Final score: We lost.
I text mom to tell her I'm fine and we're on the way back. The players and equipment bags loaded, we head into the dark night. Edward is on the phone with his wife. I can hear her voice, even though I pretend I'm not paying attention. She sounds young, happy, yet tired. She's still at work, too, and will make it home after him she says. An hour before I can leave. She works in Port Angeles and begins to tell him about her long day. She never asks about his. My heart strums my bones the way his fingers touched the air earlier when he tells her he loves her and she says it back.
I receive a text back from mom. Dinner is in the fridge. Be sure to lock the door when you come in. Be careful.
Ok, I reply.
The bus isn't quiet. The boys are talking about the game and other things which I can't piece together. Someone is watching me. I feel it. I turn to Edward and he's looking down at me in the darkness. "Tough game," he says.
I agree. We talk a few more minutes about the game and the players until it falls silent between us. I want to ask about his wife. I don't know why. To feel the pain, to hold the information close to examine it later. But I don't. I don't know what to say in this dim light while he's so close. I pull out my iPod again, and offer him an earbud. He refuses.
"Tell me, Bella..." I put down my escape "...what do you want to do when you graduate?"
"That's the million dollar question every senior wishes they could answer."
"No idea at all?"
"I would like to paint, but according to my parents that's not a real job."
"Funny isn't it? Out of all the arts, painters are scrutinized the most." His voice is gentle, calm.
"Because they see something no one else sees. Painters, visual artists, are nearly half-mad. A lot are suicidal or have real issues. Believe it or not, it's a dangerous profession to want. Someone has to do it."
"Do you?"
"What?"
"No, I just...you seem to have it together. I'm sorry. My thoughts don't translate well."
I regard carefully. Ins and outs. Together or not. "No issues or madness here."
Though I feel he will be my undoing.