“Come on,” Jenna said. Her own hair was the opposite of Danny’s, auburn and wild and frizzy, like she’d just stuck her finger in an electrical socket. They made an odd but cute couple. She looked over to Danny, and he nodded at her. “We miss you,” she said. “And it’s cold as balls out here.”
Danny definitely put her up to that, Gael thought. But still, it was nice.
Gael swallowed and took a sip from his Nalgene bottle. “I have zero desire to sit with Anika and Mason,” he said.
“They aren’t sitting with us anymore,” Jenna said. He detected a hint of annoyance in her voice. She crossed her arms and smiled forcefully.
Danny’s smile was more genuine. “We didn’t think it was quite fair that they did the wrong thing and you got the shit end of the stick.”
Jenna laughed. A few weeks ago at lunch, she’d said “shit end of the stick” accidentally, and it had stuck.
Gael laughed, too. It was pretty funny, no matter how many times you said it.
And he had gotten the shit end of the stick. They were right. Why was he letting Mason and Anika’s selfishness ruin his other friendships, too?
Without saying anything, Gael grabbed his sandwich and backpack and followed them inside to their usual table. As promised, Anika and Mason were on the opposite end of the cafeteria, eating with two girls from Anika’s Bhangra dance group and laughing. He tried to ignore them.
Danny and Jenna spent the next thirty minutes flirtatiously arguing about which season of Doctor Who was the best and discussing whether they really needed to do the biology reading or if they should try and Google the answers to the worksheet.
Gael was mostly silent, until Danny, as if a lightbulb had just gone off in his head, stopped talking about bio and looked at him with excitement in his eyes.
“Maybe you need to hook up with somebody else. Especially if she’s hotter than Anika.”
Jenna smacked him on his ultra-skinny arm. “Could you be any more chauvinistic? He needs some space and to not pull someone else into this drama.” She looked at him all serious, and Gael swore even her freckles looked like they weren’t messing around. “Like they say on Reddit, lawyer up, delete Facebook, hit the gym. Except for the lawyer part, obviously. Oh, and stop publicly slut-shaming Anika in restaurants.”
Eeesh, Gael thought, brutal. Was that what he really had done?
He tried to think of a respectful way to defend himself, but Danny shrugged and moved on: “It might be a lot easier to get over Anika if he got under someone else, all I’m saying.”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “You just heard that on a bad TV show and wanted a chance to say it.”
“Maybe,” Danny said, and then he kissed her sloppily.
Between their PDA and conflicting advice, Gael only felt worse. In fact, none of the advice Gael received these days seemed to help:
Last night, his dad had handed him one of the awkward self-help books he had read when he and his mom split up, and then he asked for about the millionth time since the separation if Gael was sure he didn’t want to try therapy.
That morning, his mom had begged him to accompany her to a meditation-focused yoga class on Wednesday.
At breakfast, Piper had read him his love horoscope, which suggested he be open to “those who offer deep conversation and intellectual intrigue.” (Okay, I was the one who dug up that gem.)
And in chemistry before lunch, Mason had reminded him that now was the time that Gael needed a friend the most. Mason didn’t seem to appreciate the irony of the situation.
The problem with the advice he was getting was the problem with almost all advice having to do with me. People suggest what they themselves would want or need. But the act of loving is such a unique experience, it’s damn near impossible for anyone but me to know exactly what someone needs at any given time—and even I get it wrong sometimes.
Danny pulled away from Jenna’s kiss and fixed his eyes on Gael.
“Come on,” he said. “There’s got to be some girl you at least think is cute.”
Gael certainly wasn’t ready to jinx anything by telling them about Cara. One impulsive kiss, plus a trip to REI, did not a relationship make.
So he shook his head and hoped neither Danny nor Jenna could see the color rising to his cheeks.
welcome to the friend zone: temporarily, at least
On Tuesday, Gael asked Cara if she wanted to test out her recent purchase on the Bolin Creek hiking path near his house.
He was surprised by how quickly she said yes.
(Knowing Cara, I wasn’t.)
“How are the new shoes?” Gael asked as they stomped along the dirt path, tall trees rising around them.
“Great,” Cara said forcefully, though the way she hobbled along made it look like they were anything but.
“Are you sure?” Gael asked. “I can drive us back to your dorm and we could get different shoes. Or we could take a break. Or we could do something totally different if you don’t want to hike.”