Page 123 of Septembers

“Trisha moved, by the way.” Avery scooped a healthy amount of cheese dip without breaking the cracker. Girl had skills. “She and her wife live in Cabbagetown now.”

“We should invite them over!” Jordan scrambled for her phone and attempted to send a text while they laughed at how many tries it took to get it right.

Theo checked his own blank phone, feeling as happy and bubbly as he could when part of his heart was missing. It had been a week, and he still wasn’t used to sleeping without Dae. He wasn’t looking forward to when his friends would go home, and he’d have to crawl into an empty bed.

“Did you get the new Bob is Not Your Neighbour sticker? I have an extra, if you want.” Caleb handed Theo a sticker with two cactus-like aliens with their needles stuck into each other and the caption, Guess it’s fate.

Theo had pitched the caption, Get to the point, but Dae vetoed it. “Cute.”

“Yeah, have you noticed the pictures seem…” He drummed his hands on his knees. “What’s the word?”

“Happier?” Avery said. “More hopeful too. I think Bob might be going to therapy or something.”

“Yeah.” Theo contained his smile with Herculean effort. “Or something.”

His phone buzzed and Dae’s face popped up on his screen—his contact photo still the same rosy-cheeked drunk teenager it had been since their first year of university.

“Go.” Jordan pushed his shoulder. “Take it.”

Theo closed his bedroom door and swiped to answer the call, but Dae didn’t appear on his screen, so he put the phone to his ear like they were in the nineties. What would be next, twirling the phone cord?

“Dae?”

“You’re not allowed to die before me.”

A perfectly normal greeting. “You can’t decree something like that.”

“I just did, though, and it’s binding.” His voice was sleepy. A bit raspy. Sexy.

Theo crawled onto the bed and flopped onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. “Then you have to eat more refined sugar or something, because there’s no way my heart is outlasting yours. You jazzercise every day…”

“CrossFit.”

“So it’s just not logistically possible.”

“You could exercise more.”

“Who’s to say a meteor won’t crash into the gym. It’s probably safer not to go.” Theo pictured him in a hotel room wearing the comfy pajamas he’d packed, lying on a bed made with tight hospital corners. He wanted to touch him. “This is a weird conversation we’re having. Why are you suddenly worried about my death? Did Halmoni have another dream?”

Dae’s grandma had prophetic dreams. Not, like, you will meet a tall dark stranger kind of bullshit, but spooky specific stuff like, you’re going to bruise your tailbone and need to sit on a donut pillow for two weeks. Which he did. It was very embarrassing. He still had the donut pillow.

“No.” Dae sighed heavily into the phone, and Theo felt it in his chest. “The movie I’m working on is sad. This guy’s wife dies and⁠—”

“Whoa! Spoilers!”

“You’re never going to watch this movie.”

“Why?”

“It’s just very…French.”

“Hey, I’m cultured.”

Guitar notes floated from the living room, and Jordan and Avery’s voices harmonized words he couldn’t make out. The song was upbeat but mournful. Perfect for this conversation, apparently.

“It’s about a man who finds out at his wife’s funeral that she had multiple lesbian affairs.”

“Ohhhh, juicy.”