Art Is Dead

I opened my door about twenty minutes later to find Bo standing on the step, holding a grocery bag and smiling. I stepped back and let him inside.

"Aren't your people going to get mad that you left the hotel?"

He shrugged as he set the groceries down on the counter top. "You heard Keith. He said that I had to eat breakfast. There was not one word said about where I had to eat it."

"So you decided to cook for me? I must say, that's pretty sweet."

Bo paused and looked down at the food that he had brought with him. "Do you really trust me to cook? I was hoping that since I made such a grand gesture and went AWOL, you would make the breakfast. I'll help, of course, but for the sake of your kitchen I would advise you to take the lead on this."

I laughed and began emptying out the plastic bag and spreading the contents across the counter. "That sounds fair. But if I hear one crack about my rightful place being in the kitchen, I'm kicking you out and keeping your food."

"Also fair," Bo concurred. He glanced around the room. "Where's Jo?"

"Upstairs. She seemed to think that she couldn't wear her pajamas when you were here for some weird reason. I told her that you would love her pink slippers, but she insisted. I'm sure she'll be down here shortly. She doesn't pass up free food." I dug out a couple of frying pans and placed them on the stove. "I'm sorry about the mess in here. I didn't really have time to tidy up before you got here."

"It's funny that you mention that, because I was just about to compliment you on how nice your house looks. But I guess now I can admit that you severely lack housekeeping skills."

I nearly snorted with laughter as I cut into a pack of bacon and lay the individual strips in the bottom of the frying pan. Joanna entered the kitchen and observed what was going on.

"Um... I thought he was going to bring breakfast."

"He did," I replied. "It was just a little bit raw though, so I'm fixing the problem."

"As long as I don't have to cook it, I won't complain," she said before disappearing into the living room and resuming her cartoons from earlier.

Bo and I spent the next half hour cooking bacon, scrambled eggs, and hashbrowns. Joanna set the table and garnished it with a centerpiece of fake flowers in a tall vase. Our meal seemed to have turned into a three person group date. Not that I minded; after all, I wanted Jo to be able to hang out with Bo too.

Bo finished his glass of orange juice and was reaching for the carton to refill it when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, sighed deeply, then answered the call. "What do you want? I'm kind of busy right now."

"Where are you?!" the voice on the other end was so frantic that I could clearly distinguish every panicked syllable. Bo put the phone on the speaker setting and placed it on the table while he returned to his task of pouring juice.

"I'm having breakfast," he replied calmly.

The voice on the other end became exasperated. "Bo, why are you doing this to us? Everything is packed up and ready to go, and you've disappeared. Where are you?"

"I had to go visit someone. It would have been rude not to while I was in the area, wouldn't you say?"

"Who do you even know in Edmonton? And couldn't you have done that yesterday?"

"I did. But I couldn't leave without saying goodbye. I'm too nice for that. Listen, I'll be back in time, I promise," he paused and looked at me. "How far away is Calgary from here?"

"About three hours. Three and a half, if you drive slow," I responded.

"We have tons of time! Relax, Keith, I'll be back soon. Then we can go, and we'll still make it for sound check and all of that crap. Just calm down."

"Calm down?" the voice shrieked. "Bo, I woke you up an hour and a half ago, and when I went to see if you were ready to leave, you were gone! How can I be calm?"

"I'm fine. And for the record, I'm sure that someone had to have seen me leave. I wasn't sneaking out or anything. I knew what I was doing."

"Does this have to do with the girl that was in your room this morning? Because, Bo, there is absolutely no way that you could possibly-"

Bo snatched up the phone and switched it back to its regular mode, pressing it to his ear so that I didn't hear how the sentence ended. "I said I'll be there," he snapped before hanging up. "So," he tried to sound excited. "What's for dessert?"

Joanna arched an eyebrow at me. "Does he not know that we're students? Our fridge has nothing but milk and ketchup in it. We don't have dessert."

"I have apples," I offered.

Bo finished off his eggs and shrugged. "No, that's cool. I don't need anything else. I'm just trying to make conversation. Where's the bathroom?"

I gestured toward the stairs. "First door on the right."

He nodded and pushed back his chair from the table. As he passed behind me, he let his fingers lazily trace the line of my shoulders. I didn't notice the way that I was smiling like an idiot until Joanna called me out on it.

"You want to have Bo's babies!" she accused in a hiss.

"What?"

"You want him so bad! Oh God, Nat, please tell me that you used protection last night."

"What?" I spluttered. "I already told you that we didn't have sex!"

"And I still don't believe you. Please be careful, Nat. I don't want you to get hurt, and that's the only direction that I see this thing going. If you fall for him, it's going to be a lot harder than you think when he's not here."

I knew that Jo was speaking from experience. When we were in high school, her boyfriend had moved away. They had tried desperately to keep it together, but in the end it hadn't been enough. I was kind of touched by her concern. "I'll be careful. But I can't just let him go and spend the rest of my life wondering what might have been. I don't want him to be the one that got away."

