“I think this falling out you’ve had is surely more than just a little tiff between old friends.”

“Is that right, Dr. McMahon?”

“I’m just telling you what I think. You don’t go from inseparable to barely civil overnight without a good reason. And you know what I think? I think you had feelings for her. I think she found out about it, and your friendship came to a very sudden demise.”

I waited for the usual twitching in my stomach, the plummeting sensation I had come to associate with the rumors and gossip that constantly resurfaced. To my surprise, it never came. “Those are some rather bold accusations.”

“Takes one to know one though, doesn’t it? I pay attention to my surroundings. I’ve heard stories about you, Alex. I heard all of the rumors last year about the two of you but decided they were just the usual petty nonsense. Now, though—I’m thinking maybe they weren’t nonsense at all. Well, at least not entirely.”

“So, what? You think I’m gay?”

I tried not to read into her expression too much. Told myself that the way her lips parted just the tiniest of fractions, the way her breath hitched for the shortest of seconds, was just something I imagined. She didn’t look away from me, or fidget with her hands. And we shared what felt to me like a secret, knowing smile.

It felt like we agreed on something then, in that smile.

“Maybe. I mean—correct me if I’m wrong, of course.”

I pursed my lips together. “How’d you hear about those stupid rumors? You don’t go to our school.”

“Well, I’m gay, aren’t I? You wouldn’t believe the number of times girls at school have come up to me asking if the stories about Connie O’Reilly are true. Every second week there’s some stupid story about how some lad or some girl is queer. People are easily bored and I dunno—I guess being gay is the worst thing they can imagine thinking about someone. But since I’ve met you….”

We walked in silence for the next couple of steps before reaching a corner and she hesitated there, twiddling with the straps of her bag. “This is uh—this is me, now.”

I glanced at the houses lining the street and hummed. They were as I had imagined—fancy and large, intimidating. Not nearly as posh or gaudy as Connie’s house of course—these were more on par with the houses of some of my other friends. I sucked in a deep breath and swallowed. “Cool. Cool. But hey, there’s this film I’ve been thinking about going to see, uh—Jurassic Park. The reviews are meant to be good and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me? I don’t know how you feel about those kinda movies or whatever—but just if you wanted to, I guess we could, um, we could go. Like, together. If you wanted?”

Julia’s eyebrows shot up and she smirked. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

She crossed her arms, mimicking my own stance. My feet were insistently tapping against the pavement and I felt inexplicably nervous although I wasn’t quite sure why. There was a new film I wanted to see. I didn’t have many friends but Julia and I had talked about movies and I liked to think we had talked enough that she might be considered my friend. It made sense that I wanted to go with her. Nothing more, nothing less.