Nina Here Nor There by Nick Krieger

Author:Nick Krieger
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2011-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

Later that night, I rationalized myself out of attempting to date Ramona with a laundry list of concerns: she was young, with no real life experience; she wasn’t athletic; she didn’t ride a bicycle; we had little in common besides writing; she lived like she was in college; she was really, really young. Maybe I flowed down my river of reasons to spare myself the pain of starting a relationship that would, in my mind, undoubtedly end, or maybe I was trying to spare myself the anxiety that came with physical intimacy, but I always had my reasons, and all they’d ever left me with was a headache.

This time, I did my best to let my brain rest and did what all the kids were doing. I purchased my first text-messaging plan and put my thumbs in charge. When Ramona sent me a text every few hours, I’d simply respond with something witty. By evening, I’d be at a bar with her and Katrina, on her post breakup bender, and by late night, I’d be in Ramona’s bed. It took two weeks for us to finish an evening closer to my house and end up in my bed.

It was the middle of the night and the glow from the streetlamp seeped through the thin blinds, lending us a dim light. Ramona tucked the corner of the pillow underneath her head, pressing her cheek into the feathers. The yellow cotton of my auto mechanic T-shirt crawled up around her neck. I fought the urge to take in Ramona, in my clothes and in my bed, as if once I did, she’d vanish, drop me for someone that made sense, like an actual dyke, or something uncomplicated, like a walking erection. “Why do you even like me?” I asked, immediately embarrassed by my vulnerability. “Wait, don’t answer that.”

She inched her pillow closer to mine and surprised me by playing along, assuaging my insecurity with a short list of my better traits. “But mostly I like you because we’re from the same tribe,” she said. “You feel familiar, like we’ve known each other for a long time.”

I touched her cheek. Her skin was so smooth, untainted by life, yet there was something old and wise inside. I thought about smell chemistry, previous lives, cosmic ties, all the mysterious reasons people connect, everything that defied the explanations I craved. Despite myself, I liked her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.