“Lexus SUV,” Aiden said with a smirk. “Classicdad car, right?”
Cade’s father had never owned a car, not as long as Cade had known him. “Classic,” he agreed.
“So what’re you going to Chi-town for?” Aiden asked as he pulled into traffic. “You’re from there, right? Going home for a visit?”
“Yeah,” Cade agreed. It was a lot easier to have a conversation with Aiden when he kept his own contributions to a minimum.
“Who’s in your family? Brothers or sisters?”
“No. It’s only me.”
“Me too. I used to want a brother or two, or even a sister, but being an only is good too. Right?”
“Sure,” Cade agreed. He guessed it was good he didn’t have any younger siblings to worry about, but it might have been nice if there’d been someone older than him to help out now and then. “How about you? Going home to see family?”
“Yeah. My mom’s got some charity gala thing tomorrow night… breast cancer, I think, but I’m not sure, to be honest, and she wants me to be there as an extra in case any of the young ladies are dateless.” He grinned. “I told her, ‘Mom, you remember I’m gay, right?’ and she said, ‘That’s even better, because that way I don’t have to worry about any of the young ladies getting pregnant.’” He shook his head with another damn smile and glanced over to Cade. “I’m beginning to wonder just what kind of ‘gala’ my mom’s throwing, you know?”
Cade felt a little dizzy. “Yeah, that’s some kind of gala.”
“You don’t want to come, do you? Tomorrow night? Keep me company, share in the non-impregnation theme of the evening? It’s at one of the downtown hotels—the Four Seasons, probably. That’s Mom’s favorite.”
Cade briefly tried to imagine himself going to a gala at the Four Seasons, then abandoned the effort. “Sorry, I’ve got plans.”
“Yeah, of course you do,” Aiden agreed readily. “You’ll have your own people you want to see, right? You still close with everybody from high school?”
Cade thought about the question. He’d never really had many friends, and never any close ones. So he was only a little less close with them now than he’d been then. Still, that seemed like enough for an honest “No. Not really.”
“It’s weird, isn’t it? People who seemedsoimportant when you were with them, and then you all go in different directions and when you get back together it’s like you’re… I don’t know. I mean, I still care about them, I guess, but it’s like I care about the people theyusedto be. And they do the same to me. My first boyfriend will probably be at this thing tomorrow. And forweeksafter we broke up I thought I was, like, heartbroken. Like I could never love again, or something.” Aiden laughed. “Now I’ll see him and it’ll just be, ‘Oh, hey, Nate, how you doing?’ And I’ll barely even listen to the answer.”
“You’ll listen,” Cade said softly. He felt Aiden glance toward him but kept his own eyes on the road. “Even if you’d never dated him, you’d still want to know what he had to say. You’re a people person. You want to hear what people say.”
Aiden was quiet for a moment. “And you don’t?” He sounded curious, not defensive. “You just aren’t interested?”
“Sometimes I am.” For example, he was pretty sure he could happily listen toAidenchatting until the end of time. “But not like you.”
“I sometimes feel like that’s all thereisto me,” Aiden said softly. “Like I only really exist when I’m around other people. On my own, I’m empty. Waiting. Like a turned-off robot.” He was silent for a moment, then snorted. “Whoa. Sorry. That was unexpectedly navel-gazey, huh? I’ll try to warn you the next time some sophomoric introspection approaches.”
“You don’t need to warn me,” Cade said. “And, you know, wearesophomores. So really, being sophomoric means you’re right on track.”
“That’s me,” Aiden agreed. “I amtimely.” He grinned and gestured to his phone, tucked in beside the gearshift. “The stereo’s new, so there’s Bluetooth. You want to be DJ?”
“I don’t know much about music.”
“It’smyphone, Cade. I like everything on it. You don’t need to worry about choosing the wrong music when I’ve preapproved it all.”
“Well, that’s handy,” Cade admitted, and he gingerly picked up the phone. For a nerd, he wasn’t much good with consumer technology. He knew the science of it, but he’d never had much chance to actually use it.
“Password is 1-2-3-4,” Aiden said.
Cade groaned. “Seriously? Why bother evenhavinga password?”
Aiden grinned, and Cade fumbled around until he managed to get some music playing, and they drove through the falling night together.
Chapter Five
Cade managedto keep himself fairly busy picking out songs, and Aiden commented on his choices in typical Aiden fashion, meaning that he used the song as a starting point for a long series of barely related topics of conversation, and Cade found himself wishing Chicago was a little farther away. Not only to delay the unpleasantness of dealing with his parents, but also to keep enjoying Aiden’s company. He was pretty sure Aiden was feeling a bit constrained by the requirements of driving, having to keep his gaze and at least most of his attention on the road, but Cade appreciated the little bit of extra distance. It was less overwhelming than a regular Aiden conversation.
But as they neared the city, Aiden asked the inevitable question. “Where you headed? What exit?”
