’t really go into too much detail about what that meant.
It wasn’t looking like I was going to make any headway until my liquid brain spat out an idea.
“You know,” I told her, “Leila’s moving out of the city, and there’s a good chance that we’re going to break up when she does. I don’t know that for sure, but things aren’t looking like they’re going to last. If you keep doing what you’re doing, I’m never going to want to be around you again, much less back inside.”
“And what if she leaves and the two of you stay together?” she asked.
“If that happens, then that’s what happens. Truthfully, I hope that is what happens, but if you don’t back the fuck off, I can tell you right now that you and I are never going to be an option again, even if Leila and I do break up.”
She thought about it for a minute.
“I had all sorts of shit planned, though,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“Never mind,” she said. “Just some ways to convince you that you were going to bed in the wrong vag, you know.”
“Wrigley…”
“Just tell me two things,” she said.
“What?”
“Is it love?”
“Yeah,” I told her. “I really think it is.”
She nodded.
“What’s the other thing?”
She looked at me. “What’s that like?”
I smiled. I very clearly remember smiling.
“It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world. Everything is better. It’s like being on ecstasy all the time, minus the comedown and health implications. It’s something you never want to let go of, and it makes everything else in the world seem so small, so trivial.”
“Huh,” she said. “That sounds nice.”
“Have you ever been in love?” I asked.
She scoffed. “No.”
“You should try it sometime,” I told her. “Find someone who drives you insane in the best possible way, someone who you drive insane in the same way. There’s really nothing like it.”
“Maybe I will,” she said.
We walked another half block before she spoke again.