Artie
Even though he'd just had pizza a couple days ago, with his family at home, Artie was living the college student life and having it again. This time, he'd opted to suggest they all go out for his birthday on Tuesday night.
He wanted Zack to feel comfortable, and he figured a public place was a little more comfortable than the weird apartment shared by their other three friends and definitely more comfortable than packing everyone into Artie and Sam's dorm. He'd also invited Zack's girlfriend, Dana, to join them, partly so that Julie would be more comfortable, too.
So he found himself surrounded by friends on the evening of his birthday that Tuesday, but he was still missing one person. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about Kitty since their unexpected run-in and his subsequent invitation for her to join them.
And he was painfully aware of how unfair this was to Julie, who seemed to be delightful in any and every setting. He especially loved the way she kept ensuring that Dana and Zack were part of the conversation at dinner. She just had a natural ability to put people at ease with her warmth.
"Go-karts," Sam was saying. "That's what you did for your birthday last year with Ki- with, uh, with the kids in glee club."
Artie suspected that Julie probably knew exactly what Sam had edited out of his sentence just then. He did it in such a painfully obvious way, too, because it wasn't at all natural for the guy to lie. And it was just that, a lie. Because he hadn't ridden go-karts with the kids from glee club. Just Kitty. She'd surprised him with an impromptu road trip adores the state line, to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
"Yeah," Artie said. "You guys want to?" As he said this, he glanced over at Zack and wondered if riding in a go-kart would be sort of terrifying if you couldn't see where you were going. On the other hand, you were just going in a circle...
"There's a place not far from campus," Brent added. "I went with Grace last weekend."
"I'm not so sure this Grace exists," Lee teased him, as he usually did, about the girl he'd just started going out with. "I haven't seen her yet."
"She exists," Garrett supplied, with an exaggerated eye roll. "She's in our Philosophy class and Brent likes her because she does all the talking, so he doesn't have to."
"I'm more of the strong, silent type," Brent explained, to his enormous credit, because it was sort of out of line for Garrett to tease him. Brent had this mild speech impediment that you almost didn't notice unless you were listening closely. He was pretty self-conscious about it, to the point that he talked around the words he couldn't really say properly and hardly ever introduced himself using his last name, Warner, since he couldn't exactly say that.
Earlier that evening, Zack's keen ears had picked up on it and he'd leaned over to quietly while they'd been waiting on the pizza, to ask Artie where Brent was from originally. And Artie had quietly explained that Brent had this speech thing he was embarrassed about. Zack had nodded, as if he'd figured that out but hadn't wanted to be rude.
Artie just had a knack for finding friends like this, he supposed.
But looking around the table at all of them, he felt pretty blessed in that moment. He didn't even mind actually celebrating being twenty anymore. He didn't have reason to feel self-conscious about his age in college. They were all various ages anyway. (Sam was quite surprisingly the youngest out of the bunch, as well as the only expectant father.)
"Okay, so are we doing this then?" Lee asked. "Because I'm looking online at this place and we'd better hurry. The place closes earlier on weeknights. But it's also cheaper. If we go now, we could have, like, an hour."
Luckily, the pizza was almost gone and they'd already paid. They hurried out of there as best they could, with a wheelchair and a blind guy in tow. But Artie had to admire Zack's sense of humor. He had a wise crack ready anytime he'd trip or miss a step, and he'd had them all in stitches doing his "Stevie Wonder Impression" at the table earlier.
As they arrived and unloaded in front of the go-kart place, Artie taking the longest to unload, Zack suggested, "Let's tell them this is our Make-a-Wish."
"Disneyland was my first choice," Artie added, as he settled into his chair and glanced up at Julie, wearing an amused smirk.
She, on the other hand, seemed distracted. She didn't notice his joke or react. It wasn't the first time he'd noticed her being distant that evening. Sure, she was doing a lovely job of including Dana and Zack in the conversation, but was it his imagination, or was she kind of ignoring him? It was hard to be one-hundred percent sure. They hadn't had very many group dates, other than the Grand Canyon.
Artie didn't have time to hyper-focus on that situation and analyze it to death. He had the arduous task of getting himself into a go-kart to attend to. It was an awkward transfer, and finally, he just had Sam lift his ass and help him insert himself into the tiny car. Done.
And the next thing he knew, Zack was climbing into the car next to him, even though it was supposed to be Julie. Julie had already climbed into a car with Dana.
