Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey

Author:Kerry Winfrey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

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After I’m dressed in jeans, a black shirt with white polka dots and a red collar, and red flats, I put on my bright red lipstick and smooth down my milkmaid braids. I look good, and my button-up shirt is buttoned right to the collar. Not even any visible neck. I’m trying to send a message of “absolutely nothing sexual will ever happen between us and I am okay with that.”

Honestly, though, I should apologize to Nick for what happened last night, and the way I basically asked him to kiss me while he was half-naked in the bed we were sharing. And I should tell him it’s okay that he turned me down, that it’s more than okay—that it’s for the best!

But when I open the door, I see Nick, fully dressed, standing in front of the hotel room desk, arranging food.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“You take a long shower.” He turns around. “So I went downstairs and took advantage of that continental breakfast. Their pastries aren’t exactly up to Chloe Sanderson standards, but I think I got a pretty good spread.”

He points at each item as he describes it. “I got a blueberry muffin and a chocolate chip. Skipped the lemon poppy seed because I know poppy seeds are your sworn enemies.”

“They get stuck in your teeth and they’re pointless,” I say softly.

“Several varieties of yogurt for the protein, and every kind of sugar-filled cereal they had. I left the bran flakes down there because I know you think bran is boring. Oh, and I got you a coffee.”

I take a step toward the desk, then notice that the bed is made. “You made the bed?”

Nick shoots me a confused look. “Were you planning on going back to sleep?”

“No, it’s just . . . we’re in a hotel, Nick. One of the very few opportunities you have to pawn the bed-making off on someone else. And besides, the cleaning staff will unmake it so they can wash the sheets.”

Nick shrugs. “I’m used to making the bed every morning.”

You’re just such an adult. I don’t even realize I said that out loud until Nick says, “You’re constantly reminding me that I’m an elderly man, remember?”

Ugh. Why is it such a turn-on that Nick has his shit together? That he can make a bed and obtain food? Maybe it’s pathetic that I’m so touched by various packaged food items pilfered from a continental breakfast, but other than the meals Don sometimes cooks for us at Annie’s, I can’t even remember the last time someone took care of a meal for me. The kind of people I go on dates with don’t tend to focus on meal preparation, and even when Dad was living at home and able to use the stove, he didn’t make meals for us. Milo and I fended for ourselves, which led to me learning to make basics like spaghetti for us every night in high school.

Also, I would bet my meager life savings that Mikey Danger doesn’t even know how to make a bed.

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