“One game,” I called to her departing back. “Just one game, Macey, and I won’t ever ask you again if you hate it.”
For a moment, I was sure she would ignore me, but then she slowed her pace and glanced back at me over her shoulder.
“One game,” she agreed. “And then you’ll leave me be.”
“I can’t promise that,” I yelled as she began to walk again. “Because we’re friends, aren’t we?” Behind me, Dalton yelled something in my general direction that could have been an insult, but I ignored him. “Tomorrow,” I shouted, and Macey didn’t even slow. “Tomorrow at noon, be here! Any good friend would be!”
Chapter 8
Macey
After my last classof the day was over, I took the campus bus over to the fire station to see Hansen. While most days I cherished whatever alone time I had, sometimes I just needed him because sometimes I just needed somebody to talk to. Ever since Melanie, my twin sister, had been killed in that accident four years ago, my mom and I hadn’t been very close. Conversation between us no longer flowed. It was tense. Aggravating. But not with my uncle.
“Hey, Macey,” Hansen said as I stepped inside the lounge and dropped my backpack to my feet, stumbling over to the ragged but comfy couch. I plopped down on the cushion and groaned. “I feel like maybe something’s up,” Hansen said from where he’d been kneeling on the ground checking masks. He set a mask aside and pushed himself up, then came over to me and took a seat on the arm of the couch. “You okay?”
“I’m alright,” I grumbled, but we both knew I was lying.
“Right,” Hansen said. “I can tell.”
I rolled my eyes and slapped my hands over my face with another groan. “It’s a boy,” I said, and my uncle’s eyebrows perked up slightly.
“An adult boy or a baby boy?” he asked.
“Definitely not a baby boy, Hansen.”
“Oh, thank God. So, which boy is it?”
“Nunya business, uncle, just a boy.”
“Fine. And what’s happening with this boy?”
I sat up straighter on the couch, wondering if Jayce was truly something I was ready to talk about. But, as always, Hansen was one of the only people in the world I could say anything to. Even if he didn’t always approve, he never made me feel bad.
“I like him,” I said finally, and for a long moment, those words hung tangled in the silence of the air. “I mean, I really,reallylike him.”
“Who do you like?” Paisley asked, coming through the side entrance. Her eyes grew wide, a smirk playing on her lips.
