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It happened one day in lunch. Gina and Susie were rambling on, as per usual, and Ari was thinking about Dante, as per usual. Ari didn't notice when Gina and Susie stopped talking. He was daydreaming about kissing Dante under the stars in the desert. Then Gina punched him in the arm.
"What's gotten into you, Ari?"
"What?" Ari asked. He didn't think anything had gotten into him. Except maybe Dante, the other night when-
"Ari! You're doing it again." Susie said this with a small smile.
"Doing what?"
"Daydreaming," Gina said. "You keep looking off into the distance and getting all smiley and weird. I don't know what you did with the Aristotle Mendoza I know, but I'm not sure I want him back."
"I can't tell if I should be offended or not."
Susie laughed. "You look happy." Ari looked at her. Susie had very nice eyes. They were always soft and warm and she looked into Ari's like she knew all of his secrets.
Gina was always the one to interrogate. "So, Ari. I need to know. Who is making heartless, pessimistic Aristotle Mendoza a lovesick puppy? Is it a girl I should know of?"
Ari expected the feeling to come. The shame, the need to deny. Because, no, it wasn't a girl that was making him happy. It was a boy, and that was bad.
But the feeling never came. Maybe his feelings were another secret of the universe.
"No, it's not a girl."
"Did you get another dog?" Susie asked genuinely. That made Ari laugh.
"No, it's not a dog." He paused. "It's a boy."
"A boy?"
"Yes. Dante."
"Dante? Isn't that the boy you saved?"
Ari hated that. If anything, Dante had saved him. "Yes. He's my boyfriend."
Gina was the first one to speak. "Damn, Ari. I was really counting on us getting married in the future. I guess not."
Ari looked up from where he was picking at his nails. Gina was smiling, Susie was all knowing.
"You guys don't care?"
"Care? Please. Susie suspected this from the second we found out that little tale was true. You don't jump in front of a car to save someone that's just your friend, Ari."
"Sure you do. It happens in movies all the time."
"Okay, yes. But you wouldn't. I know for a fact you wouldn't jump in front of a car for me or Susie. Don't deny it. It's just not who you are. You don't act on your feelings. Unless they're very, very strong. And you had strong feelings for Dante. So you jumped in front of a moving car for him."
Ari didn't realize how well his friends knew him. He didn't realize how transparent he was. Maybe both Susie and Gina were all knowing.
"I'm happy for you, Ari." The warm eyes appeared again.
"Thank you."
Another secret of the universe: Platonic love. Ari didn't realize it could be so strong.