were going to keep dying. Nothing was going to change." I wasn't sure why she wanted to hear this. It wasn't funny. It wasn't a good story. And just talking about it made me mad again.
But she was just staring at me with her big green eyes, so I kept going.
"When the parade was over, I joined some protesters. But like I said, there were tons of people airing their grievances, not just about the water shortage, but about all sorts of stuff. Obama was visiting later that week and there were some protestors against that. Obama was going to talk about the embargo on Cuba and other free trade agreements, and the people of Costa Rica didn't care. The United States lumps all of the countries in Central America together, but Costa Rica doesn't get shit from the embargo on Cuba. They don't benefit from it at all. And everyone was mad that Obama chose now, when the country is dying of thirst, to talk about something that doesn't affect them. Costa Rica isn't part of the United States. They have their own problems. People were dying. And I was right next to them. So I joined their not as peaceful protest. Because...fuck that. It turned into a riot and I got arrested. End of story."
She continued to stare at me. But I didn't have anything else to say.
"That's the whole story." The way she was looking at me was unnerving.
She nestled back down into the crook of my arm. "I'm sorry I judged you before I knew you."
"Thanks." I wasn't exactly sure what else to say.
Her fingers ran through the contours of my six pack. I tried to keep completely still. It seemed like she was doing it absentmindedly, and I didn't want her to stop. I just wanted her to go lower. I was about two seconds away from pulling that hand job card out of my pocket. Apparently I was wrong about that story. I'd have to tell it more often if it resulted in this response.
"And I think it's nice that you look out for your future sister in law. It's sweet how much you care."
"Sweet? I'm not sweet." If she knew how many times I had jerked off to the thought of Penny, she would have called me anything but sweet. Not that I made a hobby of jerking off to the thought of my future sister in law. I jerked off to most dimes I met. Penny just happened to be around a lot. Which meant it was easy to picture her. It wasn't a big deal.
"You are sweet, actually. Don't get defensive. I think it's nice. You left off an important part of your story though. How did you get out of prison?"
"I'm not sweet," I said again. "James bailed me out. I went back to the states a few months later."
She stopped running her fingers along my abs and looked up to me. "So, your brother bailed you out of Costa Rican prison. Doesn't that mean you owe him a favor? Like, maybe letting him talk to his fianc茅e?"
"I'm pretty sure we're even right now."
"You're keeping score of favors with your brother?"
"Like you don't do that with your siblings?"
There was a flash of something across her face. It was fleeting. It had disappeared before I could tell what it was.
She pressed the side of her face against my chest. "I don't have any siblings. But that's what family does. They help each other without keeping score. FYI."
I laughed. "I am doing him a favor. I'm doing Penny a favor too. They're together so much that it's unhealthy."
"Well, I do think I was right about one thing," said Daphne.
"And what was that?"
"I think that you are scared of commitment."
"I'm committing to you right now. I have at least a dozen cards in my pocket, but I'm choosing to hang out with you."
She furrowed her brow again. "What did you do with your card this morning? Before we met."
Shit. "Nothing that interesting."
"Then tell me."
"You're really bossy. You do realize that right?"
She shrugged her shoulders as she stared up at me. The way the light caught her eyes almost made them look like they had golden flakes. There was no point in lying to her. Either she wanted me or not, and I was pretty sure she wanted me. Something dumb I did before I met her shouldn't matter. Hopefully. Because I had done a lot of stupid stuff over the years.
But I didn't