Pete smiled. “Two point one one.”
“Nice! Let’s see, still no Minesweeper, but they have Reversi, cool.” Arnesto eagerly began playing.
Pete’s smile faded. “What do you mean, ‘Still no Minesweeper?’”
“Mild spoiler, but they add Minesweeper to Windows three or three point one or something.”
“Did you use computers your whole life?”
Arnesto played, capturing two blue pieces, but then the computer recaptured his red pieces, plus three more. “I’m good at math. How am I losing on the lowest difficulty? Yes, I used computers extensively for all my decades.”
“Does processing power continue to double every couple years?”
“Moore’s Law? Yes, for many years to come.”
“So, you must have had computers, what, thousands of times more advanced? Or more? This computer must seem so quaint to you.”
“Fuck! I lost because I was rushing. Doesn’t count.” He started a new game but then noticed Pete waiting for a response. “Not at all. I mean, sure, if I think about it, I can recall using one of my many computers from the future, but they’re a distant memory at this point. This” — he pointed toward the computer — “is about the best personal computer in the world right now. I am honestly as excited about this machine as you are. Except for the fact that I’m losing again!”
Some of Pete’s smile returned. “You can’t keep giving up the corners. Let me see that!” He reached for the mouse, but Arnesto waved him off.
“Wait, let me finish!” he snapped. He inevitably lost again, then switched seats with Pete, who started a new game.
“How’s senior year going?” Arnesto asked.
“It’s not the same without you. Well, physics is fun, even better than we thought it would be. Mr. Hinkley has this large magnet, but Josh took it and—”
“Stuck it to the ceiling vent! Mr. Hinkley couldn’t get it down. I remember; that was hilarious!” They enjoyed a good chuckle together. “Did anyone notice I was gone?”
“Actually, yeah. Every now and then somebody asks where you are or what happened to you. And no, I don’t tell them you’re touring with Aerosmith. Did you find your wife yet?” Pete asked.
“No,” Arnesto sighed. “I wish I had. I could have been boning her by now. I keep looking, though. How are things with Min-seo?”
Pete groaned. “She ended it last weekend. There!” Pete said, clicking with extra gusto on the last square to give him the game.
Arnesto stood up. “My turn.”
“No way. You played twice, I get to play twice.” Pete changed the skill from “Beginner” to “Novice.”
Arnesto sat back down. “Sorry to hear about your breakup. But like they say, ‘Better to have loved and lost than to have missed out on some poontang.’”
“Ugh, we never made it that far. We came close a couple times. I thought for sure she was going to be my first. You know what frustrates me the most, though?” Pete asked.
“People who say, “It happened on accident,’ rather than ‘by accident.’?”
Pete furrowed his brow, Arnesto having interrupted his train of thought. “I have never heard anyone in my life say, ‘on accident.’”
“I guess it hasn’t started yet. Maybe it’s a generational thing.”
“Why in holy hell would people suddenly start saying, ‘on accident?’ That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Things happen by accident. How can something possibly happen on accident?” Arnesto shrugged. “Jesus, how else do future generations defile the language?”
Arnesto thought for a second. “They add ‘at’ to everything. It’s not, ‘Where are you?’ anymore, it’s, ‘Where are you at? Where is this at? Where is that at?’ I know, it’s awful. I never got used to it,” Arnesto said, noticing Pete’s disgust. “‘Said’ gets replaced by ‘was like.’ I was like, ‘Pete let me tell you about the future,’ and you were all, ‘Hells to the no.’”
“People don’t talk like that, do they?”
“Don’t throw shade just ‘cause bae caught me slippin’. Ship it crucial, he lit af, fam!”
“If they want to sound like idiots, good for them.”
“Good on them.”
“This is literally the most depressing conversation I’ve had this week, and that includes the one where Min-seo dumped me.”
Arnesto didn’t have the heart to tell him that “literally” would also come to mean “figuratively” around 2013. He also felt guilty about commandeering the conversation. “Anyway, what were you about to tell me? Something that frustrates you?”
Pete shook his head back to reality. “It was the way she ended it. She came up to me at work and said, ‘Peters, we done now, bye.’ I spent the whole shift trying to talk to her, to ask her why, but she wouldn’t talk to me. Just like that.”
“Jeez, that’s rough. Which… which, um… What number…”
“My god, spit it out, man!”
Arnesto wanted to get the phrasing right. “Is this your first breakup?”
“Yeah…” Pete said with a hint of suspicion. “You know what, I’m already at peak frustration level, go ahead and spill it, spoil my whole life if you need to.”
“Min-seo is your first. Or will be, if you want. I’m positive about that.”
“But she dumped me.”
“Yeah, she tends to do that.”
“Jesus, how many times?!”
“I don’t remember. At least a few. But hey, this is good news!”
“How the hell is this good news?!” Pete asked.
“You get back together with her and you get laid!”
Pete digested this for a moment. “Huh. I guess it is good news. I’m going to get me some!” He perked right up. It wouldn’t last long.
“How’s the rest of the hospital gang doing?”
“Fine,” Pete said, suddenly looking uncomfortable.
“What is it, what happened?”
Pete sighed. “Jacqueline — she died exactly like you said. Someone at work saw her obituary in the newspaper. I’m sorry.”
“Goddamnit. It’s my fault. I could have saved her,” Arnesto said, throwing his hands in the air and feeling like someone had punched him in the gut.
“It’s not your fault. You’re in no way responsible. You warned her, remember?”
“It was too soon,” Arnesto said.
“Yeah, she was only a little older than us.”
“No, I was too soon. I warned her months in advance. Maybe if I had warned her that day…”
“Did you remember the date?” Pete asked.
“No, but I knew I was way early. If I had been closer…”
“Forgive me, but without even knowing the date, I don’t see what you could have done. Look, how’s college going?” Pete asked, eager to change the topic.
“It’s good. My programming classes are harder than I remember,” Arnesto said. Pete couldn’t resist smiling at this. “My favorite class is Poly-Sci, believe it or not. We have the class in this auditorium that used to be a movie theater. The seats are so comfortable. I go to class, fall asleep, and wake up when it’s over.”
“Aren’t you missing vital info from the lecture?” Pete asked.
“No, he pretty much reads from the textbook. When the Berlin Wall fell a couple weeks ago, I thought for sure we would at least discuss that, but no. The textbook is hilariously out of date, by the way.”
“Is it, or are you biased because it’s all ancient history to you?” Pete asked. Arnesto took a moment to consider this until Pete interrupted his train of thought. “I just heard the garage. My family must be back. I’m sorry to have to kick you out, but I have a history paper due. I’ll walk you out.”