Here the Whole Time - Vitor Martins Page 0,34

how?” I ask.

“You’d have to be a Pisces to get along with Caio the way you do—the right way. Pisces are nice. Caio is a Cancer, and you need all the patience in the world to put up with a Cancer. They’re half princess and half evil witch, if you know what I mean. You have to watch your back!” she says, whispering to me as if she’s sharing a secret tip.

“Hey! I’m right here,” Caio says, winking at me.

I feel my face go red because I really was not expecting a wink, least of all from Caio.

Our food arrives, we eat together, and everything is delicious. Caio and I take alternate turns when going for the fries, so our hands never touch, which is unfortunate. To be honest, I don’t even know what would happen if our hands bumped over the basket of fries, but I’ll admit I was hoping that it would happen.

When we’re done eating, we leave the food court and start walking aimlessly around the empty mall, looking at the windows of the same old stores. Caio and Rebeca go into a stationery shop, and I ask them to wait for me there because I need to go to the restroom.

I run to the nearest bathroom, duck into a stall, grab my phone, open my browser, and type, “Are Pisces and Cancer a good match?” Search.

I discover that, yes, they are, then leave the bathroom with a smile on my face.

As you might have guessed, there isn’t much to do on a Thursday afternoon in a small-town mall. We look at the window displays, and Rebeca tells us about how her internship at a publicity agency is torture and her boss is a full-time asshole. Caio tells us stories about a teacher who used to be Rebeca’s, too, and the two of them reminisce over inside jokes. I don’t understand much of what they’re talking about, but I’m smiling for most of it because it feels so nice to be in their company.

I’ll admit that I enjoy listening to the two of them talk about school, because I don’t feel like I have to participate. I can just be quiet and watch without seeming like a weirdo. Because, for the moment, my silence makes sense.

We go into a department store that’s having a clearance sale, and Rebeca walks all over the place, looking for clothes and making comments like “I don’t understand this collection that they’re calling ‘plus size’ but that only goes up to size twelve” and “These pants should come with a warning that they’re only good for people who were born with literally no butt.”

I’m having fun with the things she says when suddenly my eyes catch a section I didn’t even know existed. At the back of the store, behind the underwear section, I find a sign that says MEN’S SLEEPWEAR and walk that way.

I never go shopping for clothes. My mom usually does that for me. Now imagine my surprise when I discover there’s an entire section dedicated to pajamas, and in that section, there are superhero pajamas! I feel apprehensive right away, because every time I find cool clothes, I have to deal with the immediate disappointment of not finding them in my size. But the superhero pajama industry—unlike the therapist knickknacks industry—seems much more inclusive, and the pj’s come in all sizes. I search for a Green Lantern set and find it easily. (After all, it’s green!)

I’m not a big fan of colors. I like colors on things, but never on me. I hold up the Green Lantern pajamas in front of me, trying to imagine myself in them, when I hear Caio calling me.

“Psst, what about this one? It’ll look exactly like the drawing that you got from the boy at the community center,” he says, holding a pair of Batman pajamas in front of his body.

It’s all black, with the yellow bat symbol smack-dab in the middle of the top, and though I don’t really like Batman, I still buy it. Never again, beige pajamas. Never again.

It’s late afternoon when we finally leave the mall. Rebeca needs to pick up Melissa, who’s coming to visit for the weekend, and Rebeca can’t stop talking about it. I don’t mind because I think it’s cute how she talks about her girlfriend, all lovey-dovey. And I wonder how complicated it must be to live so far away from the person you love.

Before we part ways, Rebeca throws her arms around