bitty words #9

Back in his apartment I felt awkward. He was lounging on his sectional sofa, stuffing his face full of tacos and I felt supremely superfluous. I perched a section away from him and surveyed his living room in greater detail. He actually had some nice original art on the walls but the rest of it screamed bachelor pad. For some perverse reason, that made me smile.

"Why are you so far away?" he asked, crumpling up yet another taco wrapper.

"Because I am superfluous to your taco feast," I said, truthfully.

"You know, I think I'm starting to like your big words." He smiled. "It's kind of a hot."

I shrugged. I have my fair share of insecurities but my intelligence isn't one of them.

He moved to my section of the sofa. "So, do you have plans for Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah, just dinner with my mother and sister." Oh, lord. Small talk? Really? "What about you? Do you even have a family or did you just enter the world fully formed like a god?"

He laughed so hard it clapped his hands in that involuntary way that it happens when you're really really amused. "Sadly, no. I'm the youngest, three older sisters and two predictably human parents."

I couldn't stop myself from smiling. "That explains everything."

"What is that supposed to mean?" There was a distinctly defensive note in his voice that made me smile harder.

I put my hands up in mock surrender. "Nothing, just a little insight into your personality."

"I thought you didn't like my personality." He nudged me with his shoulder then stayed close.

"I don't necessarily but I still find it objectively interesting." I reasoned.

He mumbled "objectively interesting" to himself then looked at me seriously. "Is this what all small talk with you is like?"

I laughed. "Pretty much."

"Hmm" was his only response and I didn't push for more. After a few extra long seconds he asked, "so are you done with small talk then?"

"To be fair, you started the small talk so you're the one to decide if we're done with it or not."

His hand snaked around my waist and pulled me onto his lap. "Oh, I am definitely done with small talk but I'm just getting started with you."