Page 81 of Friends with Benefits

Polite laughter fills the space before fizzling into awkward silence. Theo hates that Evelyn flew across the country for people who don’t seem to have anything to say to her as much as he hates awkward silence.

So he says, “Hi.”

Evelyn blinks. “Oh! Aunt Mir, Uncle Mat, this is my… do you remember Theo?”

“The plus-one.” Theo holds out his hand. “Mazels. It was a beautiful ceremony.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Miriam says, then raises her eyebrows at her niece. “Are you two…?”

“Friends.”

A wrinkle forms between Miriam’s eyebrows. “Oh. I thought… Naomi told us you got married?”

“What?”

Mateo snorts, nudging Miriam. “Told you it was bullshit.”

“Is Mom coming?”

“Supposedly.” Miriam shrugs. “You know how Naomi is. Margot’s career always comes first.”

Theo frowns.

Career?

Margot issix.

Before Evelyn can respond, another middle-aged couple in a cocktail dress and well-fitting suit pull Miriam and Mateo’s focus from their niece.

“We’ll catch up later,” Miriam promises, squeezing Evelyn’s shoulder.

“In the meantime, enjoy the open bar,” Mateo says.

And then their backs turn and there’s nothing to do but be at a bat mitzvah surrounded by strangers. Avia’s theme is Broadway at the Bowery. Theo and Evelyn are assigned to theMamma Mia!table, seated with the nieces and nephews from Mateo’s side of the family. Lina, Samuel, and Binta, who are hilarious and loud and love to finish one another’s sentences. Evelyn flails through the small talk. Refers to herself as a glorified intern.Fellow, Theo corrects, yelling over an electropop song that’s giving him a migraine. Everything about this night is so opulent and overstimulating. Activities include a photo booth, a VR station, three caricature artists. Evelyn orders a blueberry banana smoothie from a Jamba Juice cart. Theo feels like he’s in a movie.

Back at their table, she sips on her smoothie. “I didn’t think about this part.”

“What?”

“People-ing.” Evelyn stirs her straw. “With so many… I don’t know, family-adjacent people?”

“It’s a lot.”

“Avia asked me in the smoothie line if I’m friends with her parents. Um. First of all, how dare Disneyland not be a core memory? Second, how old does she think I am?”

Theo laughs.

She lightly shoves his shoulder in faux offense. “Shut up. I just… hoped it would feel different. Being here.”

“How does it feel?”

Evelyn shrugs. “Honestly? Like a waste of time.”

She excuses herself to use the bathroom, leaving him alone. Theo’s here to be her best friend, so he stands and approachesDJ Schmuel because he can’t fix her family feelings, but hecanrequest a song. And thirty minutes later, when it blasts through the speakers, he can take Evelyn’s hand and pull her to the dance floor because one cannot hear “Cupid Shuffle” and notdothe cupid shuffle. It’s just a fact. He’s relieved when Avia and her countless friends populate the dance floor. Thrilled that “Cupid Shuffle” is timeless. Elated when Evelyn laughs. Sometimes he thinks he’d be content if that was his only purpose in life, to make her laugh. “Cupid Shuffle” becomes “Dancing Queen” and Evelyn takes his hand, pulls him closer to her, and he feels so helpless, sohopeless, as she places his hands on her hips and wraps her arms around his neck.

“I miss this.” She flushes, those three words a confession. “Dancing with you.”

He stares at her, his heart in his throat because it’s not something they talk about.

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