Page 35 of The Charlie Method

“Hey,” I say, poking my head out of the kitchen. “Want something to drink?”

“Water’s good.” Like me, Case doesn’t go hard on the drinking during the hockey season.

I meet him in the living room with two bottles of water, tossing him one. Case and I have been friends since freshman year, but our paths had crossed dozens of times before that, as our high school teams faced off often over the years. I’m the one who introduced him to Gigi Graham, who attended the same high school as me.

And whom Case cheated on…but that’s none of my business. I don’t stick my nose in other people’s sex lives. Besides, everything worked out for the best in the end. Case has moved on, and Gigi is married to Luke Ryder now. It’s obvious she’s happier with Ryder than she ever was with Case.

He slouches back on the chaise while I idly flip through channels on the TV. Beck and I don’t even need cable—all we do is stream content anyway—but I like knowing that my father is paying for this huge cable bundle that we barely use other than for sports channels.

“Have you talked to her lately?” Case asks.

“Who?” I genuinely don’t know who he’s talking about.

“Gigi.”

I don’t miss the wistful note in his voice.

Oh.

Okay then.

Guess I was wrong about everyone having moved on.

“What?” he says awkwardly. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You were at their wedding, bro.”

A frown knits his brow. “What does that—I’m not still into her.”

“You had a weird tone when you said her name,” I say.

“I mean, fuck. I’m not going to lie. I miss her sometimes. We don’t speak anymore.”

I nod slowly. “Probably for the best, don’t you think? She’s married.”

“I know. It’s just…” He trails off.

For a minute, the only sound is the muffled voices from the TV. Then he speaks again, quieter this time.

“I regret it. All the fucking time.”

“The BJ?”

He sighs. “The BJ.”

Of all my friends, Case is the last person I would’ve ever expected to cheat on a girlfriend.

“I think about it a lot. Like, what if I hadn’t messed up? What if I hadn’t gotten loaded and made out with that girl? What if I’d stopped her when she started unzipping my pants? I keep wondering how things would be different if I hadn’t been such an idiot.”

I don’t say anything. There’s nothing to say. He fucked up big-time and lost one of the best women he’ll ever know. It feels cruel to rub it in, so I just wait for him to continue.

“I was stupid, man. I threw away something good because I got scared or bored or whatever the hell was wrong with me. And now she’s happy with someone else. And I’m happy for her, really. But sometimes…it feels like there’s this whole parallel life out there, one where I didn’t screw things up.”

I smirk at him, trying to lighten the mood. “See? This is why we need time travel. So you can go back, slap yourself in the face, and not be an idiot.”

He chuckles, but it’s a hollow sound.

We lapse into silence again.

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