“No one plays jinx anymore,” Brett scoffed. Julia stuck her tongue at him. “You owe me a bibliography citing your sources. People definitely still play jinx. Oh, and by the way, no one ‘plays’ jinx. They adhere to the unmalleable rules of jinx, much like they do gravity.”
Brett rolled his eyes, though a smile remained. Sometimes, he and Julia joked around as easily as she and Dave did, though mostly they were the butt of each other’s jokes. “The point is, if you guys really want this to happen—and I’m still having trouble understanding why you’re all of a sudden interested in prom—you have to either make a ton of friends, or do something memorable that’ll have people thinking about Dave when it’s time to vote.”
“How are explosives not memorable?”
“Forget the explosives! It sounds awesome but it won’t work. A viral video could do the trick, provided it actually goes viral.”
“How do we get the video to go viral?” Dave asked.
“If I knew that I wouldn’t be here eating pizza with you. I’d be busy cashing in on Internet fame and all the groupies that come with it.”
“Gross,” Dave and Julia said at the same time, sharing a look at the second jinx of the conversation.
“There’s no formula you can follow. If it’s funny it’ll help, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. Some videos go viral, some don’t.” He took a bite of pizza, the excess Parmesan raining down onto his plate and sticking to his chin. The table next to them, a family of four, stood up to go, leaving their trash behind.
Dave watched them walk away and, like they often did, he and Julia got up to clean their mess. “Bunch of savages,” Julia muttered to herself when they rejoined Brett at the table.
“You guys are so weird.”
“Why? Because we clean up after savages that can’t do it on their own?”
“No,” Brett said, wiping his face with a napkin. “Because you did it at the exact same time, without saying anything to each other. It’s like you’re twins who can communicate telepathically.” He chuckled and then threw the napkin down on his empty plate, pushing it away from him. “Why are you guys doing this anyway? It doesn’t seem like you.”
“You’d never understand,” Dave said, giving Julia a look.
“Never,” Julia repeated, almost in a whisper.
“Never,” Dave said, even quieter. They kept going back and forth until they broke out laughing.
Brett stared blankly at them. “So weird. But seriously, why the sudden interest?” He looked at Julia. “Are you finally admitting that all you’ve ever wanted is to go to prom with the prom king?”
“That comment was so gross that I’m taking away all the credit I gave you for your Mark Twain zinger.”
“I don’t hear a denial.”
“Brett, you’re shaming the family name. Please stop,” Dave said.
In the back of his mind, Dave was thinking about prom, the long understanding that he and Julia would go together. It was silly to think about how Gretchen would affect all of that, ridiculous to already be thinking that far ahead. But there it was anyway, the thought taking root. A picture flashed in Dave’s mind, quick and without warning, of Gretchen with her hands around his neck, pulling him close.
“Shit, we’re late!” Julia said, rising suddenly from the table.
“Late for what?” Dave asked.
“It’s a surprise.” She collected the trash on the table and tossed it in the nearby trash can. “But we have to get going now or we’re not gonna make it in time.”
“You guys need a ride?” Brett asked.
“No, thanks. It’s at the Broken Bean. We’ll walk.”
“All right. Thanks for the pizza. Good luck making all your secret fantasies come true,” he said to Julia. He unlocked the doors to his pickup truck but instead of getting in he lingered, as if waiting for Julia’s retort.
o o o
Dave knew it was going to be an interesting night as soon as he saw the sign in front of the Broken Bean that announced it was slam-poetry night. But he didn’t quite understand how interesting it would be until they took a seat just as Marroney made his way to the stage.
“My God.”
“I know,” Julia said. “I’m already getting chills. Prepare to swoon.”