Home > The Upside of Unrequited(2)

The Upside of Unrequited(2)
Author: Becky Albertalli

And she is. The dream girl is walking toward us, smiling. So now, Cassie’s smiling. She’s staring at the ground, but I can tell from her cheeks.

“Hi again,” says the girl.

I smile. “Hi.”

“My savior.”

This girl must seriously hate drip-drying.

“I don’t think I even introduced myself,” she says. “I’m Mina.”

“I’m Molly.”

“Your shirt,” Cassie says, “is the most perfect thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I’m just.” She shakes her head.

Mina laughs. “Thank you.”

“I’m Cassie, by the way. And I’ve never met anyone who’s heard of Georgie James.”

Okay, that’s bullshit. I’m standing right here.

“You know what’s funny,” Mina starts to say—but then the dramatic bangs boy pokes her arm.

“Eenie Meenie, let’s go.” He looks up, catching my eye over Cassie’s shoulder. “Hi. Nice to meet you guys, but we have to catch this train.”

“Oh shit,” says Mina. “Okay. Well—”

“So do we,” Cassie says quickly. And somehow it happens: our groups merge. Cassie and Mina fall into step beside each other, and Olivia’s right behind them, in her own world, texting. I step onto the escalator and lean into the handrail, trying not to look like a sheep that lost its herd. Molly Peskin-Suso: disoriented introvert, alone in the wild.

Until I look up and realize: I’m not actually alone. The hipster boys are a step below me on the escalator. I accidentally lock eyes with the redhead, who asks, “Why do you look familiar?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, I’m Will.”

“I’m Molly.”

“Like the drug,” says Bangs.

Like the drug. Like I’m a person you would associate with drugs.

The train pulls into the station almost as soon as we step off the escalator, and we have to sprint to catch it. I slide into a seat, leaving room for Cassie, but she plops down next to Mina.

Olivia settles into the seat beside me instead. And then moments later, Mina’s hipster boys drift toward us. Bangs is reading something on his phone, but the red-haired guy grips the pole and smiles down at us.

I look up at him. “Will, right?”

Okay. So he’s cute. He’s a tiny bit really extremely cute.

“Good memory!” he says. And then Olivia introduces herself, and there’s this weird, hanging pause. I wish I were the kind of person who knows how to fill a silence.

I’m not. Olivia’s definitely not.

“Oh, and this is Max,” Will says after a moment.

Bangs glances up from his phone with a tiny smile. “What’s up?”

And ugh—he’s cute, too. Except no: I’d actually describe him as hot. He’s one of those guys who’s so hot, he’s not even cute. But he should rein in the bangs.

“So, who does Molly look like?” Will asks, staring me down. “Sorry, but it’s driving me crazy.”

Max appraises me, pressing his lips together. “No idea.”

“She seriously looks like someone.”

Actually, I get this a lot. I think I must have one of those stupidly generic faces. Weirdly, three entirely unrelated people have told me I look like this particular teen actress from the seventies, though I’m sort of a fat version of her. And strangers are always telling me I look like their cousin or someone from their summer camp. It freaks me out just a little bit. Like, there’s this part of me that wonders whether I actually am related to all these cousins and camp friends.

Here’s the part where I should probably mention that Cassie and I are sperm donor babies. So that’s a thing in my life: that tiny niggling idea that everyone I meet might actually be my half sibling.

“I’m just going to gawk at you until I figure it out,” Will says.

Across the aisle, Cassie snorts—and I suddenly realize she and Mina are watching us. They look extremely entertained.

Heat rises in my cheeks. “Um, okay,” I say, blinking.

The train slows to a stop, and Olivia stands. “Well, here’s Chinatown.”

“That’s us, too,” Will says. I guess that’s not surprising—half the world gets off here to transfer. The doors spring open, and Cassie and Mina trail behind us as we step onto the platform. Cassie’s typing something into her phone.

“Where are you guys headed?” Will asks, still staring a little too hard at my face.

“Takoma Park. Red Line.”

“Oh, okay. Opposite direction. We’re Bethesda,” he says. “So, I guess this is good-bye.”

I never really know the protocol for this kind of situation. It’s like when you’re in line at a store, and a grandma starts telling you all about her grandchildren or her arthritis, and you smile and nod along. But then it’s your turn to check out, so you’re just like okay, well, good-bye forever.

Which is kind of tragic, if you really think about it.

There’s a little computer sign that says how long you have until each train gets in. Red Line to Glenmont arrives in ten minutes. That’s us. But the Red Line train to Shady Grove is basically pulling in now. Will and Max and Mina leap up the escalator to catch it.

By the time we reach our platform, their train has already left the station.

So, that’s it.

EXCEPT CASSIE HAS MINA’S NUMBER. It shouldn’t surprise me, since Cassie’s great at getting girls’ numbers. Sometimes she gets a number and immediately forgets about it. Or she hooks up with a girl once and then loses the number on purpose. Cassie can be kind of ruthless.

Olivia nudges me. “That Will guy likes you.”

“What?”

“That’s a thing. You pretend to recognize someone as an excuse to talk to them.”

“According to who?”

“The internet.” She gives a very serious nod. Olivia is a very serious person in general. I honestly think there are two kinds of quiet people. There’s the kind like me, who are secretly full of storms and spinning gears. And then there’s the kind like Olivia, who is the actual personification of an ocean on a sunny day. I don’t mean that she’s simple. There’s just something peaceful about her. There always has been. She likes dragons and stargazing and those calendars with paintings of faeries on them. And she’s been dating the same guy since we were thirteen. Evan Schulmeister. She met him at summer camp.

“Hey, guess what.” Cassie pops up over the back of the seat in front of me. “Your boy is single.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your ginger. Mr. Peach Butt Hipster Pants. He’s single and ready to mingle.” She waves her phone at me. “Mina confirmed it.”

“Cassie!”

She grins. “You’re welcome. Mina’s going to get the ball rolling.”

I freeze. “What?”

“You think he’s cute, right?”

I don’t respond. I just gape at her, and Olivia giggles.

“Because you looked pretty happy to be talking to him.” Cassie pokes my arm. “Look. I know your crush face.”

“I don’t have a crush face!”

Holy shit. Do I have a crush face? Does the entire world know every time I think a guy is cute?

My phone buzzes in my pocket, startling me. A text from Abby. Molly!!! Tell me about the hot redhead guy!

“Are you kidding me?” I show Cassie the phone. “You told Abby?”

“Possibly.”

I feel sick. I might actually throw up. Preferably all over Cassie, who’s now texting again. Probably about me. And my supposed giant crush on some guy I talked to for five minutes. Cassie always thinks she knows me better than I know myself.

I mean, yes. Will is pretty fucking cute.

Olivia gives me this tiny smile. “You look so horrified right now, Molly.”

I shrug wordlessly.

“I thought you wanted a boyfriend.”

“Exactly,” Cassie interjects, turning back to us suddenly. “Like, this whole Molly thing with the secret crushes that go nowhere. I’m over it.”

   
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