"I was kidding about the Make-a-Wish," Artie said, staring at Zack with a crazed expression that Zack couldn't see. "I don't wanna die tonight."
Zack chuckled as he folded up his cane and secured it with the elastic. "You steer," he explained. "I've got the pedals. Check it out, together, we've got this."
"Uh, we don't got this," Artie tried to protest, even though he was laughing now too. "No, no, I can't even reach the wheel from here. Shit, man, I'm gonna have to sit in your lap."
More laughter from their friends ensued as Artie then tried to get in Zack's lap and Zack commented that Artie had just confirmed his suspicions, that he was a pretty small dude. Artie was offended. He didn't know he could sound like he was a small guy.
As the rest got into their cars, Artie was quick to shoot a death glare at Lee and warn him that if he tried to ram the blind guy and the cripple duo, there would be some form of terrible payback coming to him later.
They made it around a few times without incident, with Artie and Zack's car just hitting the wall one time. Zack sang 'Jesus, Take the Wheel' the whole time.
Eventually, they swapped out, and Artie got to ride with Julie while Dana steered Zack's car. He noticed that Julie deliberately drove much slower with Artie as her passenger, probably painfully aware of the fact that he was a guy in a chair with no awareness of his lower half and, on top of that, a progressive case of scoliosis. Not that Artie wasn't aware of those things most of the time, but sometimes, he could push it aside and think of other things. Not the case with Julie.
"Okay, okay," Sam finally said, after it had been nearly an hour and the lone employee had taken to standing at the edge of the track and staring at them, while waiting to close the place down for the night. "I think we should do that guy a favor and scram."
"The voice of reason and responsibility," Lee teased, bumping into the back of Sam and Garrett. "Must be because you're gonna be a dad soon. Fine, we'll go."
He didn't really get to the bottom of what was bugging Julie for three more days, but it was definitely not his imagination. Something was bothering her. He couldn't help but mentally trace it back to the last weekend, when she'd gone home and encountered the dreadlocked former swim teammate who obviously regretted not dating her, instead of her friends, in high school.
And why didn't that bother him more? Maybe because it would be a good excuse to cut her loose? It was so wrong of him to want to do that, to a person as kind-hearted and gentle as Julie Hunt.
That was why the break up date came as something of a relief.
She'd suggested they meet for coffee on that Saturday morning, not something outside of their normal activity, but he could tell something was up when she immediately rejected his suggestion to include Zack and Dana.
"Okay, what is it?" He'd waited until they both had their lattes and had gotten settled, before asking her to come out and say it.
Julie immediately burst into tears. "I'm... I'm not coming back," she started. "To Ohio State. I'm gonna transfer to Stanford next year."
That was not what he thought she was going to say. He wanted to comfort her but he also wanted an explanation first. "Who's making you do this?"
Her whole family had gone to Stanford, so Artie's immediate assumption was that it was them. But Julie was already shaking her head. "No-no one," she stammered. "It's my choice."
"Oh." Artie couldn't find any more words for a moment. She swallowed hard and continued talking, even though he supposed he should say more first.
"Stanford, uh, they actually won Collegiate Synchronized Swimming in 2013," she went on, even though they both knew these probably weren't any of the reasons she was doing this. "They'll match my scholarship... and increase it... if I transfer."
Julie didn't really need money for college. Artie had seen her house. He furrowed his brow, because it wasn't entirely adding up.
"Is this for the ex-boyfriend and Stanford student Patrick?" he asked, eyebrows raised. "And here I was so sure you wanted the other guy who dated your two best friends. But, all along..."
"What?" Julie was already shaking her head and looking upset about this suggestion before he'd even finished explaining his theories. "No! It's... it's that I want to be close to my sister. I think I would have a better time at Stanford, I just don't feel like I've made any real connections here, I mean, except for..."
"Me," Artie supplied.
"You," she said, biting her lip. "And Sam, of course, everyone loves Sam. But, can I be really honest here, Artie?"
"Sure, go for it," Artie answered, staring down at his coffee cup. He couldn't make sense of the lump in his throat, even though he thought he wanted to end this himself at some point.
"The truth is," she went on. "That I've felt, for a long time, that you're really just killing time until that Kitty girl graduates and that you don't have any long term plans for me, other than to string me along for awhile and then dump me when the time is right. And I'm just... not in it for that."
Artie swallowed hard against the lump. "That's... fair," he admitted, at which point she fell silent. He looked up long enough to notice a single tear tracing her cheek. "I'm so sorry, the last thing I want to do is make you cry."
"I-I need to be completely honest too." She finally spoke up again, after a pause that felt endless to Artie. Now she was reaching across the table for his hand, when she should have been... I don't know, maybe throwing her hot coffee at me?
"I thought this was you being completely honest," he said.
She shook her head. "No," she said. "Artie, you are the greatest guy, but I've had our doubts about us for... awhile now. It took me this long to say something because I didn't know how to break up with you, without you thinking I was just afraid to keep on dating you, because of the chair."
Artie nodded. "Makes total sense," he said, nodding and giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "And if I'm being honest, I'm always afraid the girl is going to feel this way. Like she can't get out, without hurting the poor cripple's feelings and being a horrible person."
"And you thought she'd feel that way too." Julie squeezed his hand even more tightly. Artie realized he was pretty transparent, that Julie already knew 'the girl' in the scenario Artie had just described was Kitty.
"I didn't mean to string you along," Artie said, diverting quickly because he felt very strange discussing Kitty with Julie, plus he didn't want to make her cry anymore. "I didn't mean to make you feel like... like my second choice... you've been nothing short of incredible, Julie."
"I know you didn't do it on purpose..." Julie nodded, but Artie could still see that she'd been hurt by him. They tried to move past it, tried to continue with the conversation at the table, now as friends instead of significant others. But the fact remained: he'd left another heart behind in his path of destruction...
It was weird how they broke up, then promptly made plans as usual for dinner and the campus movie-in-park (even though the film choice was always questionable, at best). Artie counted himself lucky that she would do this, considering Zack had Dana and Sam had his sister and it really sucked to be alone. At least, for now, he and Julie could be alone, together.
And yet, there was a silver lining to all this. He couldn't help but think how it was kind of convenient, to be single just in time for the dreaded surgery that he didn't want to ask anyone to see him through. Not Kitty. Not Julie. Not anyone. Maybe he just needed to learn how to embrace the single life. He'd become addicted to love, addicted to just having someone validate him and make him feel worthwhile. And that could be a dangerous path.
"So, I couldn't help but notice, on Facebook, that you're single."
Marley Rose was not the person he expected to hear from first, after that fateful click of a button that broadcast his relationship status to the world. He really hated social media sometimes. It was a lot easier when you didn't have to announce these things the second they happened. Of course, he was always proud to share anytime he was in a relationship, but the opposite could be quite humiliating.
"Uhhh, yeah," Artie told her, tucking his phone against his shoulder and briefly wheeling away from the table where he'd just been sharing an ice-cream with his ex-girlfriend and Zack and Dana, after their movie non-date. "Why? You want a piece of this?"
Marley laughed, as Artie did too. "Well, I'm flattered, Artie, but I'm taken. No, actually, I'm asking for a friend. And she doesn't know I'm calling. So there's really no pressure, I just wanted to tell you something."
"What's that?"
"Ryder's decided he's taking Jordan Stern to junior prom," she said.
"Neck-brace Cheerio? But she graduated last year."
"I know," he said. "It's completely weird, I agree. I mean, uh, not that people who graduate can't date high schoolers or that guys who date older women are weird... just specifically, Ryder and Jordan."
Artie chuckled at all of Marley's attempts to be P.C. just then. "What does any of that have to do with me being single?"
"Well, Kitty was planning to go with Ryder as a friend..." Marley explained. "Of course, for awhile, it looked like prom was gonna be cancelled. Some of the seniors broke into the school over spring break and took a bunch of inappropriate pictures all over the building. Some of them were taken in Principal Sylvester's office."
"Didn't they steal that idea from 'Blamtina' - Sam, Blaine, and Tina?"
"Well, but they took it a step further," she went on. "The guys were like, wearing nothing but tube socks. You know, kind of like the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Principal Sylvester went ballistic and cancelled the whole prom. Now it's rescheduled, but it's going be really late this year. After Nationals even."
"Are you calling to suggest I take Kitty to prom?" Artie looked across the ice-cream parlor, at Julie and Dana and Zack, who were all laughing about something at the table.
"Precisely."
Artie sighed. "Like, as a friend?"
"Well, look, that part's up to you guys," Marley said. "I'm just the messenger. And I'm just telling you because Kitty won't admit it, but she's really upset about going to prom by herself. She always has fun with you. I just figured you guys would for sure have a good time."
Artie sighed again, thanked Marley for her concern, and told her he'd think about it. This was definitely going to complicate his grand plan to be single.