The Romantics

by Leah Konen

  The people in front of them finished paying and stepped aside.

  “Can I help you?” The ticket taker had two eyebrow piercings and a tattoo of the jack of spades peeking from beneath his black T-shirt. He looked particularly macabre behind the cobweb-decorated box office window.

  “Two for Goodbye Yesterday,” Gael said. He glanced over at Sammy as the guy handed him the tickets: “I hear it’s a good one.”

  a brief peek into mason’s world

  While Sammy and Gael were watching the love interest of Goodbye Yesterday make his inevitable grand gesture to get back the girl, Mason was busy working on a grand gesture of his own.

  He’d canceled plans with Anika and headed to the craft store for poster board and supplies.

  Now he was sitting at the dining room table, a forkful of his mom’s leftover fettuccine alfredo in one hand and a glue stick in the other.

  He meticulously researched each element. He drudged through a mire of Wikipedia articles without any of them really sinking in. He, for once all year, actually did the assigned chemistry reading.

  He clipped and glued and wrote in fine-tip Sharpie.

  He didn’t care how long it took. He didn’t care if he had to stay up all night.

  He was determined to do something—anything—to finally make this better.

  and the truth finally comes out

  It was dark when Gael and Sammy left the theater, the street lamps on, casting a glow upon the kids in line for Coldstone and the students coming out of the T-shirt shop with gear for the weekend’s big football game. They walked lazily, meandering past each brick storefront, past Krispy Kreme and Sutton’s, the old-fashioned pharmacy that sold malted milkshakes and had barely changed since the fifties.

  “So was it as brutal as you imagined?” Sammy asked.

  Gael slowed down as they approached the post office, where he used to hang out in what seemed like a whole other world. “I have to say, it was actually kind of good.”

  Sammy punched him on the shoulder. “See? I told you! Wasn’t the dialogue great?” Her hand drifted back to her side. “And how about the camera work? I bet you weren’t expecting that.”

  Gael shook his head. “I can absolutely guarantee you I wasn’t.”

  A group of ultra-pierced pseudo-punks holding Frappuccino cups walked past them, and Sammy turned toward UNC’s North Campus. Gael followed her gaze toward the tall, mostly leafless trees, and the diagonal brick sidewalks, and the planetarium where he and Anika had kissed, and Linda’s, a bar that Gael’s parents used to go to sometimes. This town held so much history. It reminded him of how quickly everything could change.

  She looked back to him. “I guess I should head back to my dorm,” she said.

  Gael paused, and I gave him just the tiniest idea.

  “You should definitely get back. You wouldn’t want John thinking this was a date or anything.” He smiled.

  But Sammy didn’t smile back. Her face instantly fell flat.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Stupid dad joke. Apologies.”

  But Sammy was shaking her head. She looked down at her scuffed black boots and then back up at him. “It’s not your fault. It’s just that I haven’t been totally honest with you.”

  Gael felt a weight descend in his stomach. Maybe she was lying yesterday, when she said she didn’t think his dad would cheat. Maybe she even knew something that he didn’t . . .

  His eyes drifted to Linda’s again, and he wondered if his dad had taken that girl there, too. “Just tell me,” he said finally.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s not anything bad. I mean, it is, but it’s not anything bad for you. It’s just that . . . well . . .”

  “What?” Gael asked.

  She bit her lip. “I feel so stupid saying this and I honestly don’t know why it’s so hard. Okay.” She took a deep breath. “It’s just that John and I broke up a month and a half ago.”

  Gael whipped his head back. “Whoa,” he said. “I was not expecting that.”

  She shrugged. “I know. I should have said something sooner.”

  A crowd of students walked past them, and Gael stepped to the side. She followed him. “Why didn’t you?”

