Page 10 of Lonely Hearts Day

“No, not him.”

“Am I Jack? From Titanic?”

I grabbed hold of his forearm, surprised he got it. “Yes! Good job. Even though you cheated and asked me a bunch of questions in a row.”

“Pretty sure your mom told you yours.”

I laughed. “She was confused.”

“Wait... you don’t think Jack and Rose were a good couple? You think they’d have been better off single.”

“Hedied, Jack.”

I felt him shrug, his shoulder moving against mine. “But before that... they were soul mates.”

“Died,” I repeated.

“Aside from your parents... and Micah and Cassidy, of course...”

“Of course,” I said, playing along with the sarcasm of his second choice.

“Whoisyour gold standard?”

“Good question.” I searched my brain. I’d watched a lot of movies and read a lot of books and seen a lot of plays. Who was the ultimate?

“Rapunzel and Flynn Rider?” I said it as a question because I wasn’t sure that was actually my answer.

“You want to be trapped in a tower?”

“The after-tower stuff. I don’t know. I might change my answer. That’s just the first one I thought of.”

“It’s a good one,” he said.

I sighed, looking at the only light I could see, the glowing yellow strip at the bottom of the door. I’d left my phone somewhere out in the room, by the speaker, or the couch. “You have your phone for light?”

“I think it’s on top of the pinball machine.”

“Do you think they’re going to make us stay in here for a full seven minutes?”

“Troy’s probably starting a game of spin the bottle as we languish.”

“Is Troy your best friend?” I asked, curious.

“You’re my best friend.”

“Well obviously. I meant after me.”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know. I guess he’s in the mix with Simon and Mario. After you, I have to go a long way down to find someone else.”

“Same,” I said. Simon and Mario were mutual friends and I’d put them on my list as well.

The back of my calves were pressed against the lowest shelf and another one was digging into the small of my back. “If we turn sideways and sit would that be more or less comfortable?” I asked.

“I don’t know; we can try because the corner of a board game is stabbing me in the shoulder blade.”

I grabbed hold of his arm so I could feel his movements while we both shifted toward one another. My chin brushed his shoulder, or at least what I assumed was his shoulder. And then we were chest to chest. I took his elbows in my hands and he laughed and cupped mine.

“Are we going to try to sit simultaneously?” he asked.