“Huh. Interesting,” Justin said. He was quiet for a moment, his forehead crinkled. “But what about—”
“Ooh, I love this song,” Rose interrupted, leaning over him to turn up the radio volume. She bobbed her head to the energetic beat as the British singer promised his love that she was never second best. Must be nice, Rose thought, to know you were someone’s first choice.
Justin listened for a second; then his eyes widened in recognition. “Oh, I’ve heard this one,” he exclaimed, sounding surprised. “They did a COVID cover of it. I watched it on YouTube during lockdown.”
“They did a . . . what?” Rose said. Most of the words that had just come out of his mouth sounded like total gibberish.
“Um, you know what?” he said, his forehead creasing slightly. “Let’s just say the band re-recorded it a couple years ago—in my time—and I watched a video of it.”
“Which one of those words meant that?”
“All of them. Sort of.”
Rose shook her head, wondering if she’d ever get used to all the ways his world was different from hers. “You know, it’s been forever since I’ve heard this song,” she said thoughtfully. The last time had probably been when she and Lisa were on their Valley Girl kick last year and nearly wore out the library’s VHS copy of the film. “They played it a lot on the radio when it first came out, but that was a couple years ago. Maybe it’s a sign.”
Justin raised an eyebrow. “A sign of what?”
“That we’re going to succeed. I mean, a song about two people taking on the world together and changing the future? That’s gotta mean something, right?”
“Okay, first of all, I didn’t think you believed in signs. Whatever happened to ‘not everything happens for a reason’？”
“Well, yeah, not everything. But a song on the radio is just one tiny thing. It could be a little nod that we’re on the right track.”
“You are seriously moving the goalposts, but fine. Second of all, that is not what this song is about.”
Rose listened for a few more seconds as the singer repeated the chorus. “Yes, it is. He’s talking about things getting better when he’s with her. And how the world stops when they’re together.”
“No, he’s talking about how the world is about to actually stop. It’s about a nuclear apocalypse. Like, the chorus is about them physically fusing together.”
“With love.”
“Nope. With radiation.”
“No. No way.” Rose ran back through the lyrics in her head as the song faded to an end, wishing she had it on cassette so she could rewind it. It was a love song. Wasn’t it? That was definitely how it had been used in Valley Girl.
“I’m telling you, I looked it up when they did the cover, and that’s totally what it’s about,” Justin insisted.
“There’s a book about this song?”
“No, it’s just on the internet. I told you about—”
“Oh right, I remember.” He’d described the “internet” as an infinite library that everyone had access to through their computers, a concept she still couldn’t quite wrap her brain around. “So they die?”
“I mean, maybe not during the song, but death is definitely imminent.”
“But . . . but he says things are changing! And that the future—”
“It’s supposed to be ironic. They’re totally dead. He literally says they melt.”
Rose dropped her head into her hands. “You just ruined this song for me.”
“It’s not my fault some British dude decided to write a super-peppy song about having sex during a nuclear blast. That’s for him and his therapist to work out.”
She groaned, then cut her eyes to the radio, which had moved on to the next song. “What about this one? You going to tell me it’s really about running someone over with your car or something?”
Justin shrugged, reaching over to turn down the volume. “I mean, I think it’s just about the power of love, but if you want to get all morbid about it—”
She smacked him with a pillow, sending him tumbling off the bed, even though she definitely hadn’t hit him hard enough for that.
He didn’t bother climbing back up, just propped his arms on the edge of the mattress and rested his chin on his hand. “So my point is, if that song was a sign, it probably means we’re doomed.”
“Or maybe it’s just a sign that it’s good we found each other,” Rose said. “Those people seemed pretty happy not to be alone, even if the world was about to end.”
“Well, yeah, I mean, if you’re gonna die, that’s probably the way to go.”
“Not just that,” Rose said, fighting the blush she could feel rising in her cheeks. “But even if it is about dying—”
“It is.”
“—isn’t it also about the importance of having someone with you when things feel impossible? That maybe sometimes, even if you can’t change anything, it’s good to be with someone who makes you believe that you can?”
“So now you’re saying it’s a sign that we’re delusional and this whole plan is a waste?”
“Are you trying to be irritating?”
“Just comes naturally.”
Rose gave a frustrated sigh, although the corners of her mouth kept insisting on tugging upward. As irritating as he could be, there was something energizing about him. Like she had to remain alert in case he changed direction without warning. Most of the time, it was kind of fun. “I’m saying that maybe it’s good to have someone in your corner who can push you to keep hoping when it would be easier to give up.”
Justin thought for a second, then nodded slowly. “Yeah, I can get behind that. You can be my motivational apocalypse buddy.”
“Maybe without the apocalypse part.”
“We’ll see.”
She tapped her eraser against the legal pad. “So let’s make a plan and hopefully we can avoid that?”
“Sure thing,” he said, hauling himself back up onto the bed. “But first, subject change. Tell me something about your mom.”
That was not what she was expecting. “Why do you want to know about my mom?”
“Because it feels like she’s a big part of why you’re helping me, and why we’re even making this whole stop-the-fire plan.” He shrugged. “Plus, it just seems like you think about her a lot. So I thought you might want to talk about her.”
“Um,” she said, flustered. “I mean, I was only five when she died . . .”
“But you still have some memories of her, right? Or stories your dad told you?” He scratched the side of his head, giving her a crooked smile. “Sorry, am I being too much? Alyssa says I can be a lot.”
“Is Alyssa your sister?”
“My friend,” he said, his cheeks turning slightly pink, making her wonder if this Alyssa was his “friend” in the same way that Noah was hers. “I, uh, don’t have much of a filter. I just say whatever stuff comes into my brain. ADHD thing.”