from uncrumpling it and reading for myself.
Things I should have said but didn’t:
1. How are you?
2. How was your break?
3. Are you still taking creative writing part two this semester?
4. I like girls, just for the record.
5. I’m kind of an idiot and I don’t know what to talk about.
6. Thanks for sitting with me.
7. Thanks for playing hangman.
8. We should do this again sometime. I could give you my number and then next time you could text me or something. Or I could text you. We could text each other and I would stop being so stupid and pathetic and talk to you even though I always feel pretty stupid and pathetic. And there’s a lot of stuff I should tell you, because you might not like me as much if you know the other stuff, but maybe you still would.
9. I really like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
10. Bye. (I didn’t even say good-bye. Why do I suck so much?)
I have to force myself to crumple it back up and throw it away. Because what I want to do is save it for that girl, so she knows how much of an effect she has on this boy.
Maribel (Lea’s roommate)
“The most amazing thing just happened!” Lea says when she bursts into our dorm room.
“What?”
“I sat with Gabe at the diner and we ate food and played hangman!”
“That sounds like you babysat him.”
She slumps onto her bed and makes an angry face.
“No! I mean, that’s cute! Don’t be angry!”
She toes off her shoes and throws one at me, missing by a mile, but I laugh and continue putting my clothes away. “Tell me exactly what happened and leave nothing out.”
“Well, I think that old lady waitress at the diner—”
“Maxine?”
“Yes!”
“I love Maxine.”
“Me too! I think she wants Gabe and me to like … hook up. She was giving me all this advice about sitting with him and then she was watching and smiling as we sat together.”
I think about that for a second. “That’s weird, but good. It means that other people see the chemistry the two of you have.”
“I agree,” Lea says. “He was friendly, but quiet, of course. So we played hangman when it became apparent that he wasn’t going to exactly jump into small talk with me.”
“I think that’s sort of brilliant. Keep him engaged, show him you accept him. Good work.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
I slump onto the floor. “What else?”
“Well, then you called so I left.”
“You left?”
“Yes. I mean, I was done eating. It was weird, it would have been weird to stay longer.”
I slap my forehead.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” she says.
“No, but you should have stayed! You could have walked back together. Why would you leave? Right when things were sort of happening?”
“I don’t know!” she says, throwing up her arms in exasperation. “Because I need you to be my life and relationship coach. I need to get a Bluetooth headset for you to whisper into and tell me when I’m making a mistake.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “So I’ll be outside hiding in the bushes or something?”
“Basically.”
“We’ll work on that plan.”
Casey (Gabe’s friend)
“What does it mean that Bianca asked you if I was gay?” Gabe asks the second I open the front door for him. He said he’d be over as soon as he finished eating. But that was literally like four minutes ago.
“How did you get here so fast?” I ask as he comes in and we head upstairs.
“Flying car.”
“You don’t drive,” I toss back as we take seats in front of the TV and Gabe fires up the Xbox.
He side-eyes me and then takes a deep breath. “It means something, right?”
I accept his obvious subject change. “This means they talk about you.”
“It does, right?” he says, licking his lips. “That’s what I was thinking, but I wasn’t sure if I was kidding myself or something.”
“No way, they so obviously talk about you. Bianca and Lea and Maribel. Did I mention she did that thing where she introduced herself halfway
Things I should have said but didn’t:
1. How are you?
2. How was your break?
3. Are you still taking creative writing part two this semester?
4. I like girls, just for the record.
5. I’m kind of an idiot and I don’t know what to talk about.
6. Thanks for sitting with me.
7. Thanks for playing hangman.
8. We should do this again sometime. I could give you my number and then next time you could text me or something. Or I could text you. We could text each other and I would stop being so stupid and pathetic and talk to you even though I always feel pretty stupid and pathetic. And there’s a lot of stuff I should tell you, because you might not like me as much if you know the other stuff, but maybe you still would.
9. I really like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
10. Bye. (I didn’t even say good-bye. Why do I suck so much?)
I have to force myself to crumple it back up and throw it away. Because what I want to do is save it for that girl, so she knows how much of an effect she has on this boy.
Maribel (Lea’s roommate)
“The most amazing thing just happened!” Lea says when she bursts into our dorm room.
“What?”
“I sat with Gabe at the diner and we ate food and played hangman!”
“That sounds like you babysat him.”
She slumps onto her bed and makes an angry face.
“No! I mean, that’s cute! Don’t be angry!”
She toes off her shoes and throws one at me, missing by a mile, but I laugh and continue putting my clothes away. “Tell me exactly what happened and leave nothing out.”
“Well, I think that old lady waitress at the diner—”
“Maxine?”
“Yes!”
“I love Maxine.”
“Me too! I think she wants Gabe and me to like … hook up. She was giving me all this advice about sitting with him and then she was watching and smiling as we sat together.”
I think about that for a second. “That’s weird, but good. It means that other people see the chemistry the two of you have.”
“I agree,” Lea says. “He was friendly, but quiet, of course. So we played hangman when it became apparent that he wasn’t going to exactly jump into small talk with me.”
“I think that’s sort of brilliant. Keep him engaged, show him you accept him. Good work.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
I slump onto the floor. “What else?”
“Well, then you called so I left.”
“You left?”
“Yes. I mean, I was done eating. It was weird, it would have been weird to stay longer.”
I slap my forehead.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” she says.
“No, but you should have stayed! You could have walked back together. Why would you leave? Right when things were sort of happening?”
“I don’t know!” she says, throwing up her arms in exasperation. “Because I need you to be my life and relationship coach. I need to get a Bluetooth headset for you to whisper into and tell me when I’m making a mistake.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “So I’ll be outside hiding in the bushes or something?”
“Basically.”
“We’ll work on that plan.”
Casey (Gabe’s friend)
“What does it mean that Bianca asked you if I was gay?” Gabe asks the second I open the front door for him. He said he’d be over as soon as he finished eating. But that was literally like four minutes ago.
“How did you get here so fast?” I ask as he comes in and we head upstairs.
“Flying car.”
“You don’t drive,” I toss back as we take seats in front of the TV and Gabe fires up the Xbox.
He side-eyes me and then takes a deep breath. “It means something, right?”
I accept his obvious subject change. “This means they talk about you.”
“It does, right?” he says, licking his lips. “That’s what I was thinking, but I wasn’t sure if I was kidding myself or something.”
“No way, they so obviously talk about you. Bianca and Lea and Maribel. Did I mention she did that thing where she introduced herself halfway
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