Never Always Sometimes - Adi Alsaid Page 0,8

at the words, at what a great idea it was. Julia could turn

any situation into something inherently more interesting. You’re on,

he wrote back, already looking forward to reuniting with her, though

he had no doubts she would have the better story.

Then he gave Vince a nod and turned his attention to the game.

Seventeen wins in a row later, Dave could feel the alcohol practically

bubbling in his veins. It felt a little like doing a somersault underwater and then coming up really quickly, your head spinning and sending a

warm tingle down your spine. Dave, it turned out, was prodigiously

good at flip cup. He’d yet to fail at flipping a cup over. Every time it was his turn, he’d swallow the beer down in a second or two, and with

34 NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES

one deft move of his hand, the cup would be upside down on the table

without so much as a wobble.

Vince was nearly in hysterics, throwing a meaty arm around Dave’s

neck, high-fiving everyone in the vicinity with his other hand, yelling

about them being the world champions until no one else wanted to

play them.

He and Vince walked outside without discussion, as if they were

magnetically drawn to the fresh air. Dave looked around for Julia,

wanting her to be nearby, longing to just exchange stupid jokes back

and forth like they’d been doing for so long. He was going to break

away and look for her, but then he noticed the briskness of the air and

the way everyone seemed to be smiling and he took a seat with Vince

on a bench.

“How come we’ve never hung out before, Dave?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. He burped, then chuckled at the

thought of two dudes drinking beers and burping together. “Probably

’cause of Julia,” he added. “I’m usually trying to spend my time with

her.”

“I’ve always wondered, are you two dating?”

“Nah. Just friends,” Dave said, a line he was used to delivering

with as little emotion as possible, as if he were a spy trying not to be discovered.

Vince crushed his beer can in his hand and placed it by his feet.

He put his hands on his knees—smaller hands than Dave would have

expected from someone Vince’s size. “Since the truth serum known

DAVE 35

as Keystone Light is coursing through my veins, I’m gonna open up a

bit here. You ready for it?”

“I’m ready,” Dave said, wondering what Julia would make of the

conversation.

“You can handle it? Peering deep into my soul?”

“To be honest, right now it kind of feels like I can peer into

everyone’s soul.”

“That sounds pretty scary to me,” Vince said with a smile. He ran

a hand over his head, which was shaved recently, only the thinnest

layer of fuzz starting to show through. “I am so in love,” he groaned,

putting his elbows on his knees and slouching over. “Two years, man.

She’s like some sickness I can’t get rid of.”

“Who?”

“Carly,” he said quietly, though no one was paying enough attention

to them to hear. “She’s all I think about.” Vince looked so sad all of

a sudden.

“Does she know?”

“I was always waiting for the right time to tell her, then she met

some guy from Pacific Beach. At one of our games, no less. She’s been

dating him for over a year, and I’ve barely been able to sleep since.

I wake up at four A.M. thinking of things to say to her, and I repeat

them to myself until my alarm goes off and it’s time to go to school to

stop myself from saying it.”

Dave made a little hum of agreement in the back of his throat.

Inside the house, people were taking pictures of themselves on

36 NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES

their phones, making faces, kissing each other on the cheek. Their

eyes were glazed over, and everyone seemed to be either shouting

across the room or whispering into someone else’s ear. He couldn’t

remember who Carly was. “You could tell her anyway. Just to get it

off your chest.”

“I don’t want it off my chest, though. It keeps me close to her. Plus,

she’s happy, and it’s not my place to disturb that.” He sat back against the bench and smiled sadly. “Is that weird?”

“Nah, it’s not weird. Actually, Julia and I have this list . . .” He

stopped himself when he couldn’t think of how to phrase what he

wanted to say without calling Vince a cliché. So many people were

quietly in love that he and Julia considered it part of a normal high

school experience and had therefore sworn it off. But Dave hadn’t

really thought about it in those terms in a long time. Pining silently

was a cliché, which meant that people were constantly in love with

each other without