Ijust think it’s really toxic for you to bring up my voice,” Chloe said, “when you know I havetraumaabout it and probably ADHD.”
“I didn’t bring up your voice,” Aiden said. “I just said you’re being whiny.”
“That’sworse,” Chloe said.
Julia didn’t say anything. She was sitting in the back seat of Aiden’s Wrangler—in the middle, on top of the seat belt latches, so she could see the movie screen between Aiden’s and Chloe’s shoulders. She still couldn’t really see the screen ...
Julia had never been to a drive-in movie before. She hadn’t realized that sitting in the back seat was going to be a problem.
“Youalwaysdo this,” Chloe said.
“And you always dothis,” Aiden said.
Chloe and Aiden had started dating a few months ago, at the end of junior year.
Aiden played soccer and was very active in DECA, which was some sort of marketing club. (Marketingwhat, Julia always wondered. Like, shouldn’t marketing beforsomething? Was it like when people did cheerleading without any sport to cheer for?) He was small and muscular, with thick, tan calves—he was always wearing shorts—and his hair was cut in a mullet; “a modern mullet,” Chloe called it. Aiden was handsome in a fierce, compact way. His cheeks always looked a little sunburnt, and his tan made his teeth look really white. He laughed a lot with his friends.
Julia had known Aiden longer than she’d known Chloe. They’d gone to the same middle school.
Chloe was new to their school last year. Her dad was in the Air Force, and she’d transferred in at the beginning of second semester.
She’d made friends with Julia almost immediately.
It really did feel like Chloe hadmadethis happen—Julia had never had a best friend before. She didn’t even have the recipe.
Chloe was leaning toward Aiden now, pointing up over her own shoulder like there was a list superimposed in the air beside her. “Narcissism,” she said. “Toxicity. Gaslighting.”
Aiden jabbed at the invisible list with his finger. “Projection!”
Julia hunched down farther, trying to find a place between their bodies to see the movie screen. They were being so loud, she couldn’t even hear the dialogue. It wasJurassic Park, so Julia already knew the dialogue. But still. This wasso awkward.
“Um,” she said, touching the back of Chloe’s seat, “I’m gonna go get some popcorn?”
Chloe had to get out to let Julia out—the Jeep was a two-door—and she kept arguing with Aiden the whole time. “Classic narcissism,” she said. “Textbook.”
Julia fell more than climbed out of the Jeep and landed on one foot, hopping.
“Like, I don’t even think you can see the red flags,” Chloe shouted into the car, “because you’ve acclimated to the dysfunction! Everything is red with you, all the time!”
Julia was used to them fighting like this. It wasn’t the first time she’d gone along on one of their dates. Chloe always said that theyweren’tdates. That she and Aiden were just hanging out.
But they were hanging out exclusively. And making out exclusively. And arguing so much that Julia didn’t understand how either of them could stand it.
Aiden didn’t seem to mind Julia tagging along all the time ... He hardly seemed to notice her. Boys never did.
Julia started to carefully pick her way through the parked cars. The theater still had those old-fashioned speakers that you could hook on to your car window; she didn’t want to get tangled in the cords. This place was exactly like a drive-in movie theater in a movie. Like inGreaseorThe Outsiders. A lot of people were sitting in the backs of pickup trucks. Or in SUVs parked backwards with the gates up. Some people had lawn chairs. Julia wished she had a lawn chair.
“Hey!” Chloe shouted after her. “Bring back some Twizzlers!”
Julia waved her acknowledgment.
“And Aiden wants Sour Patch Kids!”
Julia waved again.
A guy sitting in a lawn chair shouted, “Shut up!”
Julia waved at him, too, then felt embarrassed about it.
