Read The Egg Said Nothing for Free Online

said.

    She scoffed.

    “After knowing you existed, I realized I needed to change. I wanted to be the kind of person who could talk to you. Yesterday, I wasn’t.”

    “You talked to me yesterday,” she shot back.

    “Not really,” I countered. “I barely said anything.”

    “You could have.” She walked away, turning her head towards me as she moved. It was true, I could have. Much like I might have stolen a Mondrian painting.

    She sat down on my couch and threw her left leg up on the coffee table, the blue of her denim jeans looking almost gray in the light. “So, you’ve got me here. What are we going to do?”

    “The remote’s around there somewhere,” I said. I watched Ashley look for it.

    She looked up at me. “I can’t find it,” she said.

    “Probably lost in the couch cushions. We can do this the old fashioned way.” I walked around the side of the couch and kneeled down in front of the television.

    “What are we watching?” she asked, staring at the screen.

    “No idea. Doesn’t really matter,” I said.

    “Doesn’t really matter? After all of that shit about the quality of night time programming?” Her eyes accused me, but her mouth begged me to quit being so awkward and just do what came natural.

    “No. Not really.”

    “What kinds of movies do you like?” Ashley asked, chewing on a fingernail.

    “Horror movies,” I said. “Bad ones.”

    She turned to face me, crossing her legs. “Do you have an all-time favorite?”

    “ Weasels Rip My Flesh , hands down,” I said. “It’s really awesome.”

    “Sounds like it,” she said.

    We both turned to the television. It was at a commercial. My eyes wandered, drifting back to my companion.

    “What?” she asked, catching my stare.

    “I just want to see what you look like up close,” I said, shrugging.

    Self-consciously, she brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. She appeared slightly uncomfortable.

    “Hey,” I said softly. “What are you thinking?”

    “Nothing,” she said. “What about you?”

    “I was just thinking there’s something about you that I really like. I’m so happy to be getting to know you.”

    She spread her fingers, and my fingers went over their periphery, creating an outline in the empty space. Suddenly, she pulled away. “Do you think this is going too fast?”

    “Too fast?”

    “I mean, it’s just been a couple of hours.”

    I grew more worried with each breath I took. “And what have we done?”

    “It’s more about how I feel,” she said.

    “How do you feel?” I asked, terrified.

    “I feel like I’ve known you forever,” she said. “But then I realize I don’t even know you. I mean, how much can you learn about someone over the course of a few hours?”

    Her words hung in front of her like storm clouds. Thunder rumbled in the distance. “Maybe that sort of thing doesn’t matter,” I said.

    “I just wonder about tomorrow. Will we look back and realize how retarded we were being?”

    “We’ll just have to see, I guess.”

    “Yeah, I guess.” She laid her head down on my chest. My fingers ran through her hair. It was silky, soft and perfect. I inhaled deeply, capturing as much of her smell as I could in the hope that, as my body used the oxygen, some part of her would become a part of me, so that when she’d walk away tomorrow, my heart destroyed and this day forgotten, I would have something.

    But, for now, she was sleeping lightly on my chest. I felt her warmth pressed up against me. Her feet were curled up behind her, tucked protectively in the couch. My dungeon looked much more welcoming because of her presence. I never wanted her to leave.

    I felt myself drifting away, happier than I could ever remember.

    * * *

    “Hey,” I heard a voice say. I opened my eyes a crack. The room was bright with light. It looked foreign, and it took a moment for me to remember where I was. And then to remember that last night’s situation hadn’t been a