Parallel

“She’s better than I am. And this matters more to her.”
    “First of all, she’s not better than you. More experienced, maybe, but you’ve got better instincts. Second, impressing recruiters on Saturday could mean a crew scholarship. Or a leg up at a great school.”
    “The only ‘great school’ I’m interested in going to is Northwestern,” I remind him. “And they don’t have a varsity team.”
    “I know you’ve got your eyes on Northwestern. But the Ivies are always looking for rowers. Crew could be your way in.”
    “I don’t want to go to an Ivy,” I snap. “I want to go to a school with a journalism program.”
    “Doesn’t Columbia have one?”
    “Not undergrad. Look, I get it that it’s most people’s dream to end up at Yale or Harvard or wherever. But that’s not what I want.”
    Josh holds his hands up. “You won’t get any argument from me. If it’s not what you want, it’s not what you want. I thought you weren’t applying to those places because you thought you couldn’t get in, and I wanted to make sure you knew that rowing could be a way in. If that’s what you wanted,” he adds. “If it isn’t, it isn’t.”
    “It isn’t,” I say firmly.
    “Okay. So what about USC? A journalism program and a great rowing team.”
    “Do you ever give up?” Did he just suggest I apply to USC? As amazing as things are between us, we haven’t gone down that road. There’s been no discussion of applying to the same schools, because we both know that would force one of us to forgo our top choice. I look at him, waiting for this conversation to become that conversation, but Josh just kisses me on the nose. “Hey, there’s Tyler.”
    When I turn to greet him, Tyler doesn’t return my smile. He looks uncharacteristically glum.
    “Is Caitlin coming?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. Caitlin hasn’t come to a single party or school-related event since our fight. She spends every evening and most weekends at the Tech astrophysics lab. At least, that’s what she’s told Ty every time he’s tried to make plans with her. He and Caitlin are still friends, but it’s different now that she knows how he feels about her. Complicated where it used to be so effortless. No wonder Caitlin’s been living at the lab, a place where order is imposed on chaos and not the other way around. It’s her escape from the havoc. A haven from Tyler’s searching eyes and my incessant calls.
    “Haven’t talked to her,” he says, looking past me to Josh. “Let’s get some food while it’s hot.”
    “So I have something to ask you,” Josh says as he’s walking me to my car, under the close watch of the two park rangers patrolling the parking lot. They showed up about an hour ago, when the sun disappeared behind the pine trees that line the riverbank. The picnic lasted way longer than anyone thought it would. It’d still be going if the park rangers hadn’t kicked us out. Josh and I are the very last to leave. We hung around under the guise of cleaning up, but really we wanted to watch the sunset through the pines. Just before the sun sank behind the horizon, he kissed me. Pressed up against him, I could feel his heart through his chest, beating as wildly as my own.
    “Uh-oh. Should I be nervous?”
    “Only if you say yes.” He smiles at my quizzical look. “Come over tomorrow,” he says. “For Thanksgiving. My mom is cooking enough food for a small army, mainly because she’s anxious about my brother being in town, and cooking keeps her busy.”
    “Your brother’s in town?” Josh has mentioned his brother only a handful of times and never by name. I didn’t quite envision him as the home-for-the-holidays type.
    “He will be,” Josh replies. “He flies in tonight and leaves Friday morning.”
    “Quick trip,” I say, and then wonder if I should have.
    “Yeah. He never stays more than a day. Which is good for all of us, believe me. Things are pretty tense when he’s around.”
    “Sounds fun,” I joke.
    “Not in the least,” Josh replies, still smiling, but his voice is less joking than mine. “Which is where you come in. I’m hoping you’ll deflect some of the tension,” he admits. “So you’ll come? We usually eat around two.”
    “I’d love to,” I tell him, suddenly thrilled that my grandparents decided last minute to spend this Thanksgiving in the Caymans. When my grandma cooks, the meal starts promptly at one, and she expects us to spend hours