Joanna nodded as she placed her dishes in the sink basin. "I understand that. I'm going to go up to my room and do some homework so that the two of you have a few minutes together before he leaves."

"Thanks, Jo."

I had just finished clearing the table when Bo came back downstairs. He glanced at the clock on the wall, then frowned. He then checked his cell phone, as if it would tell him something different. When he let out a long breath, I knew what was coming.

"Thanks for bringing us breakfast," I told him. "It was really nice."

He looked a little unsure of himself. "I felt like we didn't leave off on the right foot at the hotel. I couldn't just let you go like that. I don't want to feel like I'll never see you again."

I pointed to his cell phone. "We can always FaceTime," I joked.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"I know. I feel the same way, but I really don't know how to make you a promise about something like that. I can't afford to fly out to see you, and you're far too busy to come here."

"I will pinky swear that I will come to visit you. I don't take pinky swears lightly," he added.

I gave him a solemn look and held out my pinky on my right hand. "Pinky swears are forever. They're harder to break than spit shakes. And much less disgusting."

Bo wrapped his pinky around mine, and then smiled brilliantly. "Alright then, I guess it's settled. So, is it okay if I text you all day today on my way to Calgary?"

"Absolutely. In fact, you can pretty much text me all day every day. If I don't answer right away, I'm probably writing a midterm or something. Otherwise, I'm pretty quick. You can call, too, if you want. It would be nice to have actual conversations sometimes."

Bo put his new hoodie back on and tucked his phone safely inside of the pocket. "Sounds good to me. But can you promise me one thing?"

"I already did; that was the point of the pinky promise."

"No, I promised you something then. This time it's backwards."

"Okay, fine," I agreed. "What do you need from me?"

He looked completely serious. "Wait for me. Just for a little while. I'm done this tour in a few weeks, and then I'll come and see you. Please don't go running off to some other guy."

I felt almost taken aback that his request was so simple. "Of course," I replied. "But only if you'll promise me the same thing."

We shook on it, as if that made it absolute and inarguable. Then, as we both understood that we couldn't postpone his departure any longer, I called him a cab. Bo sat with me on the couch as we made small talk about where he had gone on tour and the places that he had yet to see. He held my hand and traced invisible designs on my arm with his fingertips. The cab honked from outside, and I felt my stomach drop.

"So, we're leaving on good terms this time, right?" he checked.

I smiled. "Yes. You don't have to worry. Don't forget to text me the whole way to Calgary. You can save me from doing a critical response for my history class."

Bo leaned in and kissed my forehead softly. "I'll talk to you soon, Nat."

I walked him to the door and waved as he got into the cab. When I turned back into the house, Jo was sitting on the stairway. Her eyes were glassy and she looked as if she were about to cry. Her lower lip trembled as she stared at me.

"You have to marry that boy," she whispered.

"What? You just told me that I was going to get hurt," I countered.

She shook her head. "I take it back. He's perfect for you. He asked me for my permission to date you when we were alone upstairs. I said that it wasn't my decision, and he said that he knew that you would listen to me. Nathalie, he said the sweetest things about you. He may have only known you for a day, but he sounded like he's known you his whole life. He's funny and witty and beautiful. Don't fuck this up."

With that final warning, she stood up and disappeared up the stairs. I stood in stunned silence for a moment, then headed up to my own room to start on my homework. I pulled my laptop onto my bed and opened up the assignment that was due next, but I couldn't focus on the words. Out of curiosity, I pulled up a web page and used a search engine to find out everything that I could about Bo Burnham.

I felt slightly guilty as I did, though. Bo had no way of finding out anything about me unless he flat-out asked me. It felt like cheating to learn about him through the Internet. I only managed to find out his birthday before I closed the web page down and turned to my phone instead.

As he promised, we texted all afternoon and into the evening. Eventually, he had to go on stage and perform, and I took the time to actually make a dent in my homework. Still, I found my mind wandering back to our conversations. Occasionally I would giggle at some joke that he had made.

Jo tapped on my door at around nine that night, then stuck her head inside. "Are you doing homework? Or just talking to Bo?"

"A little of both. Mostly Bo."

"He told me that you said no when he asked if you would go with him tonight. I'm proud of you. I don't think I could have done that."

"It was harder than you might think."

She smiled faintly. "I remember what it was like to be infatuated with someone. I know exactly what you mean. Anyways, I'm just going to shower and go to bed. Don't stay up too late. Remind Bo that it's a school night, and you have an early class tomorrow."

I chuckled. "Okay, I'll be sure to tell him that."

She winked at me and closed my door, then called back through it. "And no sexting! You're twenty-one, not fifteen!"

"Does that rule just apply to me and Bo, or am I cut off from sexting you now too?" I yelled after her.

"Oh ha ha, Nathalie. We both know that you don't sext me. I sext you."