More Happy Than Not

Aaron wakes from a nightmare about his dead father to find that his mother is clearing the house of things that remind them of the father. Aaron protests, but his mother says that the man they loved was gone a long time, even if he’d only died four months ago. Aaron doesn’t help, but his mother and brother gather everything and take it to the trash incinerator. Aaron goes to Thomas’s, where they set up Genevieve’s birthday surprise on one of the roofs.

For her birthday date, Aaron takes Genevieve to a pottery-painting place where she paints a vase. Afterward, he takes her to Thomas’s building for the surprise, reflecting on how he has always been too ashamed of his family’s one-bedroom apartment to bring her there. On the roof is a picnic blanket and a projector that plays a star show on the side of the building. Overwhelmed with emotion, Aaron tells Genevieve that he loves her for the first time. She says he doesn’t have to say that, which hurts him. She gives him a drawing of them that she made after their first date and says she loves him too.

Aaron feels lost and abandoned when Genevieve leaves for art camp. His therapist has advised him to talk to someone when he feels lonely and unhappy, but Aaron ignores this advice and goes looking for Brendan. Instead he finds Skinny Dave and plays handball with him for a while. Bored, Aaron calls Thomas so they can talk about random things.

Aaron and Thomas meet the next morning to go to the movies. Thomas used to work at the theater, so he knows a way to get in without paying for tickets. They bond a little over a book series they both like, Scorpius Hawthorne. The movie they choose seems as though it will be romantic, but it is better than the black-and-white film Thomas was interested in. The plot follows a guy who is trying to find a cute girl he saw on the bus to return her phone; he looks through it to figure out how to get it back to her but discovers a list of things she wants to do before committing suicide. He figures out that she’s going to the pier and rushes there, but when he arrives, he finds police cars already present. It makes Aaron angry and upset.

Back in the neighborhood, Aaron and Thomas come upon an open fire hydrant and play in the water. Aaron admires Thomas’s muscular body and feels self-conscious about his own body. Genevieve calls; she and Aaron talk briefly, but Genevieve hangs up quickly after realizing Aaron’s hanging out with Thomas. As he and Thomas hang out and make plans for a sleepover, they repeatedly use the phrase “no homo” to indicate that their desire to spend time together isn’t motivated by homosexual feelings or interest.

Aaron’s mom insists on meeting Thomas before agreeing to let Aaron sleep over. The meeting goes well, and she says yes. The boys go to Thomas’s building and set themselves up on the roof with the projector so they can watch Jaws. They talk a little about sex with their girlfriends and ex-girlfriends. When they return to Thomas’s bedroom, Aaron sees something called a Life Chart on the wall. Thomas explains that he’s dividing his life into different areas and attempting to improve himself in all of them: “school/work, health, self-actualization, and relationships” (77). Thomas says that meeting Aaron has given him a boost in his relationships department and that Aaron should help with the project. Aaron says he will, if Thomas helps him stay happy so he doesn’t kill himself. Thomas agrees.

Aaron wakes up in the morning, feeling guilty for not calling Genevieve the night before. Thomas is already up and journaling. Aaron admires the cleanliness and size of Thomas’s house, comparing his own home to it negatively. After Thomas makes breakfast, they go for a walk, on which Thomas confesses that Aaron is his only real friend because his previous friends all abandoned him on his birthday to go to a concert without him. Thomas likes Aaron because he’s not willing to settle for being stuck in the projects but is able to dream about the future. Aaron argues that he’s actually the guy who tries to kill himself to escape. As they walk, they pass a group protesting outside the Leteo Institute and learn that the procedure left a girl brain-dead—the fourth that week.

At the protest, Aaron marvels at the number of people present. One man tells them about the girl who underwent the procedure and never really woke up but remains brain-dead in a coma. Other protesters tell them that they are there to protest Leteo’s decision to perform the procedure on a man who killed his wife and four-year-old son in a car accident. The man is haunted by pain and guilt, which the protesters believe he should have to live with.

There is a small group counterprotesters, too, and Aaron imagines Kyle’s parents there with a sign saying “GOOD JOB ON MAKING MY SON FORGET HIS TWIN. HE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE AN ONLY CHILD” (85). As they leave, Aaron tells Thomas that he’d thought the procedure was bullshit until someone he knew went through it; he tells Thomas the story of the Lake twins and asks if Thomas would ever do it. Thomas says no because everyone and everything in your life serves a purpose.