Sonder

Part 46

This is a BIG DEAL. The two protagonists are in public, together, as a couple, for the first time, yet they're still "unofficial". This is Nick's first time in a public venue with a partner, as an 'adult'. This causes a panic and insecurity.

Nick knows Kevin. Clair's ex. Kevin is still one of her best friends. He's so cool. So talented. So nice. He's an all around great guy. Nick admires, respects, and envies Kevin. As far as Nick is concerned, Kevin deserves to be with Clair more than he does. Nick is nervous about Clair's friends. He's nervous about everything. Her life has a depth and complexity that will surely reject him like the foreign defective body he is.

The concert is at Steve's Grill, half local diner, half pub. Cozy dim lighting with brick walls and wooden accents. They see Nikki, her hair has grown back with the lukemia in remission. They meet her fiance Ricardo. Danni asks for an update about Corey. Katie is another friend who resembles a mormon Barbie with the face of a Cabbage Patch doll. Kevin, from Nick's anatomy class is on stage with his band "Excalator Alligators.

Nick is struck by the memory, when he started going to school at Eaton, he had assumed Kevin and Clair were brother and sister. Both beautiful and bronze skinned rebels with their black clothing and piercings. This assumption was, of course, disrupted when he witnessed them making out in the halls.

Somehow it comes up that Kevin has gone to rehab... for marijuana... which is both intense... and suburban. 

Nick also sees Brad, the Juggalo he befriended during summer school after freshman year.

Clair's parents are here. Chris, the cool guy with the t-top Firebird. Gabe. Nikki's family... people returning back from college. The "female predators" who had scared Nick with their advances in earlier years: "Jalapeno", Ashley, Jenny.

They pinball through these people... familiar, but estranged. They matter... but soon he'll be thousands of miles away in bootcamp. Do they matter? Of course they do, they're Clair's people. Does anything matter?

Seeing Clair hug Kevin, a horrible jealous impulse tells Nick: "Punch Him!" No!.. The more rational mind counters and sanity returns. Feelings of romantic jealousy, class envy, and inferiority swirl around. But, the charm of Kevin soon calms all that.