Chapter 10: The Handle

I put the ticket in the pocket of my jacket and did not decide what to do with it.

I went back to Jo's apartment because there was no other place I could stand to be.

She got home from her shift at nine at night and found me on her stoop.

I had a paper bag of takeout dumplings.

"You're not supposed to be out here," she said. "You're supposed to be inside, doing nothing."

"I didn't have a key."

"I gave you a key."

"I lost it."

"You did not lose it. It's on the arm of my couch."

I looked at my hands.

"Okay. I didn't want to go in without you."

She didn't say anything.

She looked at the bag, and at me, and her eyes were tired and not angry.

She unlocked the door.

We ate the dumplings standing up in her kitchen with the light off, passing the container back and forth.

She told me about a man who came into the ER with a fishhook through his thumb and a fish still attached.

I told her about my dad's face when I said Shane's name.

She laughed, a real one, low and hoarse, and she put her chopsticks down.

"Megan gave me a ticket," I said.

"I saw it. It's in your pocket. It's been in your pocket since you walked up the steps."

"I'm not using it."

"I know you're not."

She stepped over, took the container out of my hands and put it on the counter.

It was twenty past ten.

I looked at her door, down the short hall.

"I'm not going to touch the handle," I said.

"I know."

"I'll sleep on the couch."

"Devin."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

She took my shirt in both fists.

She kissed me hard, standing in the middle of her kitchen.

I made a sound I had never made in my life and backed into the counter.

She followed me there and pressed her whole length against me.

She had her hands in my hair now.

She tasted like soy sauce and coffee.

"I've wanted to do that," she said against my mouth, "since you sat on my stoop in the rain soaked through and lost."

"That's not very romantic."

"It's the best I've got."

I picked her up.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Girlfriend Slept With My Best Friend First from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.