- Lucy -
lex?” I said, knocking on the door.
“Whaaat?”
“It’s Lucy. Can I come in?”
“Yeah.”
I opened the door to my brother’s room and stepped onto a visible patch of carpet. The floor around me was covered with clothes that would no doubt all fail the sniff test, and his desk was covered in half eaten sandwiches, most of which were probably delivered by my Dad.
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” I said. “You’ll get a new girlfriend in no time with a bachelor pad like this.”
“Did you come here to torment me?” he asked, sliding his guitar off his lap and leaning it against his bed.
“No, I came here to cheer you up believe it or not.”
“Just cause I believe it doesn’t mean I think you can do it.”
I stepped carefully over to the end of his bed and sat down.
“Plus, I don’t want cheering up,” he said, “I want Ceci back.”
“Wanna tell me what happened?” I asked, wishing I’d come armed with Febreeze.
“She said she fell out of love with me.”
I dug my nails into the palm of my hand so I wouldn’t laugh. I knew better than to think making light of his young love would help anything. “She was your first serious girlfriend, huh?”
He shrugged. “She was my first a lot of things.”
“Aww.” I reached over and rustled his dirty hair. It stayed rustled when I pulled my hand away. “I’m sorry, buddy.”
“I can’t imagine ever feeling that way about someone else, ya know?”
“You will though. In time.”
He shook his head.
“So what’s the plan? Spend the rest of the summer sulking in here so you look like a vampire the first day of sophomore year?”
“It’s not the worst idea. Chicks dig vampires, right?”
“Only vampires that have been in the movies.”
“Damn.” He pulled at the strings on his hoodie.
“I know you don’t want to hear this,” I said, “but the chances of you and Ceci working out long term were pretty slim.”
“Why? Cause she’s in a sorority?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“She was always going to these parties with all these other guys. It used to make me crazy, and she basically had to go so I couldn’t say shit or I looked jealous. Which I was.”
“See. That’s something good. Now you don’t have to deal with that bullshit anymore.”
“And I was pretty sick of her pissing my bed.”
I cocked my head.
“Don’t tell anyone I said that.”
“Of course not.”
“It was only when she was really drunk.”
“I should hope so.”
“And there is one other good thing about us breaking up.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s done wonders for my song writing. My creativity is at an all-time high.”
“That’s great news.”
“Have you ever broken up with someone and then, like, given people really inspired haircuts?”
I laughed. “I’ve given some decent makeovers to people who were looking for a fresh start, but to be honest, I try not to let my emotional state affect my work that way.”
He nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Dad’s all worried about the fact that you’re spending so much time strumming and forgoing food, but he has nothing to worry about, right? You’re just working through some stuff?”
“I do get down sometimes though, Luce.”
“What times?”
“I don’t know. Like when I think about my other prospects.”
“Why?”
“Cause there aren’t any other girls in my group of friends who I’m attracted to.”
“I’m sure there are hundreds of girls just as hot as Ceci on your campus.”
“Logically I know there must be, but I have no idea where they’re hiding?”
“Gimme your phone.”
“Why?”
I stuck out my hand. “Just give it to me.”
He grabbed his phone off the bedside table and handed it to me.
“Have you heard of Tinder?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Have you tried it?”
“Of course not. Ceci would’ve killed me.”
“Oh, right.” I searched for the app and hit install. “Well, you don’t have to keep it if you don’t like it, but I think it might help speed up the process of getting over Ceci.”
“I’m willing to try anything.”
I became aware of an odd pile of socks on the floor before turning back to the phone. “Alright, you have to choose a few pictures so girls can see what you look like. How about this one?” I held up the phone. “It shows your face nice and clearly so you’ll only get people who genuinely think you’re cute.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“And this one of you snowboarding is good.”
“But my face is covered.”
“Yeah, but it shows that you’re athletic. That matters.”
“Girls are so picky.”
“Just wait until you start using this thing. You won’t believe how picky you are, too.” I entered a few more essential details. “Okay, you can go back and change your profile later. It’s fine like that for now. Most people will judge you by the outside anyway.”
“You’re freaking me out.”
“Don’t be freaked out. You’ll never even know if someone you liked doesn’t like you back.”
“But won’t it be obvious when we don’t get matched up?”
“You’ll have forgotten about them already. Trust me.” I scooted next to him and held the phone up so we could both see. “I’ll just show you how to use it really quick and then you can try.”
“Alright.”
“So here’s the first girl. Do you like her?”
“I don’t know.”
“So if you click this camera icon, you can check her out some more.” I switched between the pictures.
“Whoa- deal breaker,” he said when he saw a photo of the girl covered in kittens.
“They might not be hers.”
“Honestly, my allergies are so bad even photos of cats make my eyes itch.”
“Right, so we’ll swipe her away,” I said. The next girl popped up wearing a sexy nurse’s costume.
“I like her.”
I rolled my eyes and swiped right.
The next five girls were all no’s.
“This is kind of fun,” Alex said.
“I thought you might think so.”
I froze when I got to the next girl.
“She’s hot. I like her. A blond would be a nice change after Ceci.”
“She’s too old for you.”
“No she’s not. She’s only twenty three.”
“Oh my god you’re right.”
“Swipe right.”
“No.” I moved the phone out of his reach.
“Why not?”
“Cause I know her.”
“Maybe I’d like to get to know her, too.”
“You wouldn’t,” I said.
“How do you know?”
“Cause she’s a bitch.” I clicked on the camera so I could scroll through the other pictures. “Hold on a second.”
Alex folded his arms over his chest.
A picture of Chelsea pouting into the camera was followed by one of her taking a selfie in a bathroom. The next one was her “working out” though I suspected “modeling sportswear” was a more accurate description of what she was doing. I couldn’t believe I was seeing this. I lowered the phone to my lap and swallowed.
“What’s going on, Luce?”
“This girl is dating my friend.”
“Oh shit. What’s she doing on Tinder then?”
“I’d like to ask her the same question.”
I swiped Chelsea’s picture away and handed the phone to Alex.
“You okay? You seem kind of upset.”
“I am upset. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Tell my friend his girlfriend is on Tinder?”
“Maybe she’s just doing it for fun,” he said.
“And maybe she’s cheating on him.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know.”
“I would want to know,” he said. “For what it’s worth, I would definitely want to know.”
“Is there any way I could tell him without actually telling him?”
“You mean like fix it so he found out without you having to be involved?”
“Yeah.”
“Why can’t you just tell him?”
“I don’t want to hurt him.”
“But if you don’t tell him, aren’t you sort of hurting him by omission?”
“Shit. Is that even a thing?”
Alex shrugged. “Maybe you could just confront her. Tell her if she doesn’t tell him then you will.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But maybe I shouldn’t get involved.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Seems to me you already are.”