Page 97 of Bloom

Ryan glances quickly from my mother to me. “I had no idea it was like this with you guys,” he says quietly. “Why didn’t you ever tell me? I always thought you had super-involved sitcom parents.”

I smile a little. “I don’t know. You and I never talked about that kind of thing.”

“We should have,” he says. “I would have wanted to know.”

My mother grabs my hand. “Do you want me and Tommy to come along tomorrow?”

I control any eye-rolling urges admirably. Having my tipsy mother and her leather-clad boyfriend along for the interviews would certainly make them interesting, but probably not the kind of interest I’m after. “I think I’ll be okay.”

Tommy’s eyes light up. “If it’s a canned piece, they’ll need some music for the lead-in and parts of the segment. Why don’t you see if they’d like to play something off our new album? I’d be happy to grant permission.”

Oh my God.

Must. Roll. Eyes.

Summoning reserves of inner fortitude I didn’t know I possessed, I manage to smile. “What an interesting idea.” Ryan’s leg is shaking with the effort not to laugh.

“What a douche,” he says under his breath as Tommy and my mother begin another private conversation.

I giggle. I love Ryan. Not in a romantic way, but as a friend I really love him. And one day he’ll make someone — not me — an awesome boyfriend, if he can just get his dick out of the driver’s seat.

“So what happens with you and your bodyguard once school starts?” he asks.

“His name is James.”

“Fine, James. Your bodyguard. The guy who starts growling the minute anyone gets within 10 feet of you.”

“You did refer to my dress as ‘easy access’.”

He chuckles. “The guy stole my girlfriend. He deserves it.”

My phone buzzes again and I continue to ignore it. “He didn’t steal me and I haven’t been your girlfriend for months.”

“It was just a matter of time and you know it, Elle,” he says. He holds my eye. “It’s still a matter of time.”

I might have thought that this declaration would affect me, that I could be swayed by the appeal of being with someone who wants me unapologetically. But instead, it just makes me miss James. It hits me out of nowhere, the need to have him beside me, the wish that it was him here meeting my mother. To lean toward him and breathe him in, that clean mix of pine and sand and soap. To feel the pad of his thumb rubbing against my palm, and know that once the meal has concluded I’d have him all to myself.

“No, Ryan,” I say quietly, not that Tommy and my mother would notice. Two drunk high school freshman would show more restraint than they do. “It’s not a matter of time. James is it for me.”

“You’re 19. No one’s ‘it’ for you. You really believe either of you can spend the next three years apart without anyone else in the picture?”

Can we? It feels as if a part of him was always inside me, always tethered to me in some way. But it’s James himself who’s insisted that I’m naive. And the fact of the matter is he was too embarrassed about our relationship to show his face here tonight.

“I don’t know,” I sigh. “But I hope so.”

Ryan scowls suddenly, his eyes on something in the distance. “Are you sure he doesn’t have some kind of listening device on you?” he asks, nodding toward the front of the restaurant.

James stands there, talking to the hostess, his shorts and t-shirt such a dress code violation that I’m surprised they’ve allowed him in at all. He’s arguing with the hostess as his eyes scan the room, and when he sees me he brushes past her as she continues to argue.

I can’t stop the grin that spreads over my face as he comes to the foot of the table.

“I thought you wanted to wait?” I ask.

“I changed my mind,” he says, a flicker of a smile crossing his face. “If I can’t be away from you for two hours, it’s probably time I face the firing squad.”

“James?” my mother asks. “Ginny’s brother?”

“Yes,” he says. “But more importantly, James, your daughter’s boyfriend.”