“Can your mother ask, ‘What are you doing next?’ ”
“I’m going to find a roommate who isn’t my mother.”
38
Panel 1:Establishing shot of an Upper West Side high-rise apartment building.
Panel 2:Medium shot of the back of Lydia Deetz’s head, dark hair tied up in a ponytail, knocking on an apartment door labeled 19F.
Panel 3:Medium shot of the door open. Inside the entryway is a man with stubble and slightly too long hair. Jughead is no longer wearing his crown.
Hal
Samantha.
Panel 4:Wide interior of the apartment, which is nicely furnished in a sort of expensive bohemian-chic style. The windows overlook Central fucking Park. Quite the “place to crash.”
Panel 5:Jughead and Lydia sit on armchairs opposite each other, with an Eames-style coffee table between them.
Hal
It’s my aunt’s place.
I look around the apartment, trying to remember if Hal ever mentioned an aunt with a tastefully decorated pied-à-terre on the Upper West Side.
“How’ve you been?”
“Good,” I reply. “I took an art class.”
“Nice.”
I don’t think Hal has ever said “nice,” “cool,” or “that’s great” tome.
We nod at each other like acquaintances. Like people who barely know one another.
Maybe that’s what we are now: two people who talked about everything but our real feelings. And now that there’s no more “we,” there’s nothing more to discuss.
He clears his throat. “Are you spending another semester up there or—”
“I’m moving in with Romily next week. She has a two-bedroom apartment now, but her roommate only lasted one semester at OSU.”
“You’re going back to Columbus?” It’s more of an observation than a question.
I sense he wants to ask a follow-up, so I pivot.
“Are you watering the plants here or something? I guess I don’t know what a house sitter does.”
“If my aunt had plants, I’d water them,” Hal says. “But she has a cleaning service that takes care of that shit. I’m working at a literary agency.”
I stare at him, trying to discern which clue I missed.
“In an office?”
When had he applied for a job like that? How had I failed to spot a waiting trust fund?
“Yeah.” He releases a sigh. “Leen connected me with her agent.” He shrugs sheepishly.
“So it was worth it?”
