Chapter 6 #3
“Well then, I guess we’ll have to rely on Diya for the forecast,” Cash says.
“Don’t rely on me,” Diya says. “Rely on science.”
“Of course we’ll rely on you!” I say, doing a full body twist to look her in the eye. Then I turn back to my pancakes. “Or we would, if we were going. But we’re not. We cannot risk getting stuck in New York. We have the biggest day of the year tomorrow—our last Cooper Christmas Eve.”
“Who said anything about tomorrow?” Izaac says.
After another minute of tapping and squinting, he turns the phone to show me a map with location pins.
“If we head out soon, we could be in Brooklyn before noon, find your girlfriend’s bakery, which is here.” He points to a pin. “It closes at five p.m. You’ll have plenty of time to make her fall madly in love with you—”
“And have the most movie-worthy queer Christmas magic kiss!” Cash interrupts, sighing like a lovestruck Disney princess.
“And we can be back on the road before the snow starts.” As Izaac says this, he switches to the weather app. “Which is not supposed to happen until…”
“8:23 p.m.,” Diya says, holding up her own phone with a much more sophisticated radar app she’s been addicted to since she discovered it last winter.
“We’ll be back in time for you all to get your beauty rest before the big day at the farm tomorrow,” he adds.
“Mic. Drop.” Cash performs the motion, looking proud of his boyfriend.
I am astonished. It could… actually work.
“You could run the world with that thing, you know,” I say, pointing to Izaac’s phone.
He gives me that future politician grin as Cash pats his head. “I intend to.”
But then I frown.
“Wait… we’re supposed to have our marathon today,” I say. This might sound like a silly objection, but it’s literally the only tradition we have left this year.
“Are you kidding me?” Izaac says.
“We can watch movies anytime, B,” Cash says.
I pause. I’m about to say that it’s not just about movies, and it’s not an “anytime” kind of thing. It’s a tradition , and a Christmas tradition.
And yet, as much as I want the comfort of our customs, I can’t help that the possibility—even if it’s the slightest one—feels hard to turn down.
I mean, after all this time, could this really be it?
My chance? Part of having your dreams come true is recognizing the opportunity and seizing it, right?
“Well, there’s still one very important voice we haven’t heard from,” I say, and we all look at Diya.
Diya is the only one who can match Izaac in a debate.
They’re both incredibly practical but Izaac’s whole change-the-world, can-do attitude means that at times he is maybe a little overly confident—convinced that with enough grit and determination, anything can be done.
Meanwhile, Diya is more risk averse, and prefers things be planned, orderly, and scheduled well before the attempt.
We all wait.
“I mean, risking our presence at the farm tomorrow for the Bazaar and the party would be catastrophic,” she starts.
On one hand, this could shut the new plan down, but on the other, maybe she’s about to back me up on the old plan.
“But… based on Izaac’s calculations, it does seem possible, and…” She pauses. “It could be fun to have an adventure together.”
I look at her, shocked. Diya must be in her feelings thinking about how we’ll be split up next year. That’s the only explanation.
Which, I guess, presents another upside—having a chance to convince Diya that New York is her destiny too.
“Babe?” Izaac asks Cash.
“I mean, true love and cookies are good enough reasons to do anything. Besides, I’d like to see more of Brooklyn,” he says, mouth still full of syrupy pumpkin flapjacks. “Gotta start planning my ’fits for next season!”
“Seriously, I don’t want this to be a distraction for anybody,” I say. “We all have a lot going on and this is our one holiday day together.”
“It’s not a distraction, it’s a quest ,” Izaac says, looking at me. “Besides, this could be our last big adventure!”
“It sounds like a movie!” Cash says.
“A real-life rom-com,” Diya adds.
I look at my friends. All of them appear… eager? Excited?
Lately I’ve felt like I can’t give anyone in my life what they want anymore. But right now, it seems like my friends all want this . And even though this means abandoning our last tradition tonight, it does guarantee that I get the whole day with them.
I think about my new project, too. Maybe the universe is giving me this chance to find something extraordinary: a whole city packed full of humans who are probably living out all kinds of magic moments. I just have to turn on the camera and capture them.
It also gives me a good excuse to hold out on Naomi a little longer, which is not nothing.
“Okay,” I say after a moment. “Let’s do it.”
Cash jabs a fist in the air. “Operation Christmas Cookies!”
“Mission: Battle a Blizzard for Love,” Diya adds.
Izaac bangs his fist like a gavel on the table and sets the plan in motion. “Let’s split up and meet at the station at”—he looks at his phone—“9:45. Bring coffee,” he says, pointing at me. “A first kiss requires extra fortitude.”