picked up.
“I was planning on going,” Auggie said. “I just got the days mixed up.”
Dylan’s breathing was slow and assured. “I feel like you’re telling me what I want to hear.”
“No. Dylan, you know that’s not who I am.”
“I’ve tried really hard to communicate with you. I’m worried that you’re too distracted with those people you call your friends. And all you care about is your social media stuff. You’re not listening to me, and I know it’s because you don’t have room in your life for anything else. You don’t have any place for stillness, inner peace, harmony. Those things are really important to me.”
“They’re important to me too,” Auggie said. “I want to have those things in my life. I want to have you in my life.”
Outside, Peter, a junior who lived a few rooms down, was singing Kesha, “Tik Tok.” Music thumped in the background.
“There’s room for you,” Auggie said. “In my life, I mean. I can—I can think about ways to spend less time on social media.”
“If you want to come with me,” Dylan said, “you need to be at my apartment in fifteen minutes. If you’re not here, I’ll know why.”
Auggie pulled on clothes. The Civic was still at the mechanic’s, so he sprinted out into the cold and snow and ran.
6
Since winter break, when things had turned a corner with Cart, Theo had decided life was getting better. When he went to Downing in the morning, Lana seemed more alert, although her physical needs meant she still had to have a full-time caretaker. At school, assisting Wagner had turned into a cushy job once Auggie was no longer in the picture. Theo still drew his full stipend, but he spent most of class reading articles for his thesis, and the grading was minimal. Cart hadn’t moved in, but he was at Theo’s almost every night. He’d started framing the basement, even though Theo had told him that he didn’t have money to pay for materials. Cart bought them himself, ignoring Theo’s protests.
The fights had stopped too. They had both adapted. They were both making compromises. And compromises, Theo reminded himself, were part of mature relationships. He and Ian, for example, had made plenty of compromises: they bought the beers Ian liked, but Theo usually picked their movies. That’s what a relationship was all about: compromise.
So Theo made compromises. He parked the Malibu on the street, where it was buried in snow, so that Cart could get his truck into the garage.
“Why does it matter if someone sees your truck?”
“It doesn’t matter. I just don’t like it sitting out in front of your house every night.”
And Theo had let it go; that was a compromise.
On Friday night, at the end of a long week, Cart was stretched out on the couch, shouting at the Blues as they gave up the first goal. Cart was in sweats, his preferred winter loungewear, with huge, fuzzy wool socks. Theo was in a hoodie and shorts, a blanket over his legs, flipping back and forth in his Riverside to reference the right lines from Romeo and Juliet. The television was on a lot more these days, and Theo had to concentrate extra hard.
Cart nudged him with one fuzzy sock.
“I’m working,” Theo said, slapping his ankle. “Jesus Christ, will you watch it with those fucking hooves? I’m going to have a bruise.”
“For the eighth time, do you want to order pizza?”
“Yes, fine. Just get whatever you want; you know I’ll eat it.”
A car commercial came on. Jerry Reese looked heavier on TV, in a suit that had probably cost a lot of money but didn’t seem to fit him. “Our New Year’s sale has been extended! Get in while you can. I’m practically giving these cars away!”
“Change the channel,” Theo said.
Cart didn’t. He just said, “So, about that pizza?”
“Oh,” Theo said. “Right.” He got out his phone, called in an order for an extra-large supreme, and at the last minute added garlic knots. Another compromise: Theo always ordered the takeout and delivery. Cart didn’t mind paying, but he wouldn’t make the call.
For the next half hour, Theo worked, and Cart got them each another beer, and on the return trip he lay down with his head in Theo’s lap, and Theo rubbed the short, bristly hair while he read. When the knock came at the door, Cart got up without a word, tossed cash to Theo, and went to the bathroom.
As Theo answered the door, he told himself it wasn’t