At the mere mention of the list, Dustin choked on his now-warm champagne, which escalated into an embarrassing coughing fit. After getting pounded on the back by both girls, he finally managed to get out in a raspy voice, “She’s on the list?” Dustin tried to sound as casual as possible, because truth be told, he hadn’t known the list was even out yet.

Stephanie nodded. “She came in at number three, which is incredible since she didn’t even campaign for it.”

Tasha added, “And she doesn’t dress slutty like all the other girls.”

“Well, not at school,” Stephanie said. “But there’s plenty of videos of Kimmie in some skimpy-ass ice dancing outfits on YouTube.”

“Do you thinks it sucks for Lolls to have such a gorg little sister?”

“Nah. I’d rather have a bf like Steven than be on the list.”

“Same.”

Newly awash in so much information, Dustin, not wanting to give either girl reason to be suspicious, artfully changed the subject and then left the party twenty minutes later. He chose to walk home across the snowy park so he could replay the night in his head, marveling at how every choice he’d made in his entire life led him to that serendipitous encounter on the roof. As much as he tried to stop himself from going there, near the end of the walk he couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to walk into his prom with Kimmie S., the third hottest sophomore in all of Manhattan.

IV

School had been back in session for almost two weeks, and Dustin had seen Steven six times and had been unable to find the courage to talk to him about Kimmie directly. When he thought about why this was, all he could come up with was that he didn’t know if he wanted to hear the truth. Because if he were to learn he had only a miniscule chance in hell with her, where would that leave him? But as Dustin crossed the park in the late afternoon for tutoring, he thought about what he’d just discussed in therapy. Today was lucky number seven and he was finally going to grow a pair and confess to Steven his love for Kimmie.

Dustin knew something was wrong as soon as he stepped into the apartment, and Steven embraced him in an awkwardly long bro-hug. He then said, “Dude, you can’t even believe my day. Come in. Come in. Good you’re here.”

Dustin’s first thought was Steven was on drugs. While getting himself some water in the kitchen, he checked his friend’s eyes. Steven’s pupils looked normal given the amount of light in the room. Dustin’s older brother was currently in rehab, so he had some experience with people on drugs, and though he knew Steven used, he was certain Steven wasn’t currently high.