bail on us, and my heart was hammering so loudly, because on some level that would ruin everything, so I finally got her back onto Rachel’s story.
“Well, okay,” Avani said. “Rachel was, like, driving down University, and a strange guy got into her car—wait, okay so for context, Rachel drives a really expensive electric car—it’s always running out of batteries, and she’ll have to look around for a Whole Foods, because they have these charging stations, and then we’ll be trapped at Whole Foods, just sort of chilling in the parking lot and—”
I let her go on for a bit, then said, “Oh, wait, it’s time for the movie,” and she, unwilling to cut her story short, followed us all the way to the theater, where we saw Mari and Dave, flushed and happy, hurriedly drop each other’s hands.
“Hey,” I whispered to Hen. “Let’s see if we can get these two to sit together, but, like, in front of us.”
“I’ll scout out seats.”
“Wait, yes, this is great.”
He went ahead to find seats while the rest of us got snacks, and when we finally got in, there were three seats in the middle and two seats right ahead. It was a little awkward, but Mari and Dave bumbled into the seats.
I sat between Hen and Avani, and as the trailers began, he poked me in the side and said, “What’s our next move?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “We’re not sure if they’ve kissed yet.”
Avani dropped into our conversation. “What’s going on?”
Mari looked back, and the three of us went silent.
“Shouldn’t he, like, put his arm around her?” Hen said.
We looked at the two of them.
“How do we make this happen?” I said.
“Oh my God, this is agonizing,” Hen said.
“I’m thinking they should’ve sat in back of us,” I said. “I think they’re embarrassed to have us watching.”
“Agh, yes, you’re right.”
“You guys.” Avani rolled her eyes. She leaned forward, her hair brushing Dave’s shoulder, and whispered in his ear. He looked back but didn’t move. She whispered again.
Slowly, creakily, his arm swung up and over the back of the seat, where it stayed, completely not in contact with Mari’s body at all. Hen and I barely suppressed hysterical giggles, and, shortly after the movie started, Hen took Dave’s fingers, pulled them off the back of the seat and affixed them to Mari’s shoulder.
When we came out, the two nerds were arguing over the movie, and we three watched them from ten feet away like proud parents.
“Do we leave them?” I said.
“I want them to be holding hands,” Henry said. “Make them be holding hands.”
“But can we really make them?”
Avani rolled her eyes again. Then she went to Dave and whispered in his ear again. He reached down and took Mari’s hand, but he paired the gesture with a deadly glare at Hen and me. Mari simultaneously grew taller and frailer, as if her increased size was catching the wind and hampering her ability to move.
“Now how do we make them kiss?” Hen said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s the ultimate question.”
“Maybe I just push their faces together.”
“That probably would be a bad—”
“I was joking!” he said. “I thought you said I was funny.”
“Honestly . . .” I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’ve given Dave some coaching on how to make a move. Just let our little chickee open his wings and fly.”
“I’ll bet you coached him,” Hen said.
Now I narrowed my eyes at him, but the joke steadied me. I liked that Hen was treating this as exciting rather than strange.
They wandered a few steps ahead, and we were ready to just sneak off, but then Mari stopped, and she looked back, waiting for us, so Hen and I hurried to catch up.
“Umm,” she said. “Do, umm, does anyone want ice cream?”
Hen and Avani and I looked at each other. “Well, we, uhh . . . we actually drove together . . . and . . . err . . .”
It was Hen who broke through the stuttering. “I really do have to go home.”
“Yeah, I guess the two of us ought to go too.”
“But . . . oh, but . . . what did you think of the movie?”
Dave dropped Mari’s hand, and she unconsciously rubbed it.
“It was . . . good,” Avani said.
“Boring,” Henry said. “Very boring. So boring. The most boring thing I’ve ever been bored by.”
“Oh . . .”
“Don’t mind him,” I said. “He’s joking.”
“No, I wasn’t,” Hen said. “It was awful.”
“Umm . . . ,”