Page 49 of Diamond Ring
Mike: Maybe we could talk. If we’re both around
Ben: You wanna be my pen pal?
Mike: If you’re gonna be like that...
Ben: No, I kind of like it. You wanna keep it on here or text? I’ve never had a secret pen pal. I don’t know the etiquette.
Mike: Here’s good
Ben: OK secret pen pal Mike. What’d you have for dinner?
Mike: Food. It was fine
Ben: Scintillating
Mike: What’d you have?
Ben: Food. It was fine.
Mike: For real?
Ben:
Mike: See we can’t do this if you’re gonna be that way.
Ben: What way is that?
Mike: Like that
Ben:
And Jake probably shouldn’t be that way, though Mike seems both easy to rile and like he enjoys being riled.
He gets back a set of incredulous emojis. He doesn’t know what Mike looks like, so when Jake imagines his wry, somewhat sarcastic amusement, his face looks like Alex’s, the downward pull of his lips offset by the laughter he can’t keep from his eyes. Or couldn’t, back when they were Jake-and-Alex. How Jake would say something specifically to get him to make that face, on his barstool or in the dugout or even on the mound, watched by fifty thousand people and utterly alone together.
Maybe Mike used to be a ballplayer, way back when. Maybe he’s just a guy with superstitious taste in necklaces—maybe his eyes don’t quite shine the same way or his lips don’t have a tug at the edges Jake wants to follow with his teeth. But if Jake’s learned anything in the past ten years,close enoughcan get you through most days.
Ben: You ever think about how your life would be if one small thing changed?
Mike:...
Ben: Sorry, that was depressing. Long day. Work is making me do stupid shit.
Mike: Mine too
Ben: Maybe we should switch. You play video games. I’ll go for a hike. See if it changes our perspectives.
Mike: What game? I don’t want to buy a system
Ben: There’s a game where you’re a goose that menaces a village.
Jake drops the link into the chat. A minute goes by.
Mike: I thought you were joking
Ben: It is very satisfying. You get to chase people and yell.
Mike: I’m already downloading it
