Hi, yeah. It was fine.
I didn’t say anything to get you in trouble.
Desmond
Are YOU okay, is what I wanted to know.
Jack
I had to take a shower when I got home because I was so sweaty lol.
I sit, staring at my phone and waiting for a reply to come through. There’s a long enough pause that I start thinking he got distracted by Parker, so I put my phone to the side and crouch down to pull a book out of the stack sitting on the floor next to my bed. My phone vibrating across the bedspread distracts me once more. Desmond’s message makes me smile.
Desmond
Are you busy tonight? I could pick you up.
Jack
Really? You’re not doing stuff with Parker?
Desmond
See you in twenty?
Jack
I’ll be waiting outside!
Patting myself on the back for showering after the meeting with Coach Mackenzie, there’s not much for me to do but sit and wait. At the seventeen-minute mark, I leave myroom and head down the stairs, sitting on the bench I always utilize when I’m waiting for Nate to come get me.
The sight of Desmond’s car sends another flood of happy warmth through me, and I smile goofily at it, blushing as I walk to the curb. Desmond reaches across the front seats, popping the door open as I approach. I climb in and fight the random urge to hug him. I am so fucking happy he’s here.
“Hey, Jacko,” he greets me, smiling.
“Hi. Thanks for coming.” I click my seat belt into place, fidgeting with the strap and trying to be discreet in my perusal of him. It takes me a second to realize I don’thaveto be discreet. I can check him out any time I want, now.
He’s wearing the casual sort of clothes I’m used to seeing him in when I go over for Saturday laundry: cargo shorts and an old T-shirt that has been converted to a tank. A singlet, as Desmond would call it. There’s a lot of brown skin on display, and his curly hair is a little messy, like he drove here with the windows down.
“You look amazing,” I tell him, in an apparent fit of bravery. It lasts only as long as it takes for my face to flush with heat. Desmond smiles, pulling the vehicle away from the curb.
“You’re good for a man’s self-esteem. You able to roll up the legs of those pants?”
I glance down between my knees in surprise. Of all the random questions I’ve ever been asked, that one has never made the list.
“Uhm, yes? I think so.”
“Right on. We’re headed to the beach.”
“Really?” I ask, surprised. It’s early enough that the sun is still in the sky, but it won’t be for long. “I’ve never been to the beach.”
He looks over at me, incredulity painted across his features. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” I laugh a little bit at the astonished, somewhat offended way he’s glancing at me. He looks as though it’s a personal affront to him that I’ve never dug my toes into sand. “I don’t have a car, and Nate’s never asked me to go.”
“Your foster families never took you?” he asks, and shakes his head when I answer in the negative. “Wow, that’s terrible. The ocean isrightthere.”
I laugh again. He sounds so hurt on my behalf.