  Sammy glanced around before answering, as if looking for an out. “I don’t know. You and your mom still seemed pretty shook up from what happened with your parents, and it just seemed not very important in comparison. And then I was going to say something—I even tried to mention it that night at your birthday—but you had so much else on your mind.” She paused for breath. “And then it had just been so long, and of course you guys just assumed that we were still together, and I don’t know, it just felt weirder and weirder to say something out of the blue.”

  “Geez,” he said. “What happened?”

  Sammy looked away. “He basically said that he needed to ‘find’ himself in his new school.” Sammy made the appropriate air quotes. “Which I’m pretty sure is just code for hook up with other people. I should have seen it coming. I should have realized that we’d be like everyone else, that there was no way we’d make it through college long distance.”

  Gael frowned.

  (So did I. Sure, Sammy might like rom-coms, which she felt were about as believable as her other favorite, horror movies, but when it came to real life, she was a Cynic5 through and through. The whole time she’d been dating John she’d just been waiting for something to go wrong. I hated that, in the end, it had. It wasn’t always going to be that way, of course—there was lots of good in store for her—but Cynics are always hard to convince.)

  “I promise I’m not one of those like weird stalkers who refuses to accept their breakup,” Sammy said nervously.

  Gael laughed out loud at that. “I wouldn’t think that,” he said. “I just feel like such a dick. I was going on and on about how you couldn’t possibly understand and, god, yesterday when I said you were my relationship inspiration. You knew exactly what I was going through.”

  He felt like an idiot. He should have seen the truth. Even if Sammy hadn’t said it outright, he should have known somehow.

  Sammy shook her head. “Don’t worry. It was my fault. But to answer your question, no, John won’t be jealous. And now I really should go.”

  And before he could say another word, she turned on her heel and sauntered across the crosswalk, just making it before the green light turned red. Gael watched her walk down the path into the campus until he couldn’t see her anymore.

  And then he turned up Henderson, heading toward home, and for some reason, his steps were just the tiniest bit lighter.

  * * *

  5. Cynic: One who refuses to buy a single thing that the movies, their friends, or even their lovey-dovey grandparents have told them about romance. Believes that most relationships are doomed to fail and thus tries to protect themselves when they find themselves in one. May result in holding back from expressing true feelings, expecting things to go wrong, and waiting for the other shoe to drop. May also lead to amazing loyalty once they do let someone in because they do it so infrequently.

  true bromance

  For the first time in a long time, Gael was actually in an okay mood at school the next day.

  Piper was no longer mad at him, lunch was back to being Anika-free, and he was excited that he was going to see Sammy again that afternoon. Last night, he’d managed to squeeze in Sammy’s movie rec after his mom had ordered pizza and they’d binged on some Piper-appropriate TV. He’d lost a good bit of sleep just so he could watch When Harry Met Sally, and he couldn’t wait to talk to her about it.

  But when Gael got to fifth-period chemistry, Mason was not only early (completely unlike him), but he had a huge grin on his face. He looked like he seriously wanted to talk. There went Gael’s mood.

  Gael threw his backpack onto the chemistry table and tried to ignore him. Whatever Mason’s grin meant, he was sure it would be annoying. Maybe instead of begging for advice about Anika, he wanted to share some new e
xciting development in their relationship. Umm, no thanks.

  Mason turned to face him, grin still intact.

  Gael pulled his big brick of a book out of his bag but didn’t indulge Mason. Yes, he’d stuck up for Gael yesterday, but that didn’t suddenly mean they were best buddies again, even if Gael was in a particularly good mood.

  “Uh-uhm,” Mason cleared his throat.

  Gael didn’t turn his head.

  “UH-UHM.”

  “You’re not going to stop doing that until I talk to you, are you?” Gael asked.

  In response, Mason pushed a colorful piece of poster board his way.

  Gael glanced down. “What’s this?”

  Mason beamed. “It’s the extra-credit project. A whole extra three points on our end-of-semester grades, enough to keep me out of C territory and you at a solid A.” Mason pointed to the names at the top right corner: Gael Brennan and Mason Dewart, 5th Period.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” Gael said, confused. “You should cross my name out. I didn’t do anything.”

