“It’s okay, it came out in the eighties—way before we were born, and it’s not very popular, you wouldn’t have heard of it.”
“No, no, I know it,” he said. “Yeah, now that I think of it. Course.”
He was lying. He always squinted when he lied. It was strange that we were meeting for the first time and I already knew all his mannerisms cold, yet he knew nothing about me.
I leaned over the wall too. A sea of Strepurs growing larger, no end in sight. The crowd had gotten so large it spilled over onto the block across the street. I wondered if you removed the building behind them, would there be more of them still, the way you find bugs under rocks?
“Did you know that if you throw a penny off the Empire State Building you could kill someone?” Rupert K. said.
It was a myth, but I wasn’t about to correct him.
“Do you think if I let go of my hat it’ll kill one of the girls down there?”
“Uh, probably not,” I said.
“Let’s test it out.”
He let go of his hat, and a second later the wind whipped it off his head and carried it away. I had to fight every urge in my body not to go after that hat.
“Those girls are screaming for the idea of me,” Rupert K. said. “They’re screaming for the guy whose face is on their tube of toothpaste at home. You know, we even have an endorsement deal with cat food now? Do you want your cat to eat like a normal cat, or do you want him to eat like a Rupert?”
I couldn’t help but snort at his funny, infomercial-guy voice while simultaneously thinking very seriously of getting a cat.
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or anything,” he said. “I’m very glad for my success. Sometimes it just gets to be too much. Especially when you’re in it together with three other guys. It’s not as easy as other people think.”
“Really?”
“Do you want to know a secret?” He leaned in close. So close that the air next to my cheek felt suddenly warmer. “Sometimes I think about leaving it all.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah,” he said. “You’ve got big eyes.”
Non sequiturs were sort of his thing. Some people thought he maybe had undiagnosed ADHD. I was experiencing one of his patented adorable ADHD moments! “I’ve been called bug-eyed.”
“No, they’re lovely.”
Was I falling? Had I gone over the edge of the roof after all? I had the distinct sensation that I was falling. But Rupert K. was not leaning out to catch me. Guess I was just imagining it.
“Uh. You. Also. Have eyes …” I said.
I was an idiot.
His phone rang, a mercy killing of my hopeless gibbering. He pinched it out of his back pocket and glanced at the screen. “I’ve got to take this,” he said. “I hope it works out with your friend.”
“You too.”
He walked away and disappeared through the door. I was left to reconstruct my brain.
Eventually I made my way back to the room. I felt like every character in every teen movie who’d ever been with someone for the first time. You know, that morning after scene where they’re walking down a hallway with a knowing smirk, a spring in their step, and badass music playing in the background. Except Rupert K. and I hadn’t actually been together in the strictest sense. And I also couldn’t fully enjoy the moment knowing that I was holding one of his best friends hostage.
It was time to let Rupert P. go. I was kind of hoping the rest of the girls wouldn’t be there so I wouldn’t have to deal with them and their rationalizations. I just wanted to be done with Rupert P., set him free, back into the wilds from whence he came. But even if my friends were there, I wouldn’t let them change my mind anymore. Finally, all bets were off. I was making my own decisions from now on.
I walked down to the eighth floor and opened the stairwell door. It opened right across from our hotel room. Apple was standing in front of the door, facing it.
“Hey,” I said.
She spun around, looking like I’d frightened her. “Hi.”
“So how was the concert?”
“Short.” She was going to say something more, but both of our attentions were stolen when Erin appeared at the end of the hall, walking toward us. Almost at that exact same moment, the elevator doors opened on our other side and Isabel stepped through them. The four of us met in front of our door, facing one another at an intersection. A weird vibe fell over us. Maybe it was the silence. In all the times we’d been together, we’d never actually been silent. We were always talking about the boys, and when we weren’t talking about them we were screaming for them.
Now that we were all together, my first instinct was to tell them about meeting Rupert K., but I stopped myself. It wasn’t the right time. Plus, things were definitely still weird between all of us. I knew what we really had to talk about was what was on the other side of that door.
“What are we going to do with him?” I asked. No one said anything. “Apple, do you still want to keep him? After the things he called you?”
She shook her head.