Never Always Sometimes - Adi Alsaid Page 0,5

We’ll watch a movie next Friday, when we get

bored of this. And them.”

Dave nodded, understanding what she was getting at, though

maybe not in the exact way she’d meant it. Julia kept mostly to herself

at school, and by extension he did, too. He was friendly enough with

classmates, though, especially when Julia wasn’t around to draw his

attention. There were a couple of guys he might even go so far as to

call friends, though he never really spoke to them outside of school.

Once or twice he’d hung out with them, gone to lunch and then

played video games in a curtain-drawn den. There’d been dog hair on

every surface, a stale smell of Doritos in the air. Their conversations

had bored him, and within an hour or so he’d found himself longing

24 NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES

for Julia’s company, an urge so sharp it felt like homesickness. He had

no trouble being alone. But if he was around anyone, he wanted it to

be Julia.

“You’re right,” Dave said, the worry over the party melting away.

“I might even try breaking the promise to never go streaking while

we’re at it.”

“I’ll make sure that the picture goes viral and you live the rest of

your life in regret and shame.”

“You’re such a good friend.” Dave put a hand on top of her head

and shook lightly. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Show up to parties empty-handed, for one.”

Dave chuckled, dipping another finger into the frosting. “You have

to admit it’s kind of weird, though. Doing this after avoiding it for so long.”

Julia shrugged, using her pinky to steal the frosting from his finger

before he could lick it away. “I don’t think it’ll be that bad. Just see it as a brief social experiment.” She hopped off the stool and went to

the oven, peering in through the glass to check on the cupcakes. “My

mom did this once.”

“Went to a Kapoor party?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “No, goof. She came back to the States,

got a regular job. This was when I was around nine or so. She worked

at a bank, tried to go back to school. She calls it her ‘social experiment with the sheep.’ Six months later, she’d taken off again, even happier

to return to her unordinary life.”

DAVE 25

Julia leaned back against the counter, crossing her arms in front

of her chest, not really meeting Dave’s gaze. She knew she was being

transparent, but she’d never been good at hiding her feelings when it

came to her mom.

“I see what you’re doing. You’re drawing parallels between us and

your mom so I will feel as cool as she is.”

Julia smiled and tossed a towel at him. “If it is too lame we’ll just

leave. We can even have a secret signal.”

Dave groaned. “Why a secret signal? We could just turn to each

other and say, ‘This sucks,’ and then leave.”

“Will you get into the spirit of this thing, please? Our secret signal

will be to start a dance-off.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“And you love me for it,” she said, smirking.

The Kapoor house was near school, about a fifteen-minute walk away.

It was a route they were deeply familiar with, having driven it, walked

it, and ridden their bikes down it countless times. But the streets

took on a strange feel that Friday night, like walking into your own

house and finding the furniture rearranged. The trees looked funny

somehow, leafier than usual, or taller, or ominous. Okay, they looked

pretty normal, but it felt weird noticing them while on the way to the

Kapoor house for a party. Even walking next to Julia joking around

felt a little strange in this context.

When they arrived, Dave rang the doorbell, confused by the

26 NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES

relative silence coming from inside the house. He’d expected the

rhythmic thumping of what passed for pop music. He crinkled the

tinfoil covering the tray of cupcakes as they waited for someone to

answer. Julia leaned on his shoulder as she stepped into the high

heels, the soles of her feet gray from the sidewalks. Once she was in

them she grimaced at him. “Why,” she said, not a question, he knew,

but a complaint.

One of the Kapoor triplets opened the door, the collar of his

polo shirt popped up, the sight of which always caused a dull ache

somewhere in Dave’s chest. Julia let out a short “Ha!” at the sight of

the red plastic cup in his hand.

“Beer’s in the fridge, the sink, and the bathtub. We’ve got a game

of beer pong going if you guys want next. Shots of tequila start

once someone brings tequila.” He closed the door behind them and

then peeked under the tinfoil of the cupcake tray. “You guys made

cupcakes?”

“Um,” Dave said, eyeing