He stands there for a good thirty seconds, not speaking, before he says, “So I hit an electrical pole on my way over.”
“Holy shit. Is your mom’s car okay?” Zach asks.
“I was on foot,” Raj says, speaking in this slow, dazed way I’ve never heard from him before. “Anyway, now I realize it must have been a person.”
Zach and I exchange perplexed looks.
“A person,” Raj repeats. “Because my glasses are old and my eyes keep playing tricks on me. It’s happening rightnow.” Oh—he’s talking about us. I guess Zach hasn’t yet told Raj that we are more than friends.
Zach evades his friend’s eyes, looks down at his computer, and says with no emotion in his voice, “Really.”
“Really,” Raj echoes, still looking at me, stupefied. I feel my ears get a little hot. And then he seems to shake off the bewilderment and strides toward the counter. “I was playingDungeon World 2last night, and I think I have a new idea for our next film.”
“Sweet. What is it?” Zach asks.
Raj launches into a tale about dragons and a mall cop and a blood-vomiting sea animal with the ability to exist on land so long as it has mated.
“That’s really disturbing,” I say, glancing up from the exclamation-laden text (Omg, so cool!!! You must be having the BEST time!!!! ) I’m sending back to Katy.
“Right?” Raj says, misunderstanding my use of the word “disturbing.” “It’s genius.”
“It’s almost the exact same plot as that Van Durgen movieTruth or Troll,” Zach says.
“That movie was shit,” Raj says, and I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think he means it as an insult.
“And still the highest-grossing Swedish movie last year.”
“So that’s a no?” Raj asks sadly.
“That’s a definite no. If we’re going to follow in the footsteps of someone, we could aim a little higher than Van Durgen. Especially if we have a CXX in September,” Zach says.
“Whoa, you’re down to two cigarettes a day already?” Rajasks.
“Working on it,” Zach says.
“Nice.” Raj nods. “But seriously. Unequivocal no to that idea?”
“Unequivocally,” Zach says. “Sorry.”
The phone starts ringing then, and Zach turns to get it. “Sure” he says, “let me see if we have that.” He heads to the back of the store. I’m still staring at my phone when I feel Raj’s eyes on me.
“What’s up, Raj?” I ask pointedly.
“So you and Zach, huh?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I say, fighting the twitch of a smile in the corners of my mouth. “You seem…shocked?”
“Yes and no,” he says, then shrugs. “No, because that kid is not subtle. I knew he liked you from the second he told me he was thinking of asking you to join our movie. And he wasjealousof your viola.”
I laugh. “Yes, because?”
“Yes, because I wasn’t sure we’d live to see a Lindsay-less day. Even when Zach went to Fincher for a year, they weresolid.”
This information is not exactly surprising, but I still flinch a little at her name. Why does she always seem to come up?
“You don’t seem to like her very much,” I tell Raj as Zach’s voice on the phone carries to where we are.
“She’sthe one who doesn’t likeme.I mean, whatever, we’re friendly. It’s fine. But she doesn’t like me or Kevin or any of Zach’s friends. She doesn’t even like horrodies.”
