how to catch feelings

68

We walked down the sidewalk, Kat towering a good nine inches over me even in her usual flats.

"Not as nice as New York," I said, purely to get a rise out of her.

"Fuck New York."

"Wow. Harsh."

"Meh."

"So whatcha wanna do?"

She gave me a dirty look. "You're the guest."

"Ugh. Okay, I dunno, the Bean?"

"Fuck your bean."

"Well, do you have a better idea?"

"No."

So we walked to Millennium Park to see the Bean.

Kat scoffed at the tourists taking selfies but offered to take my picture with the dumb sculpture.

Guess I'd have to add that to my Insta feed. It would go well with my awkward picture from Central Park.

"Now what?"

"Hell if I know." Typical Kat.

"Well, are you hungry? We could get lunch."

"Yeah, sure."

"You wanna get your Chicago pizza?"

"I eat that shit every week."

"Excuuuse me."

"I didn't say I didn't want to get pizza. Jesus."

I laughed. "Alright. Pizza. Know any good places?"

"Bitch. Do I look like a map?"

"Maybe." I got out my phone and opened the maps app.

Pizza nearby.

"Okay, so if we walk like five minutes that way, there's a pizza place," I said.

"Do they have good reviews?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Look it up."

"Oh my gosh." Regardless, I Googled the place. "Four stars."

"Good enough. Lez go."

Of course it couldn't be that easy. We made a wrong turn, then another, then another. It was Battery Park all over again.

Kat was getting more and more pissed by the minute.

I turned my phone again, trying to find a landmark to orient myself. "Okay. So. If we walk up this street... and then take a left. It should be right there."

"Yeah. Sure. Right."

I started walking, and she followed with a huff.

To my relief, we found the place and it wasn't anything like those cramped little spaces in Queens.

We sat at a corner table and had a good look at the menu.

"Whatcha think their idea of a personal pizza is?" I asked her.

She didn't seem too amused, but she wasn't going to chill out until she ate.

"Alright. What if we split like a little pizza? So we can get the deep dish?"

"'Kay."

Oof. Hangry.

I ordered for us when the waitress came back around.

Kat picked at her cuticles, and I had to look away.

I snuck a glance at my phone; one notification, from Tik Tok.

I'd look at it later.

Neither of us spoke again until we'd gotten our pizza and eaten a sizable chunk of it.

"Ugh. We're gonna have to carry this around the rest of the day," I said.

"Nah. I'ma eat it."

"All of it?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Fuck yeah."

"Alright. Go for it."

"I will." And so she did.

***

"Y'all haven't been writing anything about that murder. What happened with that?" Kat asked.

We were walking through Water Tower Place, having gotten fed up with the wind.

"I dunno. I just kind of dropped it, since it seemed like that's what everyone wanted. I wasn't getting anywhere with it anyway."

I knew she would be disappointed, so I didn't look at her. Instead, I pointed to the Lego store.

"Let's go in there."

I didn't wait for her to agree. I just walked.

"It happens," Kat said as I was looking at the Lego City kits. "Hitting a wall. But that's when you FOIA their asses."

"I tried that. Came up empty."

"You've talked to everyone who could possibly be involved?"

"Some. I kind of cut ties with the baseball team."

"Uh oh."

"What?"

"You said you cut ties with the baseball team. What happened there?"

"Nothing."

"Mmhmm. Right. Sure. Nothing."

I could feel her using her death stare on me, but I resisted.

Only for a minute.

"I just had a kind of falling out with a guy on the team. We were just friends. And then we weren't. That's all there is to it."

"Riiight."

"Why are Legos so expensive?"

"Beats me. So that was it?"

I gave her a sideways glance. "What? My attempt to be a journalist, or my attempt to be friends with someone?"

"First of all, you're fine. I wouldn't have picked you if I thought you couldn't handle it. And second, I take offense. Am I not friend?"

"No, yeah, you're a friend. You know what I meant."

"Maybe."

"If I sold one of my kidneys I might be able to afford one of these." One shelf alone could have fulfilled all my childhood fantasies.

"Probably both kidneys."

"Dang."

"Yup."

"Oh well. I don't have room for Legos in my backpack anyway."

"You only brought a backpack?"

"I'm only here for like two days. Unlike you, I don't need three outfit options for each day."

"I like to have options!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"What if I want to wear pants? What if I'd rather wear a dress?"

"Good grief."

"You only say that because you wish you were as cool as me."

"Okay. Sure. That's exactly it."

"I knew it."

My phone buzzed again. Just a snap from a classmate. "What if we go to the American Girl store?"

"Fuck your American Girl. Wait. No. Don't do that."

*** ***