When Dahlia arrived at the pizza joint and saw Omar sitting beside Jack, her boyfriend looming over his effeminate friend, something worried her, made her queasy, although she wasn’t sure why. Omar and Jack had been close friends since they’d roomed as freshmen. Their names had become a single utterance, like Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street. But in the past month, there had been some kind of coldness or falling out between them. Since Dahlia and Omar had started dating secretly. They both had strict parents who just wouldn’t approve of the match, for very different but equally vehement reasons. Seeing the two together – and they were together in a very visceral sense: they were sitting catty-corner, not at opposite sides of the table – made her want to turn and run out the door.
