Page 94 of The Plus Ones
Did you do it yet?Aimee mouths to me as soon as I open the door. I nod at her and then look down at Finn, who’s standing right in front of her, clutching his iPad case and standing remarkably still as he waits for me to invite him into my apartment.
“Hey, buddy!” I say, bending down and holding my hand out for him to slap it.
“Hey,” he mumbles. He tucks the iPad case under one arm and slaps me five and then very half-heartedly participates in the super special handshake we made up a few months ago. The handshake involves fist bumping, butt shaking, and turning around while flapping our arms like a chicken, and then it ends with us making a fart noise with our tongues. It feels a lot less awesome when he isn’t into it.
“Well, thanks for coming over, you guys. Come on in.” I watch Finn let his little backpack fall from his slouched shoulders and then to the floor as he trudges over to my sofa.
“Hey. Pick that up, mister!” Aimee says.
“Ugh. Where am I supposed to put it?” he moans.
“I’ll just put it by the door here,” I say, picking it up for him. “What crawled up his bum?” I ask his mother.
“He just found out that his best friend has to visit his grandparents out of town this weekend, so he’ll miss the party.”
“Awww, that’s a bummer, Finn! But hey—I’ll be there!”
“Thanks,” he says, all mopey. “Can I watch Netflix?” he asks both of us.
“Absolutely,” I say. “Your mom and I are just gonna go in the kitchen to get us snacks. Oh—but don’t go into the bathroom for a while, okay?”
“Why? Does it smell?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
Aimee drops all of her bags near the door and follows me to the kitchen. There’s no door, so we talk quietly—not that Finn has any interest in anything other thanCloudy with a Chance of Meatballsand his own misery.
I flick my hands, in an attempt to release the anxiety I’ve been trying to harness in front of my godson, because it is vitally important that he thinks of me as cool at all times. But my heart is racing, my armpits are damp, and I have felt on the verge of tears all day.
“Keaton should be here with you,” Aimee says, rubbing my back. “Or you should at least be talking to him. You’re really not going to call him?”
“I need to know what to say to him first, and he’s going out of town for a few days. I don’t want him thinking about this while he’s dealing with this new investment thing.”
“Okay. Are you okay?”
“Do I look okay?”
“No.” She opens the fridge to pull out the organic string cheese packets that I keep stocked in case of a Finn visit. “You look like a spaz. I’m glad you called me.”
“I don’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s so dumb. I’ve done this before. Like, twice, and it’s always a false alarm.”
She nudges the fridge door closed and gives me a look. “Do you really not know why you’re nervous?”
I cover my face. “I literally didn’t know it was possible for me to get nervous until this morning… Hey, how old is Tamara now? Late twenties?”
“His ex? Why are you even thinking about that right now?”
“Just tell me so I can stop wondering.”
“I mean…I guess she’d be twenty-eight.”
I swallow hard. “Right.”
“And that is irrelevant.”
“I know.”
“Doyou?”
