Free My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by Stephanie Perkins Page B

turned back to me. “In order for me to feel comfortable taking a shower down here, we have to both share something about ourselves first. Then I’ll feel like I know you better. And it won’t be so weird.”
    “Seriously, Haley. I’ll stay way on this side of the apartment. I promise.”
    “That’s not the point.”
    I glanced into the kitchen where Olive had gone back to housing her wet food. My empty stomach was beyond the cramping stage now, which made me wonder if I’d started digesting muscle. I stepped aside, motioning for Haley to come in.
    She walked over to Mike’s L-shaped couch and sat down.
    I sat, too. “So, what kind of stuff are we supposed to say?”
    “Anything,” she said. “It could be about your childhood. Or about where you’re from. Or why you’re wearing a beanie indoors. Seriously, anything.”
    I pulled off my beanie and opened my mouth to ask a follow-up question, but she cut me off. “On second thought, maybe you should put that back on.”
    “Why?” I stood up to look in the mirror mounted on the wall behind the couch. My hair was a rats’ nest of thick, brown waves. It was the longest I’d ever had it. I put the beanie back on, saying: “I guess I kind of need a haircut.”
    “You think?”
    Sweet, another thing I couldn’t afford.
    Back home my auntie Cecilia always cut it for free.
    “Okay, I’ll start.” Haley paused for a few seconds, looking around, then said, “Long-distance relationships are all about patience. And my boyfriend, Justin, is probably the most patient man alive.”
    “How so?” I took the bait, even though I knew what she was doing. This was Haley’s way of establishing that she was in a relationship, which she believed would lessen the risk of me trying to sneak into the shower with her while she was busy rinsing out her Awapuhi.
    “Like I said yesterday,” Haley answered. “I was supposed to book my own ticket home. But I procrastinated. So Justin’s back in Portland right now, hanging out at home, when we were supposed to be heading to a B&B in Seaside. Our parents are friends, and they said as long as we were back by Christmas day.… Anyway, instead of getting mad at me, which is what I would’ve done, all Justin wants to talk about is my frozen pipes. He actually feels bad for me, can you believe it? That’s some serious patience.”
    “Wow,” I said, playing along. “He sounds … patient.”
    “Okay, now you.”
    I sat there for an uncomfortable amount of time, trying to think of something interesting to say. I couldn’t talk about a distant girlfriend the way I wanted to—which would definitely make Haley feel more comfortable about the shower situation.
    “It doesn’t have to be some big profound thing,” she told me. “It can be simple.”
    “Got it,” I said, still brainstorming. Then it came to me. “My little sister, who’s probably my best friend in the world, turns seventeen on Christmas day. This is the first birthday of hers I’ll have ever missed.” Sofe wasn’t technically my best friend, and she didn’t technically turn seventeen until the week after Christmas, but the point was to show Haley I was a solid brother, which would hopefully increase her trust in me.
    “Ah, that’s sad. Why didn’t you go home?”
    No money! “Because I promised Mike I’d cat sit.”
    Haley frowned. “I’m sure he’d have understood. It’s Christmas. And your sister’s birthday.”
    “I have a lot of homework and stuff, too,” I lied.
    “Ah, I figured you were a student,” Haley said. “What school?”
    “NYU.”
    She nodded. “Isn’t your semester over?”
    I pulled my beanie tighter over my forehead and shifted positions on the couch. “Actually, it’s for next semester.” I pointed at the novel I’d been reading. “This one lit class I’m taking has a grip of reading. I’m trying to, like, get ahead, you know?” It was true that a class I’d signed up for had a large reading list, but the book