Page 19 of Crossed Sticks

He ditched his friends to talk to me? That put a big grin on my face.

LUCA: I’m glad. I was wondering if you’d get in touch. ;)

HARPER: My friends are married, so they got boring. Figured you couldn’t be any worse.

LUCA: If you were half as funny as you think you are, you’d be twice as funny as you are now.

HARPER: I see you have no sense of humor. Unsurprising, since that requires intelligence. ;)

I couldn’t help laughing because he thought he was so clever.

LUCA: I’m plenty smart. Told you I was reading. A book, thank you, not the comics.

HARPER: “Green Eggs and Ham”?

LUCA: FU. It’s about the Cuban Missile Crisis, something I’m sure you’ve never heard of. ;)

HARPER: Did a bunch of Cubans get boners?

For a horrifying second, I thought he was serious. Then, remembering how smart he seemed, I barked out a laugh loud enough to echo off the apartment’s brick walls.

LUCA: Yeah, big ones. And there you go, bringing sex into it again. You have a one-track mind.

HARPER: Not really. Just figured that’s the only thing you know about. :)

LUCA: Already said FU. Now I want to do it for real just to shut you up.

HARPER: Only takes an hour to fly down here.

Holy shit. Was he serious? Maybe Ishouldhave asked to go with him.

LUCA: Thought you wanted to wait until next week.

HARPER: Well, if you were right here…

HARPER: Better not, though. I have some important things to do, and dehydration interferes with my ability to function.

LUCA: I’ll get you dehydrated next Tuesday.

HARPER: Promises, promises.

LUCA: Oh, buddy, that’s so much more than a promise.

It took a moment for his next message to come through.

HARPER: Where’s your favorite place you ever visited?

Whatever I expected him to say, that wasn’t it.

LUCA: That’s a non sequitur. Did I miss something?

HARPER: Nope. I like joking around, but I want to learn about you too. Could we do both?

A smile spread across my face as I considered what he’d said. I couldn’t remember hearing words like that since Caleb and I…Shit, fuck Caleb.I’d had enough of him for one day, and it was time to act like a grown man. I had to stop allowing the past to keep me from being happy, even if only for a little while.

LUCA: I’m in. And the answer is Italy. It’s where my parents were born, and almost all my family is still there. It’s a beautiful country, and I love everything about it.

HARPER: You’re a first-generation American, then.

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