“Rory.” I didn’t know what to say. So I just said it. “I love you, too.”
“Knock knock!” Janet opened the door, carrying a big white ceramic bowl in the crook of her arm. “Popcorn’s ready!”
“Thanks, Janet,” Rory took the popcorn. I turned away from them, wiping my eyes on my shirtsleeve.
“So bright in here! You guys can’t watch your show in this.” She flipped off the light. “Have fun! Don’t stay up too late!”
I got up and turned on the lamp by my bed. Rory set the popcorn bowl down on my desk.
“Where were we?” he asked.
“Um. I was apologizing.”
“No, I mean, where were we in the series?” He examined the DVD shelf. “Season Three, right? ‘Pusher’? Or were we already up to ‘Jose Chung’ and the lava men?”
“I can’t remember,” I admitted. “It’s been a while.”
“Maybe we should start over,” Rory suggested.
“From the very beginning?”
“Why not? Pilot episode. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl to possible alien abduction . . .” He waved the first-season DVD box at me. “Tell me I’m crazy,” he deadpanned.
“Mulder, you’re crazy,” I couldn’t help smiling as I finished the quote. “But are you sure you want to do this?”
“Watch The X-Files? Do you even have to ask?” Rory cracked open the DVD case. He dropped the disc into the player. The machine hummed, warming up.
“Seriously, you really want to re-watch a nine-season-long television series, one episode a week, starting from the pilot episode? I mean, don’t you have a life now? Aren’t you gonna get bored?”
Rory yanked the pillows off my bed and propped himself up in his usual place on the rug. I sat down on the edge of the bed. Not quite able to settle in yet.
“Bored? Lula, come on.” He grabbed the remote. “It’s the beginning of a great adventure.”
Rory turned on the television. The copyright warnings faded to black and the old, familiar theme song started up. Without missing a beat, we both joined in, whistling in unison.
It wasn’t long before both of us were laughing again.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Jeff Bens for reading this back when it was a too-long short story and encouraging me to keep it in motion.
Thank you to Kat Georges, Peter Carlaftes, and Constance Renfrow at Three Rooms Press for your hard work, tireless dedication to getting it right, and unflagging enthusiasm. Thank you, Victoria Bellavia, for making it look beautiful.
Thank you to Emily Sylvan Kim, Manhattanville College, and the practitioners and staff of Sports Medicine at Chelsea for your continued support through the years.
Thank you to Jackie Sheeler, force of nature. Thank you to Jenn Northington for getting behind this book early on, and to Jesse Orona for schooling me on Dana Scully as Gay Icon.
I have the best friends in all of explored space—eternal gratitude to all of you!
Heather, Hannah, Liz, Flip. Ryan and Tracy. John P. Dang, y’all.
Thanks and apologies to my family—maybe someday I’ll write something without so many damn cuss words in it. Sincerest thanks to my grandparents and my great-grandmother for being the village.
Thank you to the fandom and the fans.
Thank you to Chris Carter, Robert Pollard, and my parents.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MEAGAN BROTHERS IS THE AUTHOR OF two previous novels for young adults, Debbie Harry Sings in French and Supergirl Mixtapes. She has also been, variously, a musician, a performing poet, a record store clerk, and an adjunct professor of creative writing at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY. A native Carolinian, she currently lives and works in New York City.
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