Lol. Fine.
Meet me at Johnston Pier at 4.
Who says I want to meet you anywhere?
Dipshit
Thought you’d stopped playing hard to get.
Me play hard to get? That’s rich coming from mister “nothing to talk about.”
Dipshit
Fine. Meet me at the pier because I’ve got nothing-to-talk-about with you.
Graycloudscrowdedthesky, leaving not a single strip of blue. Mist fell, then rain, then mist again as if it couldn’t make up its mind.
“I don’t like this,” Ty grumbled.
“Don’t really care.”
“Cal’s a good guy, but you deserve better than this.”
I snorted.
“I’m serious, Jack. This is some shady mistress shit. Meeting at an abandoned pier? What even is that?”
“No, it’s not. We just need some privacy, all right? If this is where he wants to open up, then I’m here for him.” The wiper blades squeaked over the damp glass as I stared out the window.“Just … Just support me? I dunno what Cal wants yet, okay? We didn’t get to finish talking. Maybe he’s fine in the closet. I don’t even know ifIwant to be out in Hickory Bend.”
Ty mumbled under his breath as he drove through the dreary afternoon.
“What?” I asked. “Just get it all out before we get there.”
“So what’s the end game here? I mean, we’re leaving for college in months.” He glared at me for a second. “Months, Jack. Does he know that?”
“Cal might be headed for the same part of the country.”
He swore, then made a sudden left turn, pulling onto a hidden drive that opened to a small parking area a second later. Cal’s truck was the only one in the lot, and Ty stopped behind it.
“Should I be ready to come pick your ass up later?” Ty asked.
“I’ll get him to take me home.”
Ty threw his hands up and chuckled without humor. “Have you forgotten the last time you got dropped off—”
“No,” I snapped. “Fuck, Ty, you think I’m the same kid I’d been then? Cal isn’t like that asshole.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, and you believe it too, or you’d never be doing this, so don’t even pretend.”
Ty sighed, then smirked. “Fine. Yeah, I like Cal too, but I can’t let him know that on principle.”
“You’re not that great of an actor, Ty.”
He shoved my shoulder. “Get out of the car and go get laid.”
I opened the door and let the cool mist calm my raging libido. “Talk, Ty. Cal and I are going to talk. It’s what grown-ups do.”
