Anika’s eyes got watery. She looked at Mason, but his eyes shifted quickly around the room, then down to his oversized feet, avoiding both of them.
That didn’t stop Gael from saying what he had to. He turned to Mason. “And you just abandoned the entire bro code for a hook up? You could have any girl you wanted! Why did it have to be my girlfriend?”
Mason sighed but didn’t look up to face him.
Anika dabbed at the corner of her eye but at least had the decency to look at him. She sniffled. “We just want you to know that your friendship is really important to us, Gael.”
Us.
Us?
Us!!?&!!?@%!!?
Gael’s hands drew into fists at his sides, and his stomach clenched. Being cheated on was bad enough, but the two of them didn’t even show an ounce of genuine remorse.
Then, before he realized what he was doing, Gael punched his former best friend with all his might—straight in his stupid face, the one girls always seemed to find so endearing. Mason fell back into a mishmash of music stands, breaking his fall, clanking dramatically as they fell to the ground.
Gael’s eyes were on the verge of tears, his body hot, his head throbbing. He vaguely sensed lots of yelling and people rushing around him, but he could hardly tell what was going on.
Gael ran, and he didn’t stop until he was out of the band room, in the daylight, and far enough from school so no one could see.
His breathing got heavy as awful visions filled his head—Mason holding Anika’s hand, kissing her lips, hugging her, undressing her, laughing with her, smiling with her, having everything with her that Gael would never, ever have again.
throwback to the best day of gael’s life
For Gael, it hadn’t been hard to choose the day to Beat All Days.
It had been one of those weirdly cool afternoons in August, the last Saturday before the start of senior year. Nothing to do but waste time and luxuriate in the final weekend of summer.
Since June, he and the usual suspects had spent most Saturdays at Jenna Carey’s. Jenna was Anika’s longtime BFF, and she had a pool. But this Saturday, it had been too cold for swimming. Gael thought about that sometimes, how if it had been ninety degrees, they’d have gone to Jenna’s pool, and maybe he and Anika never would have become he and Anika.
They didn’t go to Jenna’s that day—instead, everyone walked down Franklin Street to load up on donuts at Krispy Kreme.
Franklin was a mishmash of bookstores, yummy food (late night and otherwise), and shops hawking everything from thrifty hipster wares to UNC gear to preppy woven belts that the frat boys always wore. Historic buildings and brick sidewalks gave it that throwback downtown feel, while music joints, tattoo shops, and seedy bars reminded you that it was, indeed, a college drag.
They parked themselves on the steps of the Chapel Hill post office, which offered a perfect view of the UNC campus, with its columned brick buildings, sweeping lawns, and masses of trees whose leaves had yet to turn. It was the kind of campus you saw in TV shows about college, the kind that made you want to wear a sweatshirt with felt letters.
When they were done with their donuts and had gotten most of the flaky sugar off their lips, Anika asked if anyone wanted to go to the “Life of a Star” show at the Morehead Planetarium, which was just across the street.
One by one, everyone bailed. Mason said he had to head to his grandmother’s for an early dinner; Jenna said paying to look at fake stars sounded “next-level boring”; and Danny Lee, who was Gael’s best friend besides Mason and who’d recently started dating Jenna, nodded in new-boyfriend agreement. Gael—who, despite following IFLScience on Facebook, did not really know much about a star’s life span or about science in general—still knew better than to pass up a precious hour and a half alone with Anika and said, “Sure.”
When it was just the two of them, Gael and Anika headed toward the planetarium, walking past the bench nestled under a towering oak tree where, legend had it, if you shared a kiss, it meant you were destined to get married.
(Fun fact: Most people who kiss on that bench do not get married. I would know.)
The planetarium was all domed and majestic like something out of a movie; Gael hadn’t been there since he was a kid on a field trip. A sign outside said the next show was at 3:30. They were just in time, one of the many factors that fell in his favor that day. When the box office girl asked, “Y’all together?” Gael awkwardly said “yes” before either of them had a chance to really think about it.
Rows of tightly packed seats lined the walls of the circular room, and they chose two in the back. The tiny seats were smaller than the ones on an airplane, the kind that press you up against the person sitting next to you.