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to watch. The crowd around the table had grown. “You have no rooks, you have no queen . . . you have no chance, my friend.”
    Jake leaned toward her. “We need to talk,” he announced. He locked his eyes so tightly and securely with hers that she didn’t even try to avert his glance this time. It was almost like a mild form of hypnosis.
    â€œAbout what?” Gaia uttered.
    â€œNot now,” he said, looking over at the wall clock. “I’ve got to pick something up for my dad. But we’re going to move your stuff over to that boardinghouse later, right?”
    â€œRight . . . ”
    â€œSo I’ll be done in about a half hour. Then we’ll walk a little bit before we head uptown. And we’ll talk.”
    â€œAbout what? ” Gaia repeated. But of course some part of her was smarter than that. She could see in his eyes what he wanted to talk about. He wanted to talkabout them. He wanted to talk about what was clearly happening between them and what was going to happen between them. He wanted to talk about when talking would not be what they spent most of their time doing. He wanted to talk about everything Gaia had been having a delightful time not talking about But exactly how long was she planning to avoid that talk? Old Gaia would have voted for as long as humanly possible, given how ridiculously burned she’d gotten with all this romantic stuff. But new Gaia . . . ? What would new Gaia do?
    â€œNot here,” Jake said. “Later. We’ll talk. You and me.”
    Gaia looked deeper in his eyes. “Okay,” she heard herself answer.
    â€œOkay,” he said. And before he’d even finished that one word, he’d pressed his large hands against the table, leaned his entire torso across, and kissed her. Short, sweet, and deep on the lips. In the middle of Starbucks. With everyone watching.
    It was so unexpected. And yet it was so natural. As if it belonged. As if they’d been together for months. And for that one moment Gaia felt like they had been. She felt like everything was right. She felt undeniably normal. For one perfect moment, with Jake’s lips pressed to hers, she felt like one of those real girls, complete with real girl tingles down the back of her neck and her real girl hands clasped tightly to her seat. And just as quickly Jake pulled away, backing himself out of Starbucks as he smiled at her.
    Then he was out on the street and gone.
    Star-Crossed lovers
    A VOICE ECHOED THROUGH ED’S head. Something about bands that would be playing that night around town. Something else about the movies at the Film Forum. Some part of his brain realized that the voice was Kai’s—that she was talking a mile a minute, with her usual unbridled enthusiasm about their potential plans for the evening. But Ed really couldn’t hear a word. He couldn’t hear Kai, and he couldn’t hear the commotion surrounding the nearby table where two boys were playing chess. He couldn’t hear much of anything at the moment. All that seemed to matter right now was what he could see.
    Gaia and Jake. Kissing. Gaia and Jake kissing across a table in the middle of Starbucks like the happiest teenage lovers in the worst kind of movie.
    It was like they were one of those couples whose names had become one word at school: Are Jake-and-Gaia coming? Hey, did you guys go to Jake-and-Gaia’s party last night? It was making Ed feel unexpectedly ill.
    But that really wasn’t any of Ed’s business anymore, was it? No, that really had nothing to do with Ed in the least.
    And why the hell do you care? Ed hollered internally as Kai continued to read out options from The Village Voice. You don’t care, Ed. You don’t give a crap. That’s Gaia’s life over there. This is your life over here. You and Kai. Making plans. For Christ’s sake, you’re the one who finally called things off with