Sometimes it’s nice to turn my brain off and just be with peoplewithout constantly worrying if I’m understanding them right, or wondering if I’m missing things. So I relax and enjoy thebody contact with Liamgame, the feel of my friends laughing at my sides, the rumble of my controller as I use Ness’s baseball bat to send poor Pichu (Bowie) flying off the stage again.
I’m just about to get Liam’s last life—he’s played a passable game as Cloud, but he’s no match for me—when a phone buzzes against my hip. It’s not mine, though.
Liam pauses right before my PK Thunder hits him.
“Sorry,” he says, then signs it also. “Jasmine.”
Despite the warmth against my sides, I go cold. This was supposed to be friends time, and even from across the state, she manages to intrude. They’ve been on a couple dates now, and they’re going to a haunted house on Halloween. Despite Liam’s claustrophobia, which I’m not sure Jasmine even knows about.
I guess things are going well. And I’m happy for them. I really am.
Liam stands as he answers the phone; as he walks away, he reaches back and tucks in my tag.
Bowie rests their controller on their lap. “What’s that face for?”
“What face? Nothing.”
“Jacks.”
“What?”
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
But they keep studying me, their left hand going up to rub their right shoulder. I get this weird, quivery feeling in my chest and stomach. I glance back, but Liam’s still out of sight, probably in the kitchen or something.
“Promise not to say anything?”
Bowie nods.
“I... kind of have a crush on him.”
Bowie releases their shoulder. “I figured.”
“What?”
“Come on. If anyone else tucked in your tag for you, you’d elbow them in the spleen, but you just let him do it all the time. And don’t forget all those shmoodies you make him.”
“He won them.”
“You wanted to make them,” Bowie says.
“Yeah, well, Jasmine took them over anyway.” I sigh. “I shouldn’t like him. He’s dating my sister.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Nothing! He can’t know. You promised.”
“I know, and I won’t say anything.”
“Is it super obvious?”
“I don’t think so.” Bowie gives me a gentle smile. “But I know you.”
My stomach is twisting itself into knots. All the Nerds and Smarties and Snickers I ate earlier threaten to make an encore appearance.
Bowie rubs their shoulder again.
