“I’m just acclimating,” he said. “I feel stupid. Apparently I’m the only person in Omaha who hadn’t seen this trailer. My mom said something to me about it, and I didn’t get it—I get it now.”
“Your mom’s aThursdayfan?”
“No, she just knows I’m seeing you.”
“She does?”
“Yeah.” Russ smiled a little. He touched her cheek. “Everybody knows.”
Cherry exhaled. She felt herself softening. Tilting her head toward his hand. He stroked her cheek.
“This must really suck for you,” he said. “I hadn’t realized...”
Cherry blinked up at him, feeling new tears. “I hate it,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry,” Russ whispered back. “Fuck that guy.FuckJesse Plemons.”
Cherry laughed. A few tears fell. “I love Jesse Plemons.”
“He was so good inThe Power of the Dog,” Russ said.
“Do youonlysee black-and-white movies?”
“That was in color.”
“Itfeltblack-and-white.”
Russ kissed her. “Let’s go to my place.”
“What about dinner?”
“I ate all that popcorn.”
“No,Iate all that popcorn,” Cherry said, “and I’m still hungry.”
“Do you want to eat here?”
“In the shadow of my ex? No.”
“I’ll take you anywhere you want,” Russ said.
She made him take her to the Cheesecake Factory. He didn’t know anyone there.
Chapter 31
Thursdayturned into something else—before the first book was even published.
The webcomic caught fire in certain corners of the internet. There were Tumblr fan blogs and Twitter memes. A reference in a Kanye lyric.
Tom stayed away from it all. He wasn’t on social media.
Cherry watched it from a distance. She set up a Google alert.
Her more culturally plugged-in friends were the first to become aware of Tom’s comic. Another designer at work mentioned it, and then a few people from college posted about it on Facebook...
But whatever was happening still wasn’t happening in the real world. Tom had never monetizedThursday. Nothing in their life changed.TheNew York Timeswrote a small piece about the comic, but nobody in Cherry and Tom’s circles readThe New York Times.
The firstThursdaycollection—at that time, the only planned collection—debuted on threebestseller lists. Ophelia, Tom’s editor, said this was unheard of for an adult graphic novel.
