Page 39 of The Plus One
Thu:call me jaded, but it’s just a cheesesteak.
Lizzie:once again requesting further details on where the cheesesteak is from
Lizzie:and what toppings were procured?
Harper:Thu when did you become such a cynic?
Thu:Harpy… have you met me?
Indira:he’s walking back to the car this was useless bye
Indira shoved her phone back in her purse as Jude opened the door and then sat down, the heavenly scent of sandwiches and French fries filling the car.
“You didn’t have to pay,” Indira said, backing up the car and making her way to the house.
“Not a big deal,” Jude said, tapping his fingers against his thighs.
“Seriously. I can Venmo you. Or I might even have cash back at Collin’s. I—”
“Dira,” Jude said, softly. “I wanted to, okay? Let me do this one thing.”
Indira tried to swallow past the lump in her throat, but she didn’t trust her voice, so she nodded instead.
Collin didn’t live far from Dalessandro’s, and Indira pulled into the driveway a few minutes later. Jude left the plastic bag of food on the dash, hopping out of the car and immediately starting to unload bags from the trunk. He’d managed to lug six of them up the front steps and into the house before Indira even got out of the car.
She fisted the last two bags in one hand and grabbed the food with the other, waddling into the house and up to her room.
Jude hovered outside her door, half the bags resting on the ground, as he looked nervously around.
“You can open it,” Indira said, nodding at the handle, a bit winded after dragging her shit up the stairs.
Jude nodded, biting the inside of his cheek as he did what she asked. Indira gestured him in, then followed. He stopped after a few steps, blinking around the space like he was scared to let his gaze linger.
“You okay?” Indira asked, maneuvering around him.
Jude shook his head. “Yeah. Sorry. It was almost like I was expecting to see your old room when I walked in here.”
“Sadly, I can’t convince Collin to share a bunk bed with me anymore no matter how much I beg.” Indira and Collin regularly lamented about the horrors of sharing a room for the entirety of their teen years. “I am making headway with him agreeing to someDoctor Whoposters, though,” she added.
“You always had an eye for design,” Jude said.
Indira beamed at him with a smile too big. Too vulnerable.
But it felt like the old Jude was peeking back out again.
With Indira’s next step, a hanger poking through one trash bag sliced the other open, and an avalanche of books and notebooks skittered across her floor.
Indira swore as the corner of a particularly thick hardcover landed on her foot, and she plopped onto the ground, dropping the bag of food next to her.
“You okay?” Jude asked, making a move toward her. He stopped, hand hovering between them, a look of uncertainty on his features.
“Fine,” Indira said, sliding off her shoe and rubbing at the tender spot.
“Wait.” Jude’s head swiveled back and forth a few times before he committed to a full turn. Something in his eyes sparked when they landed back on Indira. “Are these your diaries?”
“No!” Indira lied. “Go away.” She scrambled onto her hands and knees, sweeping the journals to her chest.
“They so are!” Jude said, childish joy in his voice. “I would know with how often Collin and I stole them.”
