𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐁𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐅𝐈𝐓𝐒 η jorbyn

dos

maybe jonah was taking the coward's way out by calling tate instead of showing up at her house. but he thought it might be better for her to have time to think about what he was going to tell her, instead of making her deal with it up front. i could have sent her a text or an email, he thought, nervously drumming his hand against his knee. that would have been way more cowardly.

"tate," he said, when she picked up. "i...there's something we need to talk about."

she gave an uneasy laugh. "well, that doesn't sound good. you think i'm going to need a box of tissues or a baseball bat?"

tatum dahl was always the funny one. but this situation wasn't funny at all.

"um... maybe both." he sighed. "i'm sorry, i'm not trying to be dramatic, but something's happened and i didn't realize how much i'd messed up until, like, this afternoon."

"okay." she paused, then added, "do you just want me to forgive you up front, so it won't feel so stressful?"

"tate." he took a deep breath. "i don't think you can do that. i mean... you might not forgive me for this."

"yeah, but if i kind of make an agreement with myself that whatever you say, i'm going to forgive you, doesn't that take some of the pressure off?"

he leaned on the handlebars of his bike, walking it up the street in no particular direction, feeling too confused to climb on. "but how can you know you'll forgive me until you hear what i did?"

"whatever it is, i bet i can forgive you. maybe you ate some girl's liver, i don't know." he could hear her making a grimace. "you didn't do that, did you?"

"uh, no. no, i didn't." his voice dropped into something approximating awed. "you would forgive me for that?"

"i'm just trying to think of the most heinous crime possible, jonah, but... honestly? i trust you. if you did something bad, you probably had a good reason."

he let out a shaky chuckle. "what if the reason was just i'm a big jerk?"

"well, i guess i could live with that. at least i wouldn't be dating a cannibal."

jonah put a hand to his mouth to keep his goddamn wobbly jaw steady. "and there's the reason i love you so much."

"i love you too, baby. now you'd better tell me before i really start freaking out, because as you can tell, my imagination's way worse than whatever it is you actually did."

he went through a couple of long inhalations and exhalations, and she cleared her throat.

"right?" she added, in a small voice. she wasn't feeling funny at all right now.

"i promise i didn't eat anybody's liver," said jonah. "but i've kind of been doing stuff. with somebody else. and i thought it didn't count, but it turns out it does."

"oh," said tate. she was hurt. "it does."

"yeah," he said heavily. "it does a lot. and i'm really sorry, i didn't mean for it t-to count."

"okay." she was quiet for a while. "so, um, can you explain how it wouldn't have counted in the first place? because i think you know how i feel about sex and i think it all kind of counts, jonah."