  Mason shrugged. “It’s the same credit either way. Take it, dude. Plus, I already wrote your name in Sharpie. It would look shady if I crossed it out now.”

  Gael surveyed the work. Surprisingly, it looked pretty good.

  “We had to pick ten different elements or elemental compounds and illustrate their uses in real life,” Mason said matter-of-factly, as if he’d even known what any of those things were a week ago.

  “I don’t even remember Mrs. Ellison talking about this,” Gael said.

  Mason laughed as he ran his finger along the bottom of the poster board. “You haven’t exactly been paying a ton of attention.”

  Gael raised an eyebrow, but Mason threw up his hands. “I know, I know,” he said. “With perfectly good reason.”

  Gael shook his head as he looked over the sheet. “Kr is Krypton, dude, not Kryptonite.”

  “Oh, shit, sorry,” Mason said.

  “Just give me your pen,” Gael said with a laugh. He crossed out the extra letters as cleanly as possible.

  “So you approve?” Mason asked. “I can turn it in?”

  “Yes,” Gael said, after a moment. “I approve.”

  Mason shot out of his seat and walked to the front, where he set the poster board on top of a couple of other people’s extra-credit projects on Mrs. Ellison’s desk.

  Gael waited until Mason was back in his seat. “Oh, and thanks, by the way,” he said quickly. Then he whipped his chemistry book open and pretended to read it as fast as he could.

  But he couldn’t help but hand it to his friend. Correction—former friend. He might be a shameless, lying scumbag, but he had done a pretty nice thing.

  What can I say? Sometimes, the best grand gestures of love don’t have anything to do with romance at all.

  missed wes connection

  Piper was in fine form that afternoon, in anticipation of Halloween and her completely over-the-top costume (he had to give his mom props—she could go through a divorce and create a truly magnificent eighteenth-century costume, all while holding down a job and generally keeping it all together). Piper demanded that Sammy give her a special lesson on Marie Antoinette, complete with phrases like “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.” Apart from frequent walk-bys to see if they were done, Gael mainly left them to themselves because Piper had asked him to not interrupt their “important work.” Gael was still trying to earn Piper points after his unfortunate outburst at dinner on Sunday.

  In fact, it was nearly 5:00 when Gael finally saw Piper working quietly while Sammy read Candide.

  “I watched When Harry Met Sally last night,” Gael blurted out.

  Sammy startled, then looked up and laughed.

  Perhaps he should have tried a better opener.

  “Sorry, I was just excited,” he said.

  Piper crossed her arms. “I’m trying to learn things. Do you have to talk?”

  Sammy looked down at Piper. “If you want quiet space, you know you can always go into the living room,” she said.

  Piper humphed and stayed put.

  “And?” Sammy asked.

  Gael winced. “I gotta say, it was kind of contrived.”

  She laughed loudly. “So you were just eager to tell me that I have terrible taste in movies?” She leaned back in her chair at the dining room table, folded her hands in her lap. Gael pulled a seat out for himself and joined her.

  “I didn’t say it was bad,” Gael argued. “But why wouldn’t they have gotten together in all those years? It makes no sense. Obviously just a way to draw the movie out.”

  “But the dialogue!” Sammy exclaimed. “Nora Ephron’s writing is so smart!”

  “The whole let’s take forever to be together thing just really got me,” he said.

  Sammy rolled her eyes. “But that’s the point! Sometimes the right people are always getting the timing wrong.”

  Piper looked up: “Yeah, sometimes people don’t even realize they like each other.”

  (Here here, Piper!)

  Gael ignored her. “I thought you said that timing was everything, that sometimes it just doesn’t work out,” he chided Sammy.

  She crossed her arms. “Well, I guess sometimes it actually does. Anyway,” she said. “I may have skipped my French reading to stay up and watch Eternal Sunshine.”

  “Did you like it?” Gael asked.

  Sammy took a deep breath. She pressed her lips together, suddenly serious. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you, Gael Brennan.”

  Gael burst into a grin. “Isn’t it amazing?”

  “The scene with the rain in the living room. And when they break into the house. And when he’s a little boy again. And Clementine’s amazing one-liners.” She stopped for breath. “I never should have underestimated it.”

  Gael shrugged. “What can I say? I have good taste.”

  Sammy ran her fingers through her hair. “Totally. And I’m supposed to watch Being John Malkovich next?”

  Gael nodded. “You have to. And report back.”

  That’s when his mom walked in the door.

  “Mom!” Piper called, rushing up to her before she could so much as put her purse down. “You have to hear everything I learned about Marie Antoinette!”

  His mom leaned down and gave Piper a kiss on the cheek and then stood up, gazing at Gael and Sammy with a funny look in her eyes.

  Sammy scooted out of her chair and stood up. “I guess I should be going. Gael, weren’t you going to show me that thing outside?”

  “Huh?” Gael said.

  Sammy raised her eyebrows.

  “Oh,” he said, standing up quickly. “Yeah. That thing.”

  Both his mom and Piper sported matching smirks, but Gael ignored them.

  He followed Sammy out the door, taking in her oversize button-down, shorts over tights, what looked like a backpack from her dad’s college days, and lace-up red boots. Anika would be horrified by how little her clothes matched. Cara would probably wonder why anyone would wear shoes less comfortable than Birks. And yet, for Sammy, it worked somehow.

  Gael shut the front door behind them, and Sammy turned around to face him.

  It was almost dark, the sun setting, turning the sky a purple color that matched Sammy’s eye shadow.

  She tugged at the bottom of her shorts with one hand, then looked up at him. “Sorry for being awkward.” She laughed. “I just wanted to talk to you without the whole Brennan brigade in tow.”

  Gael hesitated, wondering what she was going to say.

  “I guess I just still felt a little weird for lying to you about John. I don’t want you to think I’m some freak who can’t face reality or something.”

  Gael shook his head quickly. “I didn’t. At all. And if anyone can’t face reality, it’s me. You saw me the week after Anika dumped me.”

  “Well, it’s been a little longer for me,” she said playfully. Then she averted her eyes to a point about five inches to the left of Gael’s head
. “But anyway, as long as you don’t think I’m insane, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to see the new Wes Anderson this weekend? I know I already teased you about him, but A, as you may have guessed, I kind of like to go against the grain with pop culture, and B, well, I do owe you something in your genre of choice, even if the genre is whimsical male fantasies . . .”

  (Sammy’s eyes being on that point five inches to the left of Gael’s head, a tiny chip in the exterior paint, to be exact, she couldn’t see the progression of Gael’s emotions as I could. She couldn’t see the way his eyes lit up when she started to ask him to hang out, and the way they instantly clouded when she said Wes Anderson. Instead, by the time she did venture a look, she only saw the sour expression of someone conflicted.)

  “I mean, you don’t have to, really. I’d probably hate the movie, anyway,” she said, trying to save face.

  “No,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t want to . . . it’s just that I already asked Cara if she wanted to go see it with me on Friday.”

  Sammy pressed her lips together for the tiniest of seconds. Then she broke into a smile. “Oh yeah, of course. I guess I kind of forgot you guys were a thing—”

  “We’re not really—”

  “—and I forgot Friday is usually date night. I’ve been out of the game a little too long, I guess.”

  “It’s not exactly—”

  But Sammy didn’t let him finish.

  “I really should be going. I still have to catch up on that French reading.” She walked away briskly.

  Gael felt like a bit of an ass, but he didn’t have time to fully process what had just happened, because as soon as he got back inside, his mom and Piper were waiting eagerly.

  “What was that about?” his mom asked.

  “What?” he said.

  Piper wiggled her shoulders and batted her eyelashes. “Ooh, Gael, can you show me something outside?”