Was he always like this? I wanted to ask Sam or Lincoln. But Sam was too busy making out with a beautiful blonde outside, at the back of the van, for me to question. And Lincoln was too busy rambling about my ‘stiff personality.’ I needed to escape them as soon as possible.
“We need to get you back out there,” Lincoln said as he adjusted the passenger’s seat to recline. “I can’t have my main wingman scaring women away.”
My forehead wrinkled. “Main wingman?”
“Sam outshines me, and Henrik likes to discuss intellectual shit.” He studied me. “And people seemed to like our quiet guy, loud