“Ow,” Arno said. Slowly, he got to his feet.
Mickey had popped an inadvertent wheelie on the way down Greenwich Street and Arno had flown off the back and nearly been run over by a Hummer.
When Mickey looked back to see what had happened, he’d swung around too quickly and the weight of his cast had made him lose control of the Vespa. It slid under the middle of one of those extra-long accordion buses, and the back tire had gotten crunched. Both boys were wide-eyed now and a little shaken. Mickey waved his cast around in the air.
“How messed up is it?” Arno asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll find out tomorrow,” Mickey said. He quickly grabbed the Vespa out of the street and leaned it up against the side of a building. A doorman came out and Arno knew him slightly, because he’d been a frequent visitor to a girl who lived there the year before.
“Could you watch this?” Arno said to the doorman, and flipped him fifty bucks before the doorman said no.
“I’ve got an idea,” Arno said. He hailed a cab, and they got in. “We’ll go to my parents’ house and see if there’s a car.”
“Sounds good,” Mickey said. They got in touch with David and Jonathan. A few blocks later, they were in front of Arno’s house.
Several limousines idled out front. They were all waiting for people who were having dinner inside. Arno scanned the drivers.
“Hey, Ezra,” he said suddenly to a youngish guy in jeans and a T-shirt who was leaning against a black Cadillac Escalade. “Is that the cheesy piece of shit you’re driving the Currins around in these days?”
Ezra nodded and winked at Arno. He’d been playing a computer game on his handheld.
“It’s a lender,” Ezra said. “The electric car’s in the shop.”
Arno nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jonathan come up in a cab. Then David loped around the corner, on foot. Finally, the four of them were together.
“You want to take us somewhere?” Arno asked.
“What’s in it for me?”
“There’s a black Vespa on Greenwich that’s a little fried but it’s yours if you can drive us for a few hours.”
Ezra nodded, and the four boys hopped into the Cadillac. The inside smelled new and everybody rolled down their windows. They all took a deep breath and relaxed.
“First things first,” Jonathan said. Arno nodded.
“David, I’m sorry,” Arno said. “There’s no excuse for what I did.”
“I’m going to keep going out with Amanda,” David said. “And this is the last time you do this, right?”
“I swear I’ll never fool around with a girl you like again,” Arno said. “Hey, I’m happy for you and Amanda. She was just … she was just getting with me because she was afraid of the intensity of the thing she has with you.”
“Now the two of you shake hands and we’re a group again,” Mickey said. And they did. Arno held David’s hand for an extra moment, and he looked him in the eye.
“I really am sorry,” Arno said.
“Just don’t do it again,” David said.
“On to the next subject,” Mickey said. He checked his watch. Nearly nine. Everyone nodded. “Let’s go to Siberia first and get a cocktail.”
“Where’s your new shoes?” Jonathan said to David.
“Oh, I guess I forgot to put them on.”
“And the shirt?”
David shrugged. Jonathan frowned. David was wearing the same outfit he always wore.
“He doesn’t need to dress cool to be cool,” Arno said suddenly. “Isn’t that right, David?” David stared at him.
“Yeah,” David said slowly. “I guess that’s right.”
“That outfit was important to me,” Jonathan said.
“Dude!” Mickey said. “Do not say things like that.”
“Yeah,” Arno agreed. “We’re all into clothes and all that crap, but the way you talk about what people are wearing, like it’s important. I mean, stop before I puke all over the place.”
“If you do puke, watch out for your four-hundred-dollar alligator Gucci loafers.”
“Fine,” Arno said. “But I don’t think about it. Just like David doesn’t think about how he’s been wearing the same sweatshirt for three years.”
“Yeah,” David said. “Jonathan, after we find Patch we’re going to go to work on your values.”
“Oh, shut up,” Jonathan said. But everyone else was laughing.
Arno felt relieved. David didn’t hate him anymore. He was back, and his friends were into him. Nobody was going to hate each other forever.
“Drinks are on me,” Arno said.
“Cool,” Ezra said from the driver’s seat. “I called some people already.”
They arrived in front of Siberia. It was dark out and cars flew by on the West Side Highway.
“What happens if we don’t find Patch?” Jonathan asked.
“We’re going to find him,” everyone else said. “We have to.”
They all spilled out of the Escalade and of course Kelli was there, with Randall Oddy and a whole bunch of older people.
“Damn,” Arno said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jonathan said. “You’re over her.”
“Yeah,” Arno said. But he knew that was only about 49 percent true. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the shower he’d taken with Mariela just a few hours before. Forget this, remember that. He said that to himself about a million times in one second, but then Kelli smiled at him.
“Hi,” Kelli said. “I was just leaving. There’s this party in Chinatown that’s supposed to be absolutely incredible.”
“We’re going there, too,” Mickey said. “Remember, this came up last night?”
Mickey had come out of nowhere. Arno was impressed. After falling off the Vespa, Mickey probably needed to go to the hospital again.
“In fact,” Mickey said, “we’re friends with one of the hosts.”
Arno snapped his fingers and winked at his good bud, as if to say thanks, man.
“Whatever,” Kelli said.