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“Hey, it’s okay kid,” Argyle says, slumping down into the couch. “I’ve never been invited to cool parties either. Well, I have, but not because of my sparkling personality—”
Jonathan sends him a glare over El’s shoulder.
“What I mean is,” Argyle hastens to add. “I’m not popular and that’s okay! Popular is boring. Overrated.”
Will nods solemnly along with him, perching on the arm of the couch. Thanks, little dude.
“It sounded like fun,” El says, disappointment clear on her face, wringing her hands.
“Trust me,” Jonathan says. “It probably wasn’t. We can have a party right here. And I bet it will be better.”
El smiles wanly, her eyes still a little shiny.
“Can we play ‘seven minutes in heaven’?” She asks.
“Uh, what?” Jonathan looks taken aback.
“They girls were talking about it in the bathroom. They said they were going to play it at the party.”
“Oh. Um. No. It’s like a kissing game, El.”
“Oh,” she nods her head sagely. “Can we have pizza then?”
“You said the magic word, little dude!” Argyle says, pushing to his feet. “I’ll put in an order.”
When the pizza arrives, Jonathan and Argyle take it to the kitchen. Will and El and discussing the merits of a few different movie options with serious intensity. They are funny kids. Argyle grabs a few sodas from the fridge as Jonathan cuts the pizza. On a whim, he lays his can of coke flat, spinning it on the counter.
“Hey look,” he says, pointing at where the coke is facing clumsily somewhere near Jonathan’s wrist.
“That was a shitty spin,” Jonathan says, unimpressed, but there’s a smile hovering at the corners of his mouth.
“I can do better,” Argyle says, spinning it again. It almost flies off the counter, saved only by Jonathan’s quick reaction.
“No luck.”
“Does that mean I don’t get ‘seven minutes in heaven’ with you?”
Jonathan slaps some slices onto a few plates, smiling openly now.
“We’ll see about it later. Take these to the kids.”
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