I shut my eyes and groaned in exasperation.
I looked at his new contact info in my phone, my thumb hesitating over thecallbutton for a solid minute before I finally hit it.
The voice on the other end sounded happily surprised to hear from me. “Skylar?”
I swallowed hard. “Rafael? Sorry to bother you again, but I think I need your help.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
I bit my lip. “Do you think you could give me a ride?”
“Yeah, I can do that. Want me to swing by?”
I smiled, both in relief and because I found his enthusiasm endearing. “Yes, please.”
“Are you… gonna tell me what this is about?” he asked.
I chuckled weakly. “Is it okay if I don’t?”
I could practically hear Rafael’s smile on the other end. “No problem. See you soon.”
4
Rafael
My heart fluttered a bit more than usual as I pulled up to the curb.
No big deal,I told myself.Just helping out a friend. We’re close enough to be called friends at least now, right?
Skylar appeared out of the building’s main entrance looking flustered. He got in the passenger seat and shot me a sheepish smile.
“Sorry again,” he said.
“For what?”
He glanced down. “There wasn’t anyone else I could ask, so I had to bother you with this.”
I shook my head. “I told you, it’s no problem at all. Whatever it is, it seems pretty important to you.”
He winced. “It is.”
“Then I don’t wanna hear one more apology, all right?”
He agreed and we set off. I punched in the address Skylar gave me, which I didn’t recognize, but I knew of the area.
“Um… Thanks again for helping me last night,” Skylar said. “I was thinking it over and it was really stupid of me to pass out in the street like that.”
“Just a little,” I teased. “But we’re still young. We make mistakes.”
Something about that comment made him look somberly out the window. “I guess so.”
“Don’t tell me you’re actually sixty,” I said with a mock gasp.
He scowled at me, but he was barely holding back a grin. “Try again, asshole. Just a little lower.”
I laughed out loud. “Fifty?”
“Subtract twenty one.”
