Ball Peen Hammer by Lauren Rowe

be fun.
    “Oh dear,” Maddy says, putting her fingertips to her mouth. “I’m sorry. Does repeatedly being called insincere terms of endearment bother you, Keane? Does it perhaps make you feel like a slab of meat?”
    “Hell, yes, it makes me feel like a slab of meat,” I say, flashing her a wicked grin. “ And I love it .”
    Maddy twists her mouth, clearly trying not to smile.
    “So you wanna make documentaries, huh?” I say.
    “Yup.”
    “Like what?”
    “Anything, really, as long as it’s real and raw and thought-provoking.” She bites her lower lip, apparently considering her next words. “My favorite thing in the world is finding quiet moments of magic other people maybe don’t notice because they’re too busy looking down at their phones.”
    “Well, shit, you’re speaking my language now,” I say. “ Not looking down at my phone happens to be my superpower.”
    Maddy chuckles. “Yeah, I noticed, dickweed .” She bursts out laughing at her own joke.
    “I’m sorry about that again,” I say.
    She sighs. “Oh, don’t worry about it. Water under the bridge, remember?” She glances away from the road to flash me a shy smile. “Honestly, we’re good, honey nuggets.”
    Okay, that was awesome. I know Maddy said words similar to those this morning, but there’s no comparing the genuine way she just delivered them to the tight-ass way she said them earlier this morning.
    “Hey, excuse me real quick,” I say, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I tap out a quick text to Zander: “Not even 9:00 yet and I do believe Maddy Milliken’s been sussed.”
    “Niiiiiiiice,” Zander replies. “How’d you do it?”
    “Apology + dimples = Forgiven.”
    “Well don’t stop now, baby. Suss the living hell outta her! Ask her about her H, H & Ds.”
    “Oooooh, yeah. Totes forgot all about that. Doing it now. Bye,” I write.
    I shove my phone into my pocket. “Sorry about that,” I say to Maddy. “So, hey, I’ve got a couple questions for you...” I begin, and then I proceed to ask Maddy a shit-ton of questions about her hobbies, hopes, and dreams. And much to my surprise, Maddy’s answers to all my questions are so fucking interesting and entertaining, I soon find myself asking more and more questions just for the fuck of it—not even for the purpose of sussing her—until, finally, I’m shocked to find myself balls-deep in the conversation and hanging on Maddy’s every word.
    When my stomach growls, I look down at my watch thinking we’ve probably been talking for about an hour, and I’m shocked outta my skull to discover we’ve been chatting nonstop for close to three solid hours.
    “Ho-lee sussage,” I say, looking up from my watch. “Is your hatchback a time machine?”
    Maddy looks at the clock on her dashboard. “Oh my gosh,” she says. “I’ve been talking your ear off forever. I’m so sorry. Wow. I never do that, I swear.”
    “Don’t apologize. You made documentaries about spelling bees and wheelchair-rugby and gorillas sound cooler than Iron Man , dude.”
    She smiles shyly at me.
    “So have you made any documentaries yet?”
    “I’ve made mostly short films, other than this one full-length documentary I made last year. That film is what got me into UCLA, actually.”
    “What’s it about?”
    “The men’s and women’s basketball teams at U Dub.”
    “Wow. Not at all what I thought you’d say.”
    “What’d you think I’d say?”
    “Global warming? Shining a spotlight on some sort of social injustice?”
    Maddy smiles broadly. “Well, yeah, actually, it’s about how the men’s team gets a shit-ton more support and adulation than the women’s team, even though the women work just as hard.”
    I laugh. “Social injustice. Damn, I’m good.”
    She laughs and nods. “I know it might sound heavy-handed in the explaining of it, but the actual movie itself doesn’t come across as preachy, I swear. It’s thought provoking, for sure, but it’s also thoroughly