The Romantics(63)

Not one of them knew Sammy. He was about ready to give up.

Finally, Gael headed into a room at the end of the balcony. A guy was doing pull-ups on a bar installed in the doorway. “Do you know Sammy Sutton?” Gael asked as the guy’s chin crested the metal bar. The guy immediately dropped down and wiped his hands on the towel at his waist.

“Yeah,” he said. “She lives on this floor.”

Thank God, Gael thought.

“Do you know where?” he asked.

“Through the door there, out the other door, head to the right, and it’s the second or third suite of rooms, I’m not quite sure.”

He must have noticed Gael’s look of confusion and despair because the guy immediately started laughing. “Come on,” he said. “I’ll take you.”

He led the way back down the hall and through the doors into the room with the elevators.

He turned to Gael as they passed through the door on the other side. “You’re not some creepy stalker guy, are you?” he asked.

Gael shook his head. “Sammy and I are friends. I just forgot which room was hers.”

“Got it.” He walked to the right and then entered the second door to a hallway with another four rooms. He motioned to the first one.

“There it is,” he said. “Not sure if she’s home.”

“Thanks, man,” Gael said, and the guy headed back out.

Gael stared at the door. There were a bunch of silly photos and a large whiteboard tacked onto the door. The whiteboard read: “Can you guess the movie quote? NO GOOGLING!”

Gael laughed. Of course, Sammy would use movie trivia to decorate.

And then his eyes locked on the quote just below:

Too many guys think I’m a concept, or I complete them, or I’m gonna make them alive. But I’m just a f&#@edup girl who’s looking for my own peace of mind. Don’t assign me yours.

Beneath the quote were a string of guesses in different handwriting.

Punch-Drunk Love

Lost in Translation

Silver Linings Playbook

But Gael knew that they were all wrong.

He also knew that Sammy was still thinking about him. She must be.

He popped open the marker hooked onto the board and wrote: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

And then he knocked on the door.





how to lose a girl in ten minutes


Gael heard shuffling behind the door, and his stomach seemed to leap into his throat. If it was her, what was he was going to say? Don’t go! Ditch your ex-boyfriend! Be with me, instead! All the words that came to his head sounded horribly cheesy and pathetic.

It didn’t matter. It was too late to turn back. And he didn’t want to, anyway.

Finally, the door opened.

His heart sunk. It wasn’t Sammy.

“Can I help you?” a red-haired girl said. Gael figured she must be Sammy’s roommate.

“Err, is Sammy here?”

“And you are?” she asked, leaning against the open door.

“I’m Gael? Her friend from—well—she babysits my—”

“Oh, I know who you are.” The girl broke into a smile.

He felt himself blush. This has to be a good sign, right?

Her smile faded as quickly as it came. “Sammy’s not here, though. She just left for the airport like ten minutes ago. You could try her phone? I think it was dead, though. She left here in kind of a rush.”

He nodded. “Yeah, she didn’t answer.”

The girl shrugged. “Maybe try her again. She’ll probably be able to charge it once she gets to the airport.”

Gael stepped back, dejected. “Well, thanks, anyway.”

“Good luck, Gael,” she said. And she smiled again, then closed the door.

He stood there for another minute, unable to move.

Ten minutes. A lousy ten minutes in which he was shooting pickle juice and analyzing Facebook messages.

Sammy had told him timing was everything.

But he’d never known how right she was until this very moment.





familial advice: piper edition


Gael was feeling too down on himself to even think about walking home. He opted instead for the Chapel Hill bus. He tried calling Sammy two more times on his ride, even leaving her a ridiculously awkward voice mail where, like a total weirdo, he said, “I have something I want to talk to you about.” But it was no use—her phone remained off.

By the time he got back to his house, he was feeling worse than ever. It was too late. She would fly back to Baltimore, John would seriously be upping his game to make up for cheating on her, and all the old feelings would come rushing back. Whatever he and Sammy had—or almost had—would become but a distant memory.

Gael’s mom and Piper were in the dining room when he walked inside. They were making a Halloween slideshow on his mom’s MacBook.

His mom smiled a weak smile, and Piper cheerfully said, “Hello,” but he didn’t have the energy to return the sentiment, so he walked past them without saying anything. He couldn’t handle the thought of being around anyone.

Gael headed into his room, threw his backpack down, and locked the door. He popped Eternal Sunshine into the Blu-ray player. It would probably make him depressed, but he wanted to be depressed.