#SparkPlugs || EXCERPT: The Problem With Being Laura by Ava Feliz

“Exes?” he stopped eating.

“Seven,” she said. “No, six. The last one wasn’t official.”

He pointed to his jaw. “Did you see that, did you see my jaw drop?” He looked around the coffee shop. “Six exes? Are you kidding me?”

“I was a challenge to them, I guess. I didn’t take any of them seriously though.”

“But it was official, all those six exes?” he asked, still disbelieving.

“Why do you find it so hard to believe? Should I be insulted?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.

He shook his head. “No. Just that I didn’t peg you for a relationship type.”

“I wasn’t.”

“So why six?”

She shrugged. “They gave me free lunch,” she said matter of factly. “And, well, hanging out with them helped to distract me from the things going on at home.”

Miguel nodded slowly. “Okaaay…”

“How about you? How many relationships?” She looked at him from head to toe. “Ten?”

He looked taken aback. “No! Two serious relationships.”

She gave that small smile again. “So why two exes? No current girlfriend?”

“The first lasted for two years, the second lasted for four.” He hesitated, then, “We actually just broke up last year.”

“Imagine that. I didn’t peg you for a relationship type,” she said, throwing his words back at him.

He raised his coffee as if in mock salute. “You said ‘I wasn’t’,” he suddenly said.

Laura finished her meal and coffee and wiped her hands on the tissue. “I wasn’t what?”

“You weren’t the relationship type.”

Laura nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“But now you are?” Miguel asked, leaning across the table as if he was eager for her answer.

She looked him in the eye, a small smile playing on her lips. “Maybe. Possibly. Could be.”

They sat there smiling at each other until Laura finally yawned, and Miguel had to drive her home.