The Romantics(14)

Kneeling down next to him was a girl in a zip-up hoodie, Sriracha T-shirt, faded jeans, and Birkenstocks. Long, wispy blond hair peeked from beneath her bike helmet, which was covered with stickers of bands he’d never heard of. Her round cheeks were flushed red. “I can’t believe I just did that,” she said, her eyes getting all watery. “Are you okay?”

Gael pushed himself up to a sitting position and scooted onto the curb. “I’m all right, I think. What happened?”

“There was a cat,” she said. “Darted right across the street in front of me. I swerved to miss it, but you were right there.”

“Hit the human instead of the cat,” he said caustically. “Nice.”

Her face fell to a frown. “I really am sorry,” she repeated.

Gael instantly felt bad. It wasn’t enough that he’d publicly told his parents and Piper that he wished they’d all go away. Now he was snipping at random girls, too. Anika and Mason deserved it, sure, but the rest of the world? Not so much. He didn’t want to sink to their level. He wondered if he had already.

Gael brushed the beery dirt off his shirt. “I was just kidding. I probably would have saved the kitty, too.” His voice softened. “But you should look where you’re going before you swerve. What if there had been a car? You could have been wiped out.”

“I know.” She bit her lip. “I had a biking accident recently. I’m all out of practice.”

Gael ignored the ache in the back of his leg and the smell of beer emanating from the fibers of his T-shirt. “Eesh,” he said. “An accident? That sucks. Were you okay?”

The girl smiled genuinely, and he had a deeply na?ve thought, one that even he could tell was na?ve: She’s not the kind of girl who’d cheat on her boyfriend. “I’m fine, thanks. No bones broken, at least. But I guess I’m just a bit of a nervous rider now. I thought a quick ride to Cosmic would be no big deal, but I was wrong.”

A girl who liked Cosmic and wouldn’t cheat on him, he thought. Man, he had to stop this. Was he so messed up that he was projecting all his feelings onto the first girl he met?

(Yes, oh yes, he was. The Rebound is always a risk, but I hadn’t worried too much about it with Gael given that he’d essentially become a social recluse. But now, one walk home alone, and I was already on the defensive. Not to mention, the Rebound in question was also a Meet Cute. You know, when two people run into each other out of the blue, and suddenly everyone thinks it’s meant to be. Humans are experts at focusing so much on how they found someone over who that person actually is and if they’re truly the right one. Le sigh.)

While Gael was debating whether it was totally cliché to crush on the first girl he met after Anika, his stomach growled as if unaware of his internal struggle.

“You got Cosmic?” he asked timidly.

The girl’s gray eyes brightened. “You’re a Cosmic fan?”

Gael smiled wide. “Isn’t everyone? It’s the best food on Franklin besides Spanky’s, I-M-H-O.”

“What do you order there?” she asked playfully, like this was some sort of challenge he had to pass.

Gael and Anika used to have drawn-out philosophical battles about what was better at Cosmic, nachos or burritos. The memory left with him with a visceral emptiness. And it wasn’t just the hunger in his stomach.

“Nachos,” he said. “And, yes, I realize that everyone else prefers the burritos.”

“Well, it’s your lucky day,” she said. “Because I don’t. You want some?”

Gael hesitated. He knew he should probably just go home, change his clothes, and take an Advil for the ache in his leg. He should apologize to his parents and be honest about what was going on with him. Hell, maybe he should even join his mom at a yoga class and, even crazier, tell his dad that a joint therapy session wasn’t that horrible of an idea. Maybe they could even address his dad’s secretive behavior.

But the thing was, he knew he wouldn’t. He would watch more movies and eat more Snickers and take more unnecessary naps and continue to feel totally and completely shitty.

Plus, he thought, didn’t he deserve this?

A nice, cute (if he was being totally honest) girl was offering him his favorite meal on his birthday. Sure, he didn’t even know her name yet, but why not say yes?

“I really shouldn’t take your food,” he said, offering her an easy out if she wanted one.

“Please.” Her face broke into a smile. “Cosmic is pretty paltry payment for being run down. And nachos are easy to share.”

The girl stood up, lifted the bike, and retrieved the plastic bag underneath. She wheeled the bike out of the street, leaned it against the curb, and sat back down next to him.

“I’m Cara, by the way.” She reached out her hand.

“I’m Gael.” He shook hers in turn. “Do you live around here?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Close by.”

Gael stared at her. “I haven’t seen you in school.”

Cara smiled again. “I’m actually a freshman at UNC.”

A nice, cute, college freshman who liked Cosmic. And unlike Sammy, a college freshman who didn’t seem to be filled to the brim with big, pretentious ideas. Gael thought it was almost too good to be true.