I hadn't been expecting the question, so I wasn't prepared to answer.
It was the middle of the whole Prome mess, when Andre was still dating his girlfriend Sherry. After our performance, that's when he said it, "you look beautiful in that dress."
Robbie looked at us like it was Christmas morning and an entire new wardrobe for Rex was under his tree. "Man, it's about time!" Throwing his arms around the two of us, he pulled us into a gleeful embrace. "Always knew you two would end up together!"
Have I mentioned how much I hated that stupid rumor?
With a grunt of annoyance, I wiggled Robbie off of me. "We're not together! It's just some stupid rumor Jade made up."
That's when Robbie asked The Question. "So you don't want to end up together?"
The denials that usually sprang so easily to my lips when anyone questioned my relationship with Andre wouldn't come. Robbie didn't ask what people usually asked or make the accusations people usually made. He wasn't asking if I was Andre's girlfriend, and he didn't call us "lovebirds." Those were easy to deny, because I wasn't his girlfriend and we weren't lovebirds. No. What Robbie asked was what I wanted. He asked if I wanted to end up together.
What was I supposed to say to that? Before the rumor, before the Showcase where we'd locked gazes for that brief moment, I would have said no without hesitation. But now? If I answered that question, out loud, to Robbie of all people, who would never let it die—never mind that Andre was standing right there, because he was so lost in Sherry's lips, I doubted he'd remember any of this later—if I answered Robbie's question with anything other than a resounding no, the feelings I'd been pretending I hadn't been feeling for the past few weeks would no longer be vague and without form. They'd have a shape and a name. They'd be out there in the universe, tangible and real. If I said anything but no, I could never again pretend that Andre had never been anything more than a friend to me, that I'd never hoped for more. I could never go back.
But I hadn't been expecting the question, so I wasn't prepared to answer, and the denials that usually sprang so easily to my lips wouldn't come.
"I don't know," I replied, giving voice to the truth that, up until that point, I'd been trying to deny. "Maybe."