Page 95 of Let's Talk About Love

“Then that’s all that matters, right?”

She didn’t know how to explain that, yes, her friends had been great, but going alone wasn’t in the plan. Every movie and show she had seen portrayed it as this big romantic event and she’d missed out on that because nobody asked her and she had been too afraid to ask anyone else. She wanted to wear her dress, get a corsage, and slow dance. It was stupid and archaic, but that didn’t stop her from wanting it like burning. If she thought about it too much, she could still feel that crushing hope that grew each day while she waited to be asked and that pervasive fear stopping her from asking anyone.

So instead, she said, “Yeah. I guess you’re right. Hey, where’s my phone? I’ll show you my dress. I lookedfabulous.”

“I took it from you after it rang and you tried to throw it across the room while half asleep.” He leaned over and opened the drawer on the end table. “Aisha kept calling.”

She took it from him—and it rang the moment she unlocked the screen. Deep breath, in and out.Might as well, she thought.

“Hey, Adam.”

“Finally!” he yelled. “Jesus Christ, Alice. When I said figure something out, I didn’t say pick something literally impossible for them to accept.”

“Please don’t yell at me, okay? I’m not exactly coping all that well.”

“Have you been drinking?” The judgment in his voice was excruciating to hear. “What are you doing?”

Alice shrank even further. “About to watch a movie with a friend.”

“What friend?”

“Why?” She clutched a pillow, pressing it into her torso. Talking to her brother usually made her feel better, not like she wanted to crawl into a hole and quietly wait for death to show up.

“Because you have two friends and you would have just said their names, so where are you?”

“I’m getting too old for the concerned older-brother act.”

“I hate to be the one to inform you, but you will always be my baby sister and will never be too old for me to overstep.”

“At least you haven’t disowned me.” Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Her parents.Her parents.

“You’re not disowned.” He sighed. “They’re just… not happy.”

“Daddy, too?”

“He’s disappointed, for sure. He’s been moping all afternoon.”

“Alice, what about this one?” Takumi asked, voice lowered. A found-footage movie about a sea monster’s first merry jaunt on land that nearly destroyed a city.

“Who the hell is that?” her brother shouted.

She brought the phone back to her ear. “Hmm?”

“You heard me. Who is that?”

“My friend.”

“What kind offriend?Are you in his house?”

“Oh my God,” she whisper-laughed, wiping her face. “Now is really not the time, yeah? Is Mom super murderous right now? If I called her—”

“Oh, yes it is,” he said, cutting her off. “Why does he sound like a grown-ass man?”

“Because he is? I guess? I don’t—”

“ALICE.” Adam sputtered for a few moments. “Put him on the phone. Right now.”

She shrugged as if he could see it. It’s not like she wanted to keep talking about what happened earlier anyway.