Gretchen laughed. “You’re so right. That would have definitely been the movie cue for a montage.”
They went to the department store and made Dave try on clothes, simply because that was exactly what would happen in the montage. They sat by the dressing room on a bench as the clerk gave them strange looks. “You are the slowest dresser on the planet,” Julia called out, trying to hide the annoyance in her voice, or transfer it over to something she should have been annoyed by. “You’re slowing down our montage. Did you notice the happy pop music stopped playing? That’s your fault.”
“I don’t understand vests,” he called out from the dressing room.
“They go on your chest,” Gretchen called back.
“Har har. And do I really have to wear the hat?”
“Yes!” they said in unison.
He stepped out of the dressing room, looking uncomfortable in his clothes, but undoubtedly handsome. Julia paused, swirling that thought around her head like a beverage she was savoring. Dave was handsome. That wasn’t new information to her; she’d always thought it strange that a great guy like him with his looks had never pursued anyone, had never even accidentally stumbled into a fleeting romance. But had Julia ever thought it in those terms before?
“You look so cute,” Gretchen said, and almost immediately Julia felt like punching her.
Julia had a quick flash of what this could turn into: her and Gretchen becoming friends, Dave and Gretchen touching more and more, little stolen glances between them that Julia wouldn’t be able to avoid intercepting. Julia would be the third wheel in a friendship that had never needed more than two people.
Suddenly flushed, Julia went off to find a bathroom to calm herself down. What the fuck was going on? Ridiculing others was her usual coping mechanism, not this mad jealousy. If anything, Julia had expected to make fun of Gretchen today. She thought back to the night of the party, how it had felt when she’d started tearing apart her house. She’d been lying on the grass, telling herself she was in love with Dave. And drunk as she may have been, maybe it was true. Maybe she was in love with Dave.
Julia found the department store’s bathroom, which was small and clean with a large plant in the corner, lavender in the air. She went up to the sink and splashed some water on her face, letting it drip-dry as she shook her head at the little mantra now running through her head, taking root. No, Julia told herself. It’s not true.
When she’d managed to convince herself, Julia returned to the dressing area and saw Gretchen and Dave standing close to each other, their fingers interlaced. Julia stared at the sight for a while, scrunching her mouth over to one corner. Fuck. It was true.
She was in love with Dave.
JUST LIKE THIS
JULIA WATCHED THE clock tick. It was a stupid thing to do, she knew, the seconds bleeding out slower when observed. But now that flirting with Marroney was apparently frowned upon, she had nothing else to do in class.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to read a text from Dave. I just got the best idea of all time. Or of the past four minutes. Hard to tell. Meet me by your locker.
Julia texted back, Hyperbole foul.
You’re a hyperbole foul.