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17
They didn’t talk about Simon Burke.
That was something Nick would remember, despite all that would happen this night.
They didn’t talk about Simon Burke. They didn’t talk about Owen Burke. They didn’t talk about superpowers or fanfiction. They didn’t talk about potential Extraordinary names for Nick. They didn’t talk about Miss Conduct or TK or anyone else out in the world who could do things that most only dreamed about. They didn’t talk about Lighthouse or Team Pyro Storm or any battles on bridges. No one mentioned Jenny Bell or Guardian or dads who made deals with the devil in order to keep their children safe. There was no discussion about pills that gave people powers or pills that took powers away. No one mentioned ADHD or flying cups or secret lairs hidden behind pocket doors.
For eighty-seven minutes, Nick and Seth and Jazz and Gibby did what most teenagers did on prom night: dressed up in their best and ate at a restaurant whose menu wasnotlaminated and instead was the size of a cell phone, with tiny print listing things that no one aside from Jazz could pronounce and didn’t have any prices. They made fun of Seth when he decided he was going to order something called Wagyu bolognese that cost eighty bucks and ended up tasting like Hamburger Helper.
They gagged when Jazz ate oysters, the meat sliding from the shell into her mouth, juice dripping down her chin.
They grinned when Nick drank twenty-dollar water only to find out it tasted exactly like water from the tap.
They applauded when Gibby decided that life was too short andordered calamari, complete with suckers still attached to the fried, rubbery tentacles. She ate them all, and by the end announced that they were her favorite food.
They blushed (at least, Nick and Seth did) when a man with a violin appeared at their table, the music sweet and romantic, Seth reaching under the table and taking Nick’s hand in his, squeezing tightly, his eyes glittering in the low light as he looked at Nick.
And dessert! They ordered dessert—chocolate something—that ended up being too rich. They ate all of it anyway, spoons scraping against the plate on the table between them. Jazz fed Gibby, getting chocolate on her nose and cheek. Gibby didn’t seem to mind, even if she grumbled about it.
And through it all, they just … existed. Seth and Jazz and Nick listened as Gibby plotted out her future, the plans still tenuous but her excitement palpable as she waved her hands. They listened as Jazz gushed about the speech Gibby was writing when she would take the stage as valedictorian, though no manner of begging would make Gibby recite what she’d written so far. Nick watched her roll her eyes at his insistence and laughed until he couldn’t breathe.
As the last of the dishes were taken away, Seth raised his glass of sparkling cider and said, “A toast.”
The others raised their own glasses, watching, waiting.
He said, “I don’t know where I’d be without all of you. For the longest time, I thought I had to do this alone. That it’d be easier. I was wrong. The only reason I’ve gotten as far as I have is because of you. Thank you for being there for me. For being there for each other. We may not be popular or know what the hell we’re doing, but as long as we’re together, I know we’re gonna be all right.”
“Damn right we will,” Gibby said. “And even though I’ll be at a different school next year, I’m not going to let you idiots get in trouble without me. Yeah, I’ll be in college and therefore much more mature, but I promise I’ll still make time for my friends.”
“Then we’ll graduate too,” Jazz said. “And we’ll follow Gibby and get an apartment in the city where we’ll live together and protect people from other people making stupid decisions, like trying to take over Nova City by murdering all of us horribly.”
They laughed and then looked to Nick.
Nick, who was so full of love for each and every one of them, so much so that the words were stuck. He swallowed thickly, shaking his head. Clearing his throat, he said, “Paths diverge. People change. There may come a day when we go off in different directions, but today isn’t that day. And I don’t want to be anywhere else but right here, with you.”
They clinked their glasses together, each of them drinking deeply.
Their waiter appeared out of nowhere, eyeing Nick’s suit with what could either be disdain or absolute jealousy. Nick preferred to think it was the latter. The waiter smiled at them before setting down a small black folder on the table. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said, taking away their discarded plates and silverware.
Nick made to grab the folder, only to have it plucked out of his hands by Jazz. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “It’s on me.”
“Oh, thank god,” Nick said. “I mean, are you sure?”
Jazz rolled her eyes. “What’s the point of having parents who are rich if you don’t take advantage of it?” She paused, considering. “Besides, we still have an entire night ahead of us, and I won’t have that ruined by you overreacting if you saw how much the bill is.”
“It can’t be that bad,” Gibby said, grabbing the folder and looking down at it as she opened it up. She then snapped it closed immediately and handed it back to Jazz. “Okay, it was that bad. What the f—”
Jazz sniffed daintily. “No need for that kind of language.”
“Now I want to see,” Seth said. He took the folder from Jazz, and Nick looked over his shoulder. When he found the total at the bottom of the receipt, the blood drained from his face.
Jazz sighed. “See? That’s why I said to let me handle it.”
“Ireland is going to straight-up murder us,” Nick said, getting riled up. “They’re going to come here with their storied history and their elegant way of speaking and kill us all until there’s nothing left but bone and gristle, and we’lldeserveit.”
He startled when Seth burst out laughing. He looked over to see Seth wrapping his arms around his stomach, tears leaking from his eyes as he laughed. Nick’s diatribe melted almostimmediately at the sight of Seth Gray laughing, laughing, laughing, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Maybe this was his superpower. Forget the ADHD or the telekinesis, at least for a moment. Maybe Nick’s superpower all along had been his ability to make Seth laugh like nothing else mattered. Not a bad power to have, in the long run. And one most people didn’t possess.
They stood in front of the restaurant, bundled up against the cold as they waited for the car to arrive. People moved around them, Gibby standing behind Jazz, her chin hooked over Jazz’s shoulder. Nick and Seth were side by side, their hands joined between them. They spoke of nothing in particular, Nick closing his eyes and letting the sounds of his friends and the city wash over him.
