Chapter 11, Part 3
Traffic seemed to thin out a little, but was still inching by painfully slow. I know that I sounded like a complete country bumpkin when I say I’m just not used to traffic, especially not traffic like this, but it’s true and this was getting painful. I was sure that I was getting antsy in my seat, shifting around and looking for any sign of the beach. Joshua must have noticed my sudden inability to sit still because he questioned, “Tell me something about you that no one else knows.” He made the request sound so simple, ordinary and straight forward that it took me off guard. “We play this game sometimes when we’re on tour. Though, it’s a little difficult to come up with new stories now.” He explained.
Tell you something you don’t know. Well, you just might be surprised, Joshua, turns out there’s a lot you don’t know about me. Like the fact that my name is actually Scout, but maybe we’ll save that for a later Q and A session. “Well…like what?” I questioned, turning my attention away from the traffic clogged streets and toward Joshua.
Joshua shrugged. “Anything, favorite animal, favorite color…just as long as no one else knows it.”
“So you want the monopoly on one of my secrets?” I arched an eyebrow.
Joshua smiled. “I guess I never really thought about it like that.” He matched my expression. “But, yeah, I guess I do.”
I thought for a minute. My answers were endless but I would never be able to confess, not without a lot of explanation, confusion and inevitable disappointment. “Well, my favorite animal is an tiger.” Of course, there were people back home in Independence who knew this information, but I figured they were a loop-hole because, as far as Joshua knew, they didn’t even really exist. “And my favorite movie is Almost Famous-”
Before I could answer any more basic survey questions, Joshua interrupted. “Get out, I love that movie.” I couldn’t help but smile at the way he stressed the word, the way I always did whenever the title was brought into conversation. “I thought I read somewhere that your favorite movie was Some Like it Hot.” Well, maybe that was Emilia’s favorite movie. Clearly I need to be doing my homework. But Joshua didn’t pause for an explanation. “How do we have so much in common that I never knew about before, Emilia Thompson?”
I shrugged, secretly thrilled at the idea that I would have anything in common with Joshua Beckett, let alone a favorite movie and a favorite band. And the fact that we were sharing an agonizing ride in the car. “I guess you never just bothered to ask.” I replied and Joshua gave a half-nod of consent. “I think there might be a lot you don’t know about me.” As I said those words, I couldn’t help but think about one of the lines in Almost Famous: “The truth just sounds different.” I couldn’t help but think about how true that was, how more certain and normal my voice sounded whenever I said anything as myself without worrying about how it would sound if Emilia was saying it. The truth did sound different, but it seemed as though no one else could pick up on the little nuances the way that I could. Which was definitely a good thing.
Joshua glanced at the traffic and raised an eyebrow. “Well, it looks like we’ve got time to get through all your secrets.”
“Not so fast.” I interrupted. “I think you owe me a few secrets.”
Joshua grimaced, wrinkling his nose. “Oh right, I forgot, I have to reciprocate.” He sighed heavily, looking like he was mentally preparing himself for whatever was going to come next. It was only when he looked at me and smiled did I realize that he was making a big show over nothing. He nodded once, like someone who had finally made up their mind about something. “All right, give me your worst, I think I can handle it.”
“In that case, I think I need to come up with something that calls for excruciating truthfulness.” I realized there was a lot that I wanted to know about Joshua, but I didn’t know how many of my questions could have been answered by scanning a magazine or might have come up in previous conversations. Besides, I didn’t really want to waste the one afternoon I had getting to know Joshua (at the moment, I thought my chances for future afternoons were pretty good but I didn’t want to get too cocky, especially since we hadn’t even made it to the beach yet) by asking him his favorite color and shoe size. Not that I would ever ask anyone the latter as a conversation starter.
Joshua smiled. “By all means, do your worst.”
Excellent writing style. Not what I usually read, but you put words together in a way that makes me want to keep reading. I will be going back and reading from the beginning.
Keep on Steemin'!
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