“Why?” Calvin was somewhere in the front room.
“They mailed us another bill. That’s three in two weeks. Not only is our account current, but we’re set up to be paperless.”
“All right.”
“All childhood, you’re anxious to grow up,” I continued, opening the fridge again to grab a bottle for Calvin, “so you can do fun adult things, like drive or drink beer or fuck, and it turns out you spend all of your time following up with other disillusioned adults over crap like paperless electric bills.”
Calvin poked his head into the kitchen as I moved to the sink. “You can’t drive.” Phone in one hand, he motioned at me with it. “And you’re double-fisting beer right now.”
“This one is yours,” I answered, popping the top off the second bottle, but then taking a sip from it.
“Looks like it.” He moved into the doorway, leaned against the threshold, and resumed tapping on his phone.
“I’m not fucking,” I pointed out after a moment of silence had passed.
Calvin hummed absently.
“And the magic’s gone,” I concluded. “A year ago, you’d have been walking around the house naked for me.”
“Not in January.”
“Now is the winter of our discontent.”
Calvin didn’t look up from his phone as he asked in a very nonchalant tone, “Did you just compare my wearing jeans to having reached the depth of unhappiness?”
“I think so.”
“When did you last eat?”
I remembered lunch with Neil—more specifically, the lunch I didn’t finish—and frowned. “It’s been a while.”
“I think you’re hangry.”
“I’m not hangry,” I protested, even though I very clearly was. “I’m frustrated.”
“Hm-hm.”
“Society forces us to deny what we derive pleasure in.”
“Society has nothing to do with me wearing pants. I’m wearing them because it’s cold.” At that, Calvin tucked his phone into his pocket and looked up.
“I’m not talking about your pants. I’m talking about—there’s this—books—” I stopped stumbling over myself when I felt my phone vibrate. I tugged it free, brought the screen close, and squinted at the notification.
Calvin Winter
FWD: Trip Confirmation – LaGuardia to St. Louis Lambert International.
I swiped to open the email.
You’re all set! You can make adjustments to your itinerary by logging into your account. Thank you for flying with us.
Passenger Information:
Calvin Winter, Seat 2D
Sebastian Snow, Seat 2C
I looked up. Calvin had a cute, boyish smile on his face. “What’s this?”
