“It depends. Sometimes it’s highly stressful, surprising situations. Other times it’s just seeing things that I’m afraid of, like snakes or spiders.”
Penny’s eyes widen. “So if I show you Shaggy again—”
Levi and Lily yell, “No!” at the same time, but it’s too late. Penny whips the toy back out from behind her back, and everything goes dark again.
• • •
WE STAY WITH the Sullivans all day, and after Shaggy gets locked in an out-of-reach cupboard, we have a blast. By the time we’re ready to leave, I know more about Pokémon than I ever cared to, and Penny has tried to make me faint again approximately twenty times by drawing spiders on every available piece of paper.
That little monster. I love her to death.
But when we say goodbye in the entrance, agreeing that we should do it again soon, it’s a bit like a pianoforte crashing on my head.
“How long will you be in Houston?” Lily asks.
All I can do is burrow farther into Levi’s side. “Unclear. The project was originally supposed to last around three months, but things are going very well, so . . .” I shrug. Levi’s arm tightens around me. I’m fully aware that Levi and I are the Merriam-Webster definition of transitory. But I’m enjoying this so much. His company. His friends. His food. I’ll be sad when this is over in a couple of weeks.
“Are your parents still going to be in town next week?” Lily asks.
Levi’s arm tightens again, this time in a completely different fashion.
Before it was possessive, comforting. Now it’s just tense. “Yeah.”
“Ugh. Sorry about that. Let me know if you need anything.”
Curious, I bring it up as soon as we’re alone in the truck. “Your family will be here?”
He starts the truck, looking straight ahead. I’m beginning to recognize his moods, but this one I’m not familiar with. Yet. “My parents. There’s some event on the
Air Force base here.”
“And you’re going to see them?”
“We’ll probably have dinner.”
“When?”
“Not sure. My father will let me know when he’s free.”
I nod. And then I hear a voice that sounds a lot like mine ask, “Can I come?”
He puffs out a laugh. “Are you a fan of strained silences interrupted by the occasional ‘Pass the garlic salt’?”
“It can’t be that bad. Otherwise you wouldn’t even get together.”
“You’d be surprised by the lengths my father will go to let me know the depth of his disappointment.” “What about your mom?” He just shrugs.
“Listen—I can drop hints on how amazingly BLINK is going. I can say that you’re the go-to engineer for most neuroscientists. I can print out your Nature publication and use it to gently dab my mouth after the first course.”
“There better only be one course. And, Bee—” He shakes his head. “It’s not that I don’t want you to meet them, or that I’m embarrassed. It’s just that it’s going to be truly bad.”
At least you have a shitty family to hold on to, I think, but I don’t say it.
I’m almost positive that Levi’s parents are not as horrible as he says. I’m equally positive that he experiences them like that, and that’s all that matters. “I don’t want to be pushy, but I also really want to be there. I could come, and we could pretend that I’m your girlfriend.”
He gives me a puzzled look. “There wouldn’t be much to pretend.”
“No—we can pretend that we’re an inch from marriage. I can put on my lotus septum ring and leave my tattoos out. I’ll wear my AOC top and ripped jeans. Think how much they’ll hate me!”
I can see how little he wants to smile, and how little he can help it. “No one could hate you. Not even my father.”
I wink at him. “Game on, then.”
20
VENTRAL TEGMENTAL AREA: ROMANTIC LOVE
LEVI’S FATHER, AS it turns out, is perfectly capable of hating me. And so are Levi’s mother and his eldest brother, who join us for dinner in a less-than-pleasantly-surprising plot twist.
But first things first. Before The Dinner there are days of intense prep for the upcoming BLINK demonstration. Bolts are tightened; stimulating frequencies are adjusted; Guy is prodded, poked, and shocked on his scalp.
He’s a trooper: the demonstration is about the helmet, but as test subject number one he’ll be front and center, and it’s clear that he’s nervous about it. In the past couple of days he’s been moody, anxious, and more tired than ever. I think he’s been keeping his fears to himself to avoid disrupting morale, which makes me want to hug him. The other night I stopped by his office to check on him: he startled like a coil spring and quickly closed all his tabs. I guess even astronauts de-stress on YouPorn?
Rocío and Kaylee are getting chummier and chummier. I overhear them in the break room while heating up the stir fry I made yesterday in an attempt to impress Levi with the one dish I can cook—which resulted in the painful realization that I can cook zero dishes.
“If she’s willing to say a few words about how the movement started, that would be amazing,” Rocío is saying. “She seems pretty private.”
