“This will never work, Jay.” Luke eyed the shirt his friend held up. “I’m at least six inches taller than you.”

“Seven inches. And thanks for rubbing it in,” Vijay grumbled, throwing the shirt at Luke’s head. “It’s not my fault you’re the Jolly Green Giant.”

Luke shook his head, grinning as he recalled a similar comment made by a certain hazel-eyed girl on the beach.

“It’s not funny.”

“I’m not laughing at you.”

“Then what are you smiling about?”

“The woman I met on the beach.”

“The one who got us into this mess?” Vijay wondered.

“Yeah. She called me a giant too.”

“I change my mind.” Jay frowned, giving Luke a once-over. “You’re too scrawny to be a giant.”

“Ouch. Now who’s rubbing things in?” Luke finished doing up the buttons and held out his arms. The sleeves were too short, flapping awkwardly above his wrists. “I told you this wouldn’t work.”

“What are you talking about?” Vijay rolled the cuffs midway up Luke’s forearms. “This is perfect.”

“Are you sure I can’t wear one of my own T-shirts?”

“Absolutely not. T-shirts in romantic comedies are only for guys who look like their muscles are about to bust the seams. Think Ryan Reynolds or Ben Affleck.”

“Ben Affleck sucks in rom-coms.”

“Fair point.” Vijay bobbed his head. “But my point is these are guys who also play superheroes. And as we’ve already established”—he poked Luke in the chest—“you don’t have the goods.”

“Dude. Harsh.”

“Besides,” his best friend continued, ignoring him, “if you’re going to wear a T-shirt, it should be a V-neck, and preferably black. All yours have video game characters on them.”

“Not all of them.”

“Fine. Most of them.”

“Some of those are vintage, you know.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Jay snorted. “It doesn’t matter, because you’re wearing this.”

“I don’t know.” Luke eyed himself in the mirror over Vijay’s dresser, identical to the one in his own room.

“You look great, trust me.” Vijay glanced at the clock on the bedside table. “I’m done giving you compliments. Now sit down so I can do something with your hair.”

By the time Jay was finished, the cocktail hour was already in full swing. Feeling like Frogger making that first jump onto the busy highway, Luke squared his shoulders and entered the fray. All around him, people were laughing and chatting, pointing to their name tags and introducing themselves to each other as their characters.