Page 20 of Like It's 1999

“Yeah, I get super annoying after a couple of weeks.”

“I’d get sick of you and maybe not hate you, but I wouldn’t like you anymore.”

“Can’t do that to Kate.”

“This was awesome, though.”

“Yeah. Best to end on a high note.”

“Keep the sheen on the crown.”

“Okay, so, I’ll see you around.”

“Yep. Later.”

It doesn’t even matter who is saying what. I’m sure they’re lines each of us has used dozens and dozens of times. I don’t even get dressed. My room’s just one floor down, so I give him a quick peck on the cheek, stuff a pastry in my mouth, grab my coffee and my clothes, and steal his robe as I steal back to my room.

Hoping he hasn’t just stolen my heart.

STEVE

When Kate gets back from her honeymoon, we get together for coffee. She and Will spent the week tucked away in a cabin in the Berkshires instead of lying on a beach somewhere drinking boat drinks like normal people, but it seems to have agreed with her.

“You look…” It’s not easy to find the right words. She’s been happier since she left Rhodes Wahler over a year ago—the place was always a bad fit for her—but now she’s practically serene. “Like the cat who ate the canary.”

“Yeah. Married life is good.” She laughs. “I mean, we fight. Like, a lot. I thought we were going to break up for good last year after we moved in together. I almost called Deb and Pam and begged them to take him back.”

“So how did you get through it?” My parents never fight, at least not so you’d know. There’s so little feeling between them I don’t even know why they bother to stay together.

She takes a sip of coffee as she considers this. “Well, I used to think that fighting was bad. Like, all my friends’ parents who fought got divorced. But…” She picks at a few crumbs on her plate, her brow furrowed. “You remember when we got the puppy last year?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Well, thank goodness I had some help from Ben’s girlfriend because Frankie and the puppy fought like… well, like cats and dogs. Peaseblossom wouldn’t leave the cat alone. And Frankie was pissed that we’d brought thisthinginto his house.

“But it was like they just had to work out their boundaries. Frankie claimed the furniture. Pease figured out that if she chased the cat, she’d get a bloody nose.” She laughs. “Sometimes now I think Frankie lets the dog chase him just for fun.”

“So, you and Will chase each other around the apartment? That’s how you make a relationship work?”

She waggles her eyebrows. “That’s a whole other way to make a relationship work.”

“I think I’ve got that territory covered.”

Waving her hand in the air between us, she says, “Okay, okay. No more details needed. It’s like talking with a brother about sex. Ew.”

“So whatdoyou do?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you weren’t interested in”—she makes air quotes—“relationships.”

I shrug. “I’m curious.”

“Well, for us—or me, at least—it’s all about spheres of influence. Obvious ones, me: money, Will: cooking. But some realms are more challenging. Like, I believe that if something is broken, it’s most efficient to pay an expert to fix it. But Will always wants to try to fix it first, which often leads to the thing being even more broken than it was in the first place.” She makes a face. “Drives me insane.”

“‘Men… can’t live with ’em, can’t shoot ’em.’”

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