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