made it!” I stuck out my hand as Dre reached in for a hug and we stumbled into one another awkwardly. Then I tried to hug him, but he went for the handshake and poked me in the stomach.
“How could I not?” Dre asked when we’d finished assaulting each other. “You planned my trip down to the minute.” He held up his phone and showed me the messages I’d sent him that morning. “You even planned my bathroom break.”
I hung my head. “Sorry. It’s my ADD. Making lists and plans helps me manage things. Sometimes I go a little overboard.”
Dre laughed it off. “It’s fine. I’m not mad about it.”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“Whatever. We’ve all got our weird things.” Dre nudged my foot with his. “I only pee sitting down because I’m a hundred percent sure if I don’t, the stream’s gonna split off at a weird angle and I’m gonna wind up with piss all over the front of my pants. I used to have nightmares about it happening in public places and I’d have to hide in a stall until it dried.”
The idea of Dre worrying about something so silly was comforting. “Please tell me that you’re serious and that that’s not something you made up to make me feel better.”
“Totally true.”
“Now I’m relieved.”
“Good.”
I didn’t know what to say next. I froze. Travelers moving away from trains or toward them flowed around us as we stood there like strangers, unsure where to go.
Dre cleared his throat. “So, where to?”
I pulled out my phone and began to answer, but Dre cut me off. “Wait, you were serious about the lists?”
“I’m always serious about lists.”
“So, like, you’ve got an itinerary planned and every hour of our day scheduled to the minute?”
“Pretty much, yes.”
“That’s so . . .”
“Weird?”
“Perfect,” he said. “Where to first?”
Each activity I’d added to the list had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that Dre was standing in front of me, they all felt like the worst ideas I could have come up with. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything else.
“Well, since it’s nearby, I thought we’d start with the Boston Public Garden.”
“I’m in. Let’s go!” Dre latched his arm through mine and pulled me toward the exit. His enthusiasm was contagious, and I let him drag me along.
It was cooler outside than it was at home, and the air was filled with a million smells, most of which I probably wouldn’t have wanted to identify. I was used to worrying about being recognized, but I felt inconspicuous on the crowded city streets. Chaos was a cloak of invisibility, and I loved it.
“Nice hoodie,” Dre said. “And did you do something different with your hair?”
The hoodie was a gray zip-up that I was wearing with khaki-colored jeans. I’d had to slip out of the hotel without my mother seeing or she would have said I looked like a common frat boy. But I was proud of my hair.
“The stylist said she was going to add more texture.” I shrugged. “I just asked for something a little different.”
“It’s good,” Dre said.
I felt my ears burning, and I wanted the attention off me, so I said, “You look nice too.”
“Do I? I just threw this outfit together. By which I mean that I threw the majority of my wardrobe on the floor while I was trying to find something that wouldn’t draw too much attention because we’re supposed to be incognito, but that still screamed me.” He held open his jacket. The inside was lined with superheroes posing like pinup girls.
“It definitely screams Andre Rosario.”
“Good.”
“So are you sure you’re okay missing your college tour?”
“For RISD?” Dre asked. “It’s fine. I mean, who even wants to go to school in Rhode Island?”
I had to check the map on my phone to make sure we were going the right direction, but there were also a lot of tourists around, so we could have simply followed them. “Quite a few people, actually. James Franco received his MFA from there, and Seth MacFarlane earned his BFA.”
“Did you research RISD?”
“Maybe.” I didn’t want to come off like a stalker, so I quickly added, “I just wanted to make sure we would have something to talk about.”
Dre laughed. “Please tell me you don’t also have a list of conversation topics.”
“I don’t.” I absolutely did.
“Good,” he said. “But, really, it’s fine. I’m not even sure I’m going to go to college right after graduation. I might take a year off and see what happens.”
“Your parents wouldn’t