were going to live like it was 1992 again. And who would want to? But as she reached out and took it, I was suddenly, surprisingly glad that there were no pictures of tonight—no stories, no narration, no shaping the night for other people to see it. No proof at all. We’d just have to remember.
She took it from me and held it close. “Thank god,” she said, and I laughed. She went to unlock it, then stopped, her hand hovering over the screen.
“Something wrong?”
Kat looked up at me, hesitated for a moment, then handed her phone to me. “Here.”
“What?” I asked, not understanding. “You need me to unlock it?”
“No,” she said, holding it out to me. “You should take it. I know you’ve backed your phone up recently—”
“Yesterday. Why you don’t ever back your phone up is beyond me—”
“So you can just transfer everything over. Move your number over, the whole thing. Here.” She stretched it out farther to me, and after hesitating a moment, I took it.
“You don’t have to do this.”
Kat shook her head. “I do,” she said, her voice rising. Teri stirred in her sleep, muttering something that sounded like helicopter, and Kat and I both took a step away from the couch. “I do,” she said again, more quietly. “It was my fault your phone got broken. I have to take responsibility for once. This was my fault. So take the phone.”
I took it from her and turned it over in my hands once. I knew it was a largely symbolic gesture at the moment—it was still Kat’s phone, after all, with her numbers and texts and all her information, and lots of technical Genius Bar things had to be done before it was mine—but that didn’t mean I didn’t appreciate it. “Thanks, Kat.”
Kat smiled at me, but halfway through it turned into a gigantic yawn. “God, I’m tired.”
“Really? Why would that be?”
She laughed and headed back toward the guest room we’d be sharing.
The screen saver was back on the TV again, and as I watched, the ocean view transformed into a panorama of New York City at night. I looked at it for a moment—the impossible buildings, the bright lights, the millions of stories. I smiled, and looked at it for one moment more before I pointed the remote at the TV and turned it off.
PART SIX Saturday
CASEY
And you can see, not that much happened here tonight. Nothing that you can point to. But we can all feel it. One world ended and another began.
RYLA
Plus, there was the whole Robot uprising.
CASEY
Right, that too.
—Dave Stuart, Ghost Robot 5: Ghost in the Machine
CHAPTER 30
Kat
Tell me again,” I said as I curled up on the couch and looked at Teri. She was positively glowing, her whole face alight. I was not quite so happy or well-rested, but that might have been because I’d gotten about five hours’ sleep. As soon as Stevie was awake and ready, I was going to suggest a Starbucks run. I needed it injected directly into my veins. I yawned behind my hand and tried to get myself to focus, then grabbed a handful of the gummy candy on the coffee table. “You and Ryan Camper broke up?”
Teri rolled her eyes. “Ugh, yes. He was way too possessive and jealous. And there was no trust there! Dustin is so much better. I can already tell.”
“Dustin, your new boyfriend,” I said, trying to keep up.
“Yes,” Teri said, beaming. “He’s so sweet and so cute and so nice and super polite—which makes sense. I mean, he is Canadian.”
“Uh-huh,” I said, trying to keep my face very still. “And this all happened… last night?”
“It was a really eventful night.”
I smiled at that as I bit down on a sour gummy peach. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day, after all. “So—” I started, just as the guest bedroom door opened and Stevie came out in her pajamas, her hair up in a messy bun. “Morning.”
“Hi,” she said around a yawn, and came to sit next to me on the couch. “Have you guys been up long?”
“Not that long,” I said, moving over to make room for her. I met her eyes and widened mine slightly. “Teri was just telling me all about her new boyfriend.”
“Oh,” Stevie said, looking from me to Teri and back again. “No more… Ryan Camper?”
“Nope,” Teri said, with a wide, I have a crush on someone smile taking over her face. “Dustin is so much better than stupid Ryan.”