Suddenly, his voice was closer than before. He sank down beside me, his black jeans no doubt smearing with dirt. “Nah, I just ended my shift. Thought I’d come and enjoy the view before heading home. Where should you be?”
“At home, cleaning.”
“Sounds boring.”
“Mm.” I tried not to look to the side, too afraid that if I saw him, I’d say something I shouldn’t.
Instead of prodding for more, Crescent kept silent beside me for a while. We sat like that, comfortable in each other’s presence, refusing to whisper the unknowns of the past behind us.
I thought back to our last meeting, when he’d gotten angry, and rightfully so. I’d turned around and walked away, keeping my mouth shut. The questions he wanted answers to, I couldn’t bring myself to speak on. There wasn’t enough riding on them. There was no hope for me to cling to.
“Well,” he started, clearing his throat. “Moon is doing well, despite how boring he says his life is. Star is absolutely killing it in school. She’s going to be a lawyer. Can you believe that? My baby sister, all grown up.”
I frowned, finally glancing over just as he lay on his back against the grass. “What are you doing?”
But he didn’t miss a beat. “She drank for the first time the other day. I almost cried, but at least it was legal, unlike when you and I would get shit-faced when we definitely shouldn’t have been. Dad finally fixed up the RV. Did I tell you they bought an RV?”
“Cres—”
“God, after they got that thing, they were gone for a straight three months. It broke down a while back, so they’ve been stuck at home because of course they sold their other vehicles when they bought it. Who needs small,compact transportation when you can bring an entire house, right?”
He wouldn’t stop talking. His face pointed toward the tree above us, every expression shining under the broken rays of the sun through the leaves. I hadn’t seen him like that since we were teens—talking about nothing and everything in the private fields we found behind my house.
With every name he mentioned, matching faces flashed in my mind. The time Moon caught us drunk out of our minds in those fields. His face had gotten so red with anger, I thought he was going to kill us. Not only had we drunk our livers to death, but we’d trespassed.
Star, with her beautiful curly hair and bright smile. She was always so smart, so determined to live life as independently as possible. I’d always lose at every card game she’d play with me because strategy won over luck, neither of which I had much of.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller, clad in their yoga clothes, rolling out mats for all of their “kiddos,” which included me. How they made their home mine as well, making sure I had a portion of dinner to eat and my favorite incense stocked in their cabinets.
Tears started to prick my eyes, my mind and body, so overwhelmed with memories but nowhere for them to go. “Please, stop.” I didn’t want to cry. There was no reason to cry. “What the hell are you doing?”
Crescent turned onto his side, his long, dark hair falling over his shoulder. I watched it settle into place, the long, loose ringlets flowing with the light breeze. “I’m filling you in on everything you’ve missed. I’m including you in my life because I miss you, Elio, and I’m willing to try even if you won’t talk to me. The question is, are you?”
“It’s been years.”
“I’ve missed you for years.”
“You don’t know me anymore.”
“Then let me get to know you.” His eyes narrowed as he shook his head, almost in disappointment. “It’s simple, even if you don’t think it is. I can’t pretend I never saw you, or that we don’t live in the same town now. I can’t pretend this doesn’t feel like something I shouldn’t give up on.”
Laughter echoed in my bubble, ringing in my ears. It was his, and mine, harmonizing together without a care in the world. Loud, carefree, and full of joy. I let it fade, the sounds dying down. “You gave up back then, why not now? I’m not the same stupid kid from high school. The world isn’t as vast and exciting as I used to think. The hell does it matter we live in the same place?”
The grass parted as Crescent shuffled upright. He sighed, the sound mixing with the wind. “Is your name Elio Hampton?”
I squinted at him. “Yes.”
“Then you’re still you, dude. Some things might’ve changed, but you’re still my best friend, and I want to know the adult version of you. The grown-up version.” He shrugged. “I didn’t give up on you back then; you just didn’t let me try. Let me try this time.”
I should say no. I should tell him I don’t want to know him anymore and run away. Instead, I turn my head and meet his eyes. They glisten so beautifully under the sun, pulling me toward him. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
He took a deep breath before standing and holding his hand out to me. “I’m starving. Let’s go eat.”
Studying the hand offered to me, I looked at him suspiciously. In the end, I let him pull me up and guide me to a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant I’d never been to.
