Never Always Sometimes - Adi Alsaid Page 0,58
lavender in the air. She went up to the sink and splashed some water on her face, letting it drip-dry as
she shook her head at the little mantra now running through her head,
taking root. No, Julia told herself. It’s not true.
When she’d managed to convince herself, Julia returned to the
dressing area and saw Gretchen and Dave standing close to each other,
their fingers interlaced. Julia stared at the sight for a while, scrunching her mouth over to one corner. Fuck. It was true.
She was in love with Dave.
194 NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES
JUST LIKE THIS
JULIA WATCHED THE clock tick. It was a stupid thing to do, she
knew, the seconds bleeding out slower when observed. But now that
flirting with Marroney was apparently frowned upon, she had nothing
else to do in class.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to read a text
from Dave. I just got the best idea of all time. Or of the past four minutes.
Hard to tel . Meet me by your locker.
Julia texted back, Hyperbole foul.
You’re a hyperbole foul.
Yeah, she loved Dave. And life had gotten a little bit suckier since
the realization sunk in. But in many ways, things were still exactly the same. Sure, every now and then she’d buy a bag of chips just to stomp
on it and watch the crumbs explode out. But that was kind of a cool
thing that she could envision herself doing for the rest of her life, even when ecstatic and in mutual love with some unknown, future person.
Everything else was normal. Dave was her best friend. She was his best
friend. Nothing had changed.
She wasn’t about to spend her class periods lamenting the fact
that Dave was dating someone else. Most of the time, she barely even
noticed. It was weird that Dave could drive now, because Dave never
drove. Aside from that, the bag of chips thing, and the occasional
passing bout of sadness or desire to punch Gretchen, Julia was dealing
with it pretty damn well.
“Julia, would you like to come up and solve this equation?”
Julia looked up to see the class’s eyes on her. Marroney was holding
up a piece of chalk like an offering. She considered going up and
reciting her slam poem, but thought better of it. “Eh, not really. I
wasn’t paying attention and wouldn’t want to embarrass myself.”
A few people snickered and Marroney sighed. “I guess I’ll thank
you for your honesty.”
“Anytime,” Julia said, resisting the urge to wink.
Marroney called on someone else and Julia sank back into her chair,
fiddling with her phone. A small crack ran along the side of the screen
from when she’d thrown it at her bedroom wall the night of the party.
She couldn’t help but think of Dave when she saw that sliver of broken
glass, so fine it didn’t even sting her finger.
A few classes later, when the clock finally reached 2:30 and the
clanging bell released her from her seat, Julia grabbed her bag and
shot out of the classroom. School was starting to weigh more than
she could bear. Expecting Dave to be a little late, off smooching with
Gretchen, Julia slipped in her earbuds, stepped out of her mocs, and
leaned against her locker, watching everyone pass by. When music
was playing, Julia felt not as critical of people. At the moment, she
couldn’t stand the sight of couples, but everyone else seemed a little
196 NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES
less offensive, a little closer to her when, say, Conor Oberst was
singing.
Dave appeared earlier than she’d expected him to, on his own.
She kept her earbuds in as he made his way toward her, trying not to
think of the light in his eyes, trying not to look at his hands. When he started speaking she couldn’t hear a word of it. Then he plucked out
the earbuds.
“Oww, dude, I hate that feeling,” Julia said, rubbing at her ear and
curling the white cord around her phone.
“Sorry. You feel like scheming?”
She slipped her phone in her bag. “I don’t know if I’ve got another
tree house in me. I nearly hammered my finger off last time.”
“No, this doesn’t involve any construction. It’s a promposal.”
Julia stared at him blankly.
“Get it? It’s the words prom and proposal combined into one.
Prom-posal. A proposal for prom.”
“I understood, I’m just having trouble, you know”—she gestured
with her hands—“understanding.”
“It’s another cliché.”
“I’m well aware.”
“It wasn’t on the Nevers, but only because when we were freshmen
we couldn’t really envision anyone dating us.” They started walking
down the hall toward the parking lot, the habit long ago ingrained into
their end of school ritual. “But if we’d had the foresight and the self-
esteem, it totally would have been.”
JULIA 197
“Speak for yourself, I’ve