Simone Was Right (She Usually Is)

July second. The argument started somewhere around four in the afternoon and did not technically end, because Simone left for a prior thing and I stayed on my side of the table with the last of the chips and no verdict delivered. The question was simple: stay up tonight and watch the Stranger Things volume two finale, or be a person who sleeps and watches it tomorrow like an adult with a morning. Simone's position was clear. Mine was also clear, which is why there was an argument.

We had this exact conversation at the kitchen table, which I want to say on the record looked very casual and low-key and was in fact deeply sincere. I had points. She had more points. I made mine with a hand gesture that I thought was persuasive and she made hers by putting her hand flat on the table, which is the international signal for 'I am about to be correct.'

the exact posture of someone who is right and knows it

There were chips involved. This is important context. The iced drinks were doing their thing in the late afternoon light and Gerald's vine was just visible doing nothing above the stove, and it was one of those afternoons that felt completely ordinary and also like exactly the kind of thing I'll want to remember later, which is why I propped my phone on the counter and let it run.

For the record: I stayed up. The finale was four hours long. Simone texted me at eleven asking if I was still awake and when I replied immediately she sent back a single period, which is her version of 'I knew it.' She was right. She usually is. The cord is still on the table, second and third rows added, sitting there like it's been waiting, and the summer feels like it has a lot of this kind of afternoon still left in it, which I am choosing to take as a good sign.