My Boyfriend, his Best Friend, and Me: A Love Story

By Lily King

In the fall of my senior year in college, a guy from my 17th century–literature class asked me out. We saw a movie about the Vietnam War and went back to his rented house for a beer. He was quirky and cute, but we were stiff and unnatural together, and I remember thinking, as I sat on his couch, that we probably shouldn’t go out again.

Then his roommate, Henry*, came home from his date. It was the ’80s in North Carolina, and everyone had a date on Saturday night. Henry behaved like he’d just gotten out of jail. He came into the living room and acted out the goodbye at his date’s sorority house, how he’d put the screen door between them before he’d have to kiss her. He stood there in front of us, wielding an imaginary door like an oversize shield. I’d never been on the male side of a date postmortem. Henry went to bed, and, punchy from his performance, the cute, quirky guy and I started kissing. Read the full piece at Vogue.

Lily King’s Writers & Lovers is one of our current book club favorites. To read more about it — and everything else we’re currently loving — visit our Books in the Bag page. Please consider joining us for our Books and Breakfast event featuring Lily King on April 21!