Drumbeats into My Heart

18. Jordi at the Diner

I pick at the wilted salad before me while Dustin chomps on his double-patty cheeseburger. I don't love this diner, but he does, so here we are.

"So then they nominated that guy for camp MVP instead of me, can you believe that?" He's been talking nonstop, pausing only to take bites and swallow food.

Just like old times. Why did this not bother me before?

"Dustin, I thought you wanted to talk."

"We are talking."

"About something important."

"Oh." He swallows his bite and sets his burger down. "Jordi, I've been thinking about you a lot."

I can't stop staring at the blob of ketchup at the corner of his mouth.

"And I think we should get back together."

The blob changes shape as his mouth moves. I blink and meet his eyes. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I think we're good together, and I'd like us to be a couple again."

"You do?" I set my fork down. "What happened to exploring our options?"

"The guys said there was a cheerleading camp nearby, and that I shouldn't be tied down while I was at football camp. I'm not a cheater, so that's why I broke up with you. To keep my options open."

My brows draw together. "So I'm an option now?"

"Not if you're my girlfriend."

I narrow my eyes at him. "What if I'm not done exploring my options?"

He sits back, mouth agape. "You've been dating other people?"

"Why is that so hard to believe? We're not a couple. You made that perfectly clear before you left."

"Who?"

I press my lips together in defiance.

"Who?" He leans forward, eyes blazing with could only be jealousy. "Who have you been dating?"

I glare back at him and his ridiculous pubic-looking soul patch. "What are you going to do, beat them up?"

"Them?" His eyes bulge and he looks about ready to jump over the table and drag me away by my hair, caveman style.

"Calm down, Dustin. There's no one. But you've made my point. It's not exactly fair, is it? That you get to have options and I don't?"

He drops his gaze to his mostly-eaten burger. "I hadn't thought about it that way."

Of course he hasn't. But why would he? That would require thinking about what the other person might want.

"So... will you be my girlfriend again?" He turns his hopeful gaze on me, the one that reminds me of an eager dog waiting for a tummy rub.

"Would you still be asking if I had been dating?"

He shrugs. "But you haven't, so it's all good."

Is it though?

I pick up my fork and toy with a tomato slice. "I need to think about it."

"What's to think about? We're good together. Right?"

I tilt my head and consider his words. There was a point in my life when I would have agreed. He may be a self-absorbed jock stereotype, but I also never feel dumb around him. That counts for something, doesn't it?

"Think about it." Finally he wipes his mouth with a napkin so I don't have to stare at the ketchup blob anymore. "We have some great laughs. We both like Bruce Willis. And the kissing is amazing."

He's not wrong about the kissing.

When I don't reply, he continues. "I really have missed you."

"What do you miss about me?"

"You're fun to be with!"

Okay he's not wrong about that either, but is fun enough to build a relationship on?

Sensing my ambivalence, he presses on. "Remember that time we went fishing with my dad, and you thought you caught the biggest fish, but it turned out to be a clump of seaweed?" He pantomimes an imaginary mass in front of him. "You wanted to take it home and make seaweed salad."

"It probably would have been delicious, too. But the condom tangled inside it changed my mind."

Dustin bursts out laughing. "I love that day."

"It was a pretty good day," I agree.

"You see? We belong together!"

"Dustin, one good day doesn't mean we belong together."

"Okay, but what about the fact that you attended every one of my games?" He smirks with satisfaction. "That kinda says you're crazy about me."

"Isn't that what good girlfriends are supposed to do?"

His smirk fades. "Wait, are you telling me you didn't really want to go? But... you even went to the away games!"

I squirm in my seat, not sure I should tell him I spent most of that time playing on my phone or listening to music. "Football isn't really my thing, but it was your thing, so..."

He smiles gently. "See, you're so good to me."

"Dustin—"

He holds a hand up to stop me. "Just think about it, okay? I really have missed you."

I sigh, not sure of the best way to respond to him. "Fine. Just take me home."

It's obvious what she needs to do, right? (If you said vote, then you are correct! :D )