But she did ask if they could stop at Starbucks because she really wanted a pumpkin spice latte.
(Look, I wasn’t using mind control, I promise. Free will, yada yada yada. But Cara had censored herself in past relationships, and it was totally fair of me to remind her of that fact. To urge her, ever so slightly, to not hold back, to listen to the music she wanted, embrace her love of Starbucks, literally kick her feet up. Of course, I also happened to know that these very behaviors would annoy Gael to no end.)
Second Defense: Incompatibility
The parking lot in front of REI was for some reason blocked off so Gael and Cara had to park by the movie theater (it’s amazing what people will believe when you put up a few official-looking cones). Once out of the car, Gael took in Cara’s full outfit. Birkenstocks, ripped jeans, and a Willie Nelson T-shirt. Anika wouldn’t have been caught dead looking that laid-back and casual. And yet, he thought, Cara looked great.
“Ready to spend way more money than we should on outdoor gear?” Cara asked eagerly. “And use it for a year and then take advantage of the store’s amazing return policy?” She winked and tightened her ponytail. Gael laughed.
As they walked through the parking lot, the autumn sun cast a hard-to-miss glint across the COMING SOON poster. Gael could hardly contain his excitement. “You stoked for the new Wes Anderson movie?”
Cara shrugged.
“What?” he asked. “You think he’s overhyped?”
She hopped from the curb to the road and back up again, then grabbed onto the pole of a NO PARKING sign and used her hand to swing around it. In the distance, a fountain trickled happily. “I don’t know,” Cara said. “To tell you the truth, I don’t have much of an opinion. I’m not really that into movies. Except for James Cameron ones. He’s pretty much the best director ever.”
Third Defense: Jealousy
In REI, Gael and Cara headed past hydration packs and kayaks to the women’s shoe area, where Cara grabbed a few pairs of boots to try on. In minutes, a brawny guy who looked like a cross between Mason and Bradley Cooper rushed to help them.
The guy brought out a stack of boxes, and Cara sat down. She slid her feet into the first pair.
“Too tight?” the dude asked as he obnoxiously pinched her toes with his too-big hands.
She shook her head. “Just right,” she said with a smirk. Was she flirting with him? Gael wondered.
Cara hopped up, did a couple of paces around the room. She sat back down. “Let me try on the next pair.”
The two of them went back and forth like that, and Gael couldn’t help but notice that every time Cara walked around, the guy’s eyes followed her—and he had a feeling it wasn’t because he was hoping she’d buy a co-op membership.
Finally, Cara asked to try on the first pair again. After biting her lip and doing yet another lap, she sat down. “I’ll take ’em,” she said matter-of-factly.
The Not-so-Fortunate Results
Cara turned to Gael and gave him a toothy smile. She wiggled her feet back and forth, and she looked so carefree and enchanting that he found it hard to be turned off by her love of Titanic or her penchant for Starbucks specialty drinks.
“Thanks for putting up with me,” she said.
“Anytime,” Gael said.
But what he thought was—I’d put up with a lot more to spend time with you.
Ugh. It was time to step it up with Phase Two.
everyone’s an advice columnist these days
The next day, during lunch at school, Gael headed to his usual spot in the outdoor courtyard. It was already halfway through October, the leaves had fallen, and the temperatures had cooled. No one besides him was still sitting outside, but navigating lunch-table dynamics didn’t exactly appeal to Gael.
I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of the school cafeteria. Whether from your own experience or from watching movies, you should be familiar with the usual social divisions, and Gael’s high school was no exception. Before The Ultimate Betrayal (TUB), Gael had always sat with his own little cohort of not-so-nerdy band nerds—Anika, Jenna, Danny, Mason, and occasionally one or two of the girls from Jenna’s AP biology class.
Since TUB, however, Gael had been eating outside alone.
So Gael was quite shocked when, as he sat down on the concrete, leaned against the bricks, and pulled out his Monday usual, a sad ham-and-cheese sandwich his mom had haphazardly thrown together this morning (lunch had been so much better when his dad packed it), he saw Danny and Jenna walking toward him.
“Dude,” Danny said, hair neatly combed and gelled, one hand on the strap of his backpack. “Enough of this lunch outside. Come in and sit with us.”
Gael took a bite of his sandwich and shook his head.