Here's to Us(What If It's Us #2)(28)

“How dare you? I have a beard.”

Samantha steps in with a five-dollar bill. “One pretzel, please.”

The vendor takes her cash and hands her a pretzel. “Have a great evening.”

Samantha takes a huge bite, mumbles her thanks, and walks off.

Dylan glares. “Enjoy prison, man.”

We catch up with Samantha, who is devouring her pretzel. She goes on about how they’re so much better than the ones on campus, and Dylan jumps in about his favorites (chicken tenders, pepperoni pizzas, beef patties) and the banes of the cafeteria (hot dogs, fries, tacos). I have nothing to add to this conversation, which is great since I’m focusing on tonight.

Still waiting on Arthur and Mario.

No, correction: Mario and Arthur. Mario comes first these days. I think about him when I wake up. I hope he’s behind every text. I would cancel on everyone else to hang out with him. I get that I should make more time for Arthur while he’s in town, but his trip isn’t based around hanging out with me. It wasn’t the case back then and it won’t be this time either.

Then Arthur is the first person I see making his way through the crowds. I’m surprised he’s not holding Mikey’s hand, though it’s possible they got split up from all the foot traffic. Not seeing them all over each other is a good way to inch into this experience. But when Arthur turns to talk to someone, it’s not Mikey. It’s Jessie. I didn’t realize he was inviting Jessie, but that’s cool with me.

This is the same area where we met for our first first date.

“Hi!” Arthur says, beaming. “Wow. Dylan! Samantha!” He hugs them. “It’s so great to see you.”

“It’s even better to be seen by you,” Dylan says.

“Hey again,” I tell Jessie.

“Hey, hey.” Jessie kisses Samantha on the cheek. “I listened to the podcast you sent me. Hilarious.”

I like that Samantha and Jessie didn’t lose touch after our breakup. Things shouldn’t have to be complicated for them, too.

“Hey, Arthur.”

“Hey, Ben.”

We hug, but it doesn’t last long. That’s fine. Cool even. We already got the wow-great-to-see-you-for-the-first-time-in-two-years hug out of the way.

“Where’s Mario?” he asks.

“He should be here soon. He got caught up packing for his trip to LA tomorrow.”

“How long is he going to be gone?”

“A week.”

Here I am talking about Mario’s schedule to my ex-boyfriend.

I’ve got to stop only thinking about Arthur as my ex-boyfriend. He’s more than that. We’re friends. It doesn’t matter that he was the last person I loved. That was years ago.

“Hola hola hola hola,” Mario calls from behind me. He pinches my sides and hugs everyone he knows before introducing himself to Jessie. “I’m sorry I’m late, I was packing and—I’m here now.” Mario smiles at me and flicks the Puerto Rican flag on my shirt’s pocket and winks. “Nice shirt, Alejo.”

“Gracias.”

Mario finger-snaps at Arthur. “Where’s Mikey?”

Arthur seems confused. “Boston.”

I wonder if everything is okay. “When did he leave?”

“He was never here . . .”

“I thought he was in town with you . . .”

“Just us,” Jessie says. Her hands fly to her mouth for a second. “Oh no, this is mortifying. Did you mean to invite Mikey and not me?”

“No—I mean yes, but of course we’re happy you’re here!”

This is a disaster. How did the lines get crossed here? I guess not paying closer attention to Arthur’s Instagram posts is a good start. I’ve just been assuming everything about Arthur and Mikey in New York—Broadway shows, skipping hand in hand while singing show tunes, sharing a bed.

I feel a little lighter. Like I’m not the only person in the world whose life isn’t perfect.

Arthur’s boyfriend not being around shouldn’t be comforting.



“Sorry to miss Mikey,” I say.

“He’s visiting next weekend. You can meet him then.”

“We’ll have to send him a group photo,” Mario says. “But first we should go do something more exciting than standing on a corner in Times Square.”

Jessie points at the Regal Cinema theater down the block. “Movie?”

“Oh my God, yes, I would kill for a slushie,” Samantha says.

Mario shakes his head. “This is the first time you’re all hanging out in years! You can’t catch up during a movie.”

“You’ve never been to a movie with that chatterbox,” Dylan says, pointing at Samantha. She smacks his arm and he feigns pain.

Mario scans around us. “How about Madame Tussauds? We can pose with different wax icons or—wait, Dave & Buster’s!”

Arthur looks at me and turns away so fast he must have gotten whiplash.

Dave & Buster’s is where Arthur and I had our first date. It shouldn’t be a big deal, though I admittedly haven’t been back since we were last here. But if this is something Mario wants to do, I don’t want to avoid it because of my history with Arthur.

“Please tell me they still have Mario Kart,” Dylan says. “We need a picture of Mario playing Mario Kart. Iconic.”