When Rizzo drops me off, it's ten o'clock curfew exactly. After we went to get dinner at Waffle House right around the corner, I figured it made more sense to just come home. After all, I have a headache, and I plan to go to the medicine cabinet and fall asleep on the couch.
Rizzo is quiet, and I wonder what could be wrong.
"Rizzo, I have a headache, and i really don't feel like begging you to---"
"You're leaving?" He shifts in the seat to turn to me. "Where were you going to tell me?"
"I haven't really thought about the trip. It's just one month of the summer, so I was going to finish my project early, but..."
"Don't go."
"Rizzo, this is the chance of a lfietime for me to go to Italy and work with tigers. I know it doesn't mean a lot to you because you're from there, but I'm looking forward to traveling, you know?"
"What about us? I want to spend time together this summer."
"Why are you being difficult?"
"BECAUSE I'm going to miss you." He bats his long dark eye lashes at me.
I shake my head. "I'm going to miss you too..." I stare out the window, thinking. "It would make Bapi happy if I stayed here and did my internship, and that means I could stay on my job longer."112Please respect copyright.PENANAMh91lvrkaS
"Yes, and time with me..."
I take a deep breath and cup Rizzo's face in my hands. "Rizzo, yes, I will spend time with you, but we have to have our own lives. You can't uh...you know....put all your energy in me?"
He tilts his head, quiet for a moment. "Like moving to fast?...you don't want me to hyperfocus?"
"No, we are definitely NOT moving too fast. I love all your antics and being with you. After all, when you start a new project, I never even hear from you." I glance at the clock... I have a ten minute grace period. The clock says 10:05. "I have to go soon, but I don't want you to be estranged about missing one another. Absence makes the heart grow fonder."
He frowns. "So, you want us to spend time apart?"
I laugh. "You are being too literal."
He stares at me for a few seconds and then nods. "You want us to be comfortable with being apart, but if I say that I want to spend any moment with you that I can, would that freak you out?"
I smile, grateful for his openness if nothing else. Rizzo has no filter.
"No, that doesn't scare me."
He shakes his head. "I don't mean literally...I just...Madhuri, when I'm with you, I'm happy. I'm good with I'm away from you. I promise I'm not insecure, but I'm really happy when I'm with you...different than with anyone else." He sighs angrily, tangled in trying to express himself.
I laugh, trying to lighten the moment, and he lets himself laugh a little too.
"We're still awkward as a couple, but at least we're honest."
"Can I be TRULY honest with you, Mou?" Without waiting for an answer, he admits, "I'm afraid you're going to go around all those smart, normal people and lose yourself in the commonalities you have with them. I'm afraid I'm going to lose you. Do I need to be afraid?"
I put a gentle hand on his cheek and pull him close to whisper in his ear. "You have my love, in every way. Yene nigusi, ante yene neh, and no one could ever change that."
"Ante yene neh..." he repeats, and I know he will repeat it the whole night long replaying the memory.
The clock reads 10:09, and I get out the car. "My king, you are mine."
ns 172.70.126.196da2