“Hey, I think someone’s waiting for you,” she said, gesturing to the back of the auditorium. A tall, lanky figure leaned against the wall. I waved goodbye to Cassie and headed toward the person, knowing damn well who it probably was. Once the lights were out of my eyes, my suspicions were confirmed.
“Hi, Guy.” He gave me a sheepish smile.
“You did great, Birdy.” He opened his arms. “Hug?”
I sighed and stepped into his embrace. “I know that’s not true. Tonight was a flop.”
“I thought you were wonderful,” Guy said, kissing my hair. I inhaled his cologne. Deodorant? Whatever it was that made him smell so damn good. “So are you still busy now? Have some math homework I can help you with?”
I took a deep breath and looked up at him. His eyes were so hopeful. He had been trying to get me to hang out a lot, and I kept shutting him down. It was easier to shut him down when he wasn’t standing in front of me, and he knew that. I did have homework and could use his help. “Tea and waffles?”
“Sounds perfect.”
We walked out into the November cold. He seemed to be angling to put his arm around me, so I busied myself with walking apart from him and cracking jokes.
“Kitty, we should talk about last weekend,” he said, brown eyes earnest under the brim of his beanie.
“Do we have to?” I groaned.
“Yes, Kitty. I don’t want to lose you because of it. You don’t need to feel awkward about it.”
“Then why did you leave without even saying goodbye?” I was skeptical. Once a fuckboy, always a fuckboy.
“Kitty, I really did have an emergency,” Guy started. I leveled him with a sharp look. “I did! One of my teammates stole his girlfriend’s dog and had the cops out looking for him.”
I cackled. “Can I use that in a script?”
“You really should,” he said, laughing. “Looking back, it’s pretty funny.”
I worried my lip between my teeth, wanting to rip off the bandaid. “I know what happened between us was kinda weird, so can we just pretend it didn’t happen? You’re a hookup boy, and I know you don’t settle down with anyone.”
“I mean, that’s true, but Kitty—”
“I miss being your friend. We’ve been apart for so long and I think we need to find our footing again.” I was desperate to beat him to the punch onlet’s be friendsand keep one shred of my dignity intact.
Guy got a funny look on his face. His voice cracked when he spoke next. “Yeah. Yeah. Probably a good idea.” Wait, did he want it to mean more?
Neither of us said anything for what felt like an eternity. “Hug it out?”
“Okay.” Guy held me close to him, tucking his head to mine and kissing the top of my head.
“I love you, Kitty Bird,” he said, pain in his voice as he squeezed me tight.
“I love you, too, Guy-Guy.”
We walked on to the waffle shop, where we both got tea and a waffle to share. Guy was just as much fun as he always was when we did homework: patient, not condescending, and making me feel smart. He cracked jokes, and the warmth that we’d shared for years returned. We were still such good friends no matter how much time passed between seeing each other. We were two instruments tuned to the same key, playing perfectly together, complementing each other.
That warmth was what I protected at all costs. We couldn’t lose that warmth by playing with fire together.
Chapter 14
Guy
The Friday before Thanksgiving break, I got to see Kitty do standup at an open mic in Cambridge. The crowd was packed with her supporters: her roommates, some people from her improv group, Colton because he was doing whatever Violet wanted, Mikey because he wanted to tag along, and of course, her number one fan, me. No sign of the frat bro from Kitty’s last hookup, which I was a little too happy about. Probably a third of the bar was crowded with Kitty’s fans.
Kitty stepped on stage to loud cheers.
“Wow! Cambridge really loves to see the funny white girl show her stuff!” she joked as the applause died. “Thank you, thank you. I’m Kitty Gatto. For those of you who don’t speak Italian American wop, that translates to Kitty Cat. And yes, Kitty is my real first name. Not Katherine. Not Kate. Not Kit. Just Kitty.”
