Ziya looked equally surprised. “Wait. Really?”
“Really what?”
“You’re cool with this?”
Now Amie wasreallyconfused. “Why wouldn’t I be cool with it?”
Ziya stared at her, as if trying to determine if they were talking about the same thing. “You understand that I’m saying I got tickets forus, right? For us to go to Iceland? Together?”
Amie frowned, processing this unexpected twist. “Why?”
“Because I love spending money on exorbitant trips,” Ziya said sarcastically. “No, actually, the prices weren’t too bad. It’ll be lateAugust, which is the start of the season, so less expensive but also less of a chance we’ll see anything, but—”
“Wait.” Amie shook her head, as if that would fix whatever was making her brain struggle to follow what Ziya was saying. “What are you talking about? What’s happening?”
“I got tickets for us to go to Iceland,” Ziya said. “Oh, to see the northern lights. Sorry, I didn’t mention that part. I got too excited.”
“Haven’t you already been to Iceland?” Amie asked.
Ziya shrugged. “Yeah. But you haven’t. And you talk about seeing the northern lights, like, all the time.”
“I don’t think I talk about itall the time.”
Wordlessly, Ziya walked over to the counter, picked up Amie’s planner, and held it up, displaying the image of the aurora borealis on the cover.
“I thought it looked pretty,” Amie said.
“Ames.” Ziya returned the planner, running back to the table and taking the chair by Amie’s. “You’ve mentioned itdozens of times.”
“Sure, I guess,” Amie said. “I just …”
She knew she was being unnecessarily argumentative. She just didn’t like when Ziya got like this, acting like the Tasmanian Devil, whirling around her, turning Amie’s eyes into black and white spirals as she struggled to follow. This was all too fast, too soon.
“… I can’t,” she finished.
“What do you mean, you can’t?” Ziya asked.
“I can’t. I have work—”
“We’re not going tomorrow, silly,” Ziya said. She was smiling, but some of the excitement had left her eyes. “I know you well enough not to do that. You can take a week off, and it’ll be right before classes start up again, so we can both—”
“No,” Amie interrupted. “I mean, I just … I don’t want to.”
Ziya’s smile faded. “Youdowant to, though,” she said. “You said you did.”
“I mean, it’s just one of those things you say, right?” Amie said. “It’s on my bucket list, or whatever. Like, sure, I’d like to see the northern lightssomeday.”
She took Ziya’s hand. “This was so sweet of you, really. I know you don’t like going to the same place twice, so I really appreciate it. I just, I can’t go.”
“But whynot?” Ziya insisted.
“Because …” Amie explained, “… it’s something I want to dosomeday, but I just don’t have time right now.”
“So make time.”
“I will!” Amie said, laughing a bit. “Someday!”
Ziya didn’t laugh with her. “I really don’t understand you sometimes.”
