“Toby,” Cassidy whined. “Tell him.”
“Seeing how all of my suits came from the fine atelier of Messrs.’ Salvation and Army, I wouldn’t know.” Toby grinned, enjoying my discomfort. “But he definitely needs a pink button-down.”
“Like hell I do. You guys suck.”
“Do we need some help over here?” A smiling saleslady who could have been one of our classmates’ mothers asked.
“We do, actually,” Cassidy said brightly. “Do y’all do complimentary tailoring on suit jackets?”
An hour later, I had a trunk full of shopping bags and a tailoring slip for a new suit, which I could pick up in a week.
“It could’ve been worse,” Cassidy said, patting me on the shoulder as we climbed back into my car. “You could have spent two hours trying on different types of trouser pleating with your mom.”
“You haven’t met his mom.” Toby laughed. “It would have been three hours. And a surprise haircut.”
“When did you two join forces?” I grumbled.
“Not soon enough, apparently.” Cassidy grinned. “Now who wants to study for Mr. Anthony’s quiz?”
Toby’s schedule was a flip of ours; he had English first and then history.
“How about you just give me the answers at break tomorrow?” Toby suggested.
“How about I glue your bow tie around your neck?” Cassidy retorted.
“I’d like to see you try.” Toby laughed and turned on the radio. “Now let’s get the hell out of the Prism Center now that we’ve got what we came for.”
“Are we studying somewhere, or am I dropping you back at the Fail Whale?” I asked.
“We’re studying.” Toby sighed.
We drove over to this giant sprawl of superstores near school called the Legacy. It was nice spreading out our stuff in the Barnes and Noble café, drinking coffee and studying with other people like it was some sort of social activity. I’d never done it before.
Well, I mean, I had, when Charlotte insisted we do our homework together in Starbucks back when we’d first started dating, but that was mostly her rubbing my pant leg under the table until we had to give up on studying and go back to her house, since her parents were never home. So I suppose I’d never studied effectively with other people. Sure, Cassidy teased me, pretending she’d messed with my drink when I came back from the bathroom (she hadn’t; she just wanted to make me suspicious), but we actually got work done.
By the time we were reasonably prepared for the quiz, it was getting late.
“So Faulkner,” Toby said. “I might be wrong, but I think you want to buy me dinner because I was so much help picking out a tie.”
“Fine,” I said. It had always been like this, even when we were kids. My five-dollar-per-week elementary school allowance had financed the bulk of his Sour Patch Kids and Pokémon Cards addiction. “Let me tell my mom I won’t be home for dinner.”
I took out my phone, stepped into the magazine section, and quickly assured my mom that no, we weren’t having fast food, and yes, I’d bought everything I needed.
The conversation wasn’t ending anytime soon, so I sat down on the bench and flicked through a copy of Rolling Stone someone had left, wishing she’d just learn how to text.
“Yeah, I got, like, loafers or something . . . with rubber bottoms, I remembered that part . . . I don’t know, sort of red brown.”
I sighed, wishing she’d lose interest.
“Mom,” I said forcefully. “Everyone’s waiting, I have to go . . . Yeah, I’ll be home before nine. Okay . . . okay, bye.”
“Oh, shut up,” I said when I got back to our table in the café.
“I didn’t say anything.” Toby grinned broadly.
“Your silence is judging me.”
“That’s probably true,” Toby admitted.
We walked across the parking lot to In-N-Out Burger, which doesn’t technically count as fast food, since you have to wait for it.
“Do you know about their secret menu?” Toby asked Cassidy. “Because you can order all sorts of things. Root beer floats, animal-style fries . . .”
“Obviously.” Cassidy rolled her eyes. “I have lived in California before.”
“No! Really?” Toby mocked.
“Well, do you know about the palm trees?” I asked.
Both of them stared at me. I grinned.
“There are two palm trees planted in an X outside of all the In-N-Outs,” I said. “It’s from some old movie the owner liked, because in the film a treasure was buried there.”
“That’s terrible,” Cassidy said. “Pretending a fast-food place is a buried treasure.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I think it’s cool. Most people don’t know about it, but when you do, you look for the X every time you drive past an In-N-Out.”
“Like IHOP,” Toby said. “My cousins call it ‘dohi,’ since that’s IHOP upside down. It gets in your head. You’ll just see an upside-down dohi sign next time you pass one, trust me.”
Immediately, I thought of the hydrocarbon chains in organic chemistry; the same thing upside down, and how knowing to look for it changes your whole perspective. I almost mentioned it, since Cassidy would know what I was talking about, but I didn’t. Not because they’d think I was weird, or nerdy, but because the moment was so perfect that it just didn’t need anything else.
“DUDE,” TOBY WHISPERED as we took our order receipt. “Did you know that Justin Wong worked here?”