Never Always Sometimes - Adi Alsaid Page 0,2

of middle school, that had been

established as his one gesture of affection when he didn’t know how

else to touch her. “Julia! That’s great.”

“You goof, I’m gonna choke on my apple.” She shook him off. “I

don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Her hopes should be up. Her biological daughter is awesome.”

“She’s lived in eight countries and has worked with famous painters

and sculptors. No offense, dear friend, but I think her standards for

awesome are a little higher than yours.”

Dave took another forkful of rice and chewed it over slowly,

watching the basketball players shoot free throws to decide on teams.

“I don’t care how great of a life she’s led, if she doesn’t come visit you she’s a very poor judge of awesomeness.”

He glanced out the corner of his eye at Julia, who set her apple core

aside and grabbed a napkin-wrapped sandwich out of her bag. He was

waiting to catch that smile of hers, to know he had caused it. Instead,

he only saw her eyes flick toward the Nevers list, which was resting

folded on his knee. They turned their attention to the pickup game

happening on the court, each eating their lunch languidly.

For the last two periods of the day, Dave could feel the seconds

ticking by, like bugs crawling on his skin. He reread the Nevers list,

smiling to himself at the memory of him and Julia stealing the pen

DAVE 15

away from each other to write the next item. He gazed out the window

at the blue California sky, texted Julia beneath his desk, scowled at

the two kids in the back of the room who somehow believed that

what they were doing was quiet enough to be called whispering. Next

to him, Anika Watson took diligent notes, and he wondered how

she was mustering the energy. He wondered how many of the items

on the Nevers list she’d done, whether she was going to the Kapoor

party that he’d overheard was happening that Friday night. Looking

around the room, he imagined a little number popping up above each

person’s head depicting how many Nevers they’d done.

At the final releasing bell of the day, Dave and Julia met up in the

hallway, silently making their way out to the parking lot, where Julia’s supposedly white Mazda Miata should have been glimmering in the

California sun but was barely reflective thanks to the year-long layer

of dust she’d never bothered to clean off.

Before Julia said anything, Dave knew what she’d been thinking

about. He knew her well enough to read her silences, and there’d

been only one thing on her mind since he’d found the list. He smiled

as she spoke. “What if we did the list?”

Dave shrugged and tossed his backpack into her trunk. “Why

would we?”

“Because two more months of this will drive me crazy,” Julia said.

She unzipped her light blue hoodie and threw it into the car on top of

his backpack, then stepped out of her sandals and slipped those into

the trunk, too. “We’ve got nothing left to prove to ourselves. High

school didn’t change us. Maybe it’s time to try out what everyone

16 NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES

else has been doing. Just for kicks. God knows we could use some

entertaining.”

It was one of those perfect seventy-five-degree days, more L.A. than

San Francisco, though San Luis Obispo was perfectly in between the

two cities. A breeze was blowing, and now that Julia was wearing

only her tank top it almost tired him how beautiful she was. It’d been

a long time of this, keeping his love for her subdued. It’d been a long

time of letting her rest her head on his shoulder during their movie

nights, of letting her prop her almost-always bare feet on his lap, his

hands nonchalantly gripping her ankles. He’d been a cliché all four

years of high school, in love with his best friend, pining silently.

He opened the passenger door and looked across the roof of Julia’s

car, which was more brown than white, covered with raindrop-shaped

streaks of dirt, though it hadn’t rained in weeks. “I hear there’s a party at the Kapoors’ on Friday.”

Julia beamed a smile at him. “Look at you. In the know.”

“I’m an influential man, Ms. Stokes. I’m expected to keep up with

current events.”

Julia snorted and plopped herself down into the driver’s seat. “So,

no Friday movie night, then? We’re going to a party? With beers in

red plastic cups and Top 40 music being blasted and kids our age?

People hooking up in upstairs bedrooms and throwing up in the

bushes outside and at least one girl running out in tears?”

“Presumably,” Dave said. “I’ve never actually been to a party, so I

have no idea if that’s what happens.”

Julia lowered the top of the car, then