While my friend was looking at his phone, I looked up at the sky. Inside my head I envisioned myself looking up at the sky from a cool angle, like I was on the cover of a video game.

Then before my friend was done texting the girl he was talking to those days, I stopped my pose and acted like I was doing nothing. Just holding my hands halfway into my pockets.

"You coming or what?" I said.

"Relax, man."

We exited the parking structure and walked around saying nothing much to each other besides for a few

inside jokes

  he and I had been repeating to each other past week. It was the only thing I could think about talking about without him asking me the thing I didn't want him to ask me.

It was late enough that the street lights were on, but the time wasn't that late. The clouds in the sky were the swirly kind that made it feel like we were inside of a snowglobe decorated as ice cream.