Read Online The Youth & Young Loves of Oliver Wade: Stories by Ben Monopoli - Free Book Online

felt like a different person.
    Boydyboy: ooookkkk who are all these
different Ollies ? explain to me.
    OwOw0: something happened to part of me and that apparently is
starting to influence the part of me that people see and who walks around.
grades, etc.
    Boydyboy: what happened?
    OwOw0: if I have to tell you then I don’t even want to talk about
it.
    Boydyboy: what’s this cryptic shit.
    OwOw0: I guess I’m just sick of being other people’s Ollie so often....
doing the things people expect and afraid to do what i want to do. i’m like 90% to being like Fuck it all.
    Boydyboy: i bet. why do you even think
there are two ollies . There is only 1 Oliver Wade.
that is defintely a sign that you’re not being true
to yourself. and yourself = happy
    OwOw0: And you are captain Honest Abe over there all the time? i think you’re two Boyds the same
as i’m two Ollies .
    Boydyboy: nevermind , what the hell do i even care what you do. i have
homework to do.

 
    ***

 
    Sometimes when I got disconnected from America Online an
error message popped up right away; other times it happened quietly in the
background and I would be typing and sending IMs for two or three minutes
unaware that Boyd wasn’t getting them. Our entire friendship had come to feel
like that second type of disconnect. My words, which at one point had seemed to
find him as though they were magnetic, now flew right past. Or maybe he was
dodging them.

 
    OwOw0: It’s snowing pretty hard out.
    Boydyboy: Let me look................................... yeah.
    OwOw0: Think we’ll have school tomorrow?
    Boydyboy: I fucking hope not, i still
have homework i’m not going to finish.
    OwOw0: Maybe I’ll go outside and make a snow angel... :-)
    Boydyboy: ... and that would be gay
    OwOw0: Sometimes it’s nice to at least pretend you’re a kid again
don’t you think? When you looked at snow and thought it was so great instead of
thinking, “Fuck! I have to drive in this shit!”
    Boydyboy: brb . dad needs phone
    OwOw0: yeah, fine.

 
    Now at night I lay awake wondering when it fell apart
between Boyd and me, if there was one specific moment. Or if falling apart,
like falling in love, was just something you suddenly found yourself in the
middle of.

 
    ***

 
    Spring started hinting at summer. By now the tangled
ampersand between us had replaced itself with a comma that was half on its way
to becoming a period.

 
    OwOw0: i nominated “ Nightswimming ”
by REM for the official song of the junior prom. all those dumb shits better
vote for it
    Boydyboy: i thought you weren’t going to
that thing
    OwOw0: i’m not going. but if the song is
there i’ll be there, in a way.
    Boydyboy: yeah your record with school dances is RATHER POOR hahahahah

 
    Ouch.

 
    OwOw0: I just can’t be bothered.
    Boydyboy: by the way, Nightswimming sucks. it will get 1 vote! :-)
    OwOw0: I think it’s you who sucks.
    Boydyboy: i think it’s you who WISHES i sucked!
    OwOw0: I think it’s YOU who WISHES I WISHED you suck!
    Boydyboy: Uhhhhhh . no, actually.
    OwOw0: i’m so confused.
    Boydyboy: that’s because all that fuckin REM is rotting your brains out.
    OwOw0: .......I don’t even know what to say to that........
    Boydyboy: well go ahead and take 20 or 30 mins and see if you can come up with something.
    OwOw0: You know how I feel about REM. What is this, beat up Ollie
night or something?
    Boydyboy: heheheheheheheheehheheheheheh
    OwOw0: whatever.
    Boydyboy: wait are you really mad at me? i was just fooling around.
    OwOw0: are you drunk again?
    Boydyboy: :-( no. i feel bad. I’m sorry.
    OwOw0: Sure you are.
    Boydyboy: I won’t do it again.
    OwOw0: you promise?
    Boydyboy: promise what? ;-)
    OwOw0: Promise not to bash REM again.
    Boydyboy: yes...................................................
    OwOw0: that giant flood of periods makes me skeptical. I’m logging
off.

 
    ***

 
    Since I was spending less time online nowadays my grades
had improved—there was solace