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“Anyway, during my junior year, her sophomore year, I ran into her at a party and we got into a very drunken, heated debate about a book we’d both read recently. I remember just…being struck by how much she had changed. She was so smart, and beautiful, and fun, and she seemed interested in me too, for some reason. At one point during this very serious debate, she told me I was wrong, and to shut the fuck up, and she shut me up by kissing me, so…I was hooked.”

“Now, see, youdostrike me as the type who likes it when women are mean to him,” Ben laughs. He glances behind me and I turn to see Annoth, now out of the shower now and clothed again, thank God. She’s wearing another enormous t-shirt and, with a wave of her hand, she creates another messy bun on top of her head, then plops down into the chair beside me and folds her hands on the countertop.

“I could bemuchmeaner to you ifit would help our relationship, Theo,” she says with a wicked grin.

“Sorry,” I tell her. “I’m not one of those ‘monster fuckers’. Human women only, no matter how mean you are.”

“How dull,” Annoth sighs. “What are we discussing?”

“Theo is just telling me the sob story about how he met Ros.”

Annoth rolls her eyes. “Delightful. Are you making my dinner?”

“Sí, mi amor.” Ben blows her a kiss, and she rolls her eyes harder. “Keep going, Theo. I’m on the edge of my seat.”

“Alright. So, her friends made her leave the party, and she told me to call her, but she neglected to give me her number. I spent…probably about two weeks texting my sister and begging her to get it from Vi, since Ros wasn’t on any social media at the time. Molly just liked to torment me and wouldn’t do it, and I didn’t see Ros on campus anywhere—didn’t have any classes with her that semester—so I really thought I was fucked. But, I knew that Molly was going over to Ros’s parents’ house for Thanksgiving that next month, and I bribed her with a blank babysitting check if she would ask Ros what classes she was taking in the spring. I signed up for one she was in, a Shakespeare class, but it turns out she was in a different section than me. I went to my advisor and…might have told a white lie to get myself moved to her section.”

“Saint Theodore told a lie in order to meet a girl?” says Annoth, putting on a tone of fake outrage. “The scandal! How will you ever wash that spotless reputation clean?”

“What did you tell your advisor?” Ben asks.

I run a hand through my hair and grin sheepishly. “I, uhh..I told her I had to go to Mass on Wednesday mornings, so I needed to be in the Thursday morning section, which is the one Ros was taking.”

“I’m practically swooning over here,” Ben sighs, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“And how did you win her over?” Annoth asks, slightly less hostile now.

“I’m honestly notsure,” I admit. “I sat next to her in class and just asked if she remembered the party. She did, but she said she was really embarrassed, didn’t want our sisters finding out, and wasn’t sure ifIwould remember it, so that’s why she didn’t try to contact me. But…we just started talking, and then we started studying together, and then dating…and we moved in together after graduation…” I feel lighter for a moment, but then the heaviness of losing Ros washes over me again and my body sags.

Ben frowns. “I know what you need.Star Wars.”

“Really?” I ask, slightly embarrassed at how much that cheers me up.

“Sure, why not? If you two are going to hold me prisoner, you might as well torture me too.”

“It’s not torture!” I insist. “You just have to watch them in the right order, with the shows!”

“Annie, what’s better:Star WarsorGuardians of the Galaxy?” Ben asks, and she sighs.

“You will not like my answer. I enjoyStar Warsmore.”

“You two are killing me,” he groans. “Fine, but if I’m cooking dinner, we’re at least going to start with whichever one has Carrie Fisher in that gold bikini.”

“That seems fair,” I say, but then Annoth gives him a mischievous smile.

“You mean…this?” she asks, and before I can stop her, she’s made her oversized t-shirt vanish and is sitting there wearing Princess Leia’s signature space underwear. I think Ben’s head might explode and he stands on his tiptoes to get a better look at the rest of her behind the counter.

“Annie, I swear to God…” he mutters, putting a hand over his face. “If I wasn’t cooking, I’d–”

“You would do absolutely nothing!” I interject with a small laugh, then I spy a pile of mail on the counter, which includes somemagazine that Ros used to get delivered. It has a lot of ‘fashion inspiration’ articles and photos, so I grab it from the stack and toss it to Annoth.

“What is this?” she asks, frowning.

“Just look through it and pick something more…appropriate,” I tell her. “Ben’s going to slice his finger off if you keep that on much longer.”

“Killjoy,” Ben mutters. Annoth takes the magazine and begins to flip pages. She’s feigning boredom, but every few minutes she casually waves her hand and new clothes appear on her body. She seems to be testing things out, and I let her work in silence while I getStar Wars: Episode IVready. Ben is still cooking, but I want him to watch, so I ask if there’s anything I can do to help. I’m not the best in the kitchen, but I can certainly follow directions.

“Ehhh,” he says warily, “I dunno if I trust you, but…if you insist, you can just stir that pan every few minutes.” I pick up the wooden spoon and stand dutifully by the stove, watching Ben watchStar Wars, and watching Annoth pretend she isn’t enjoying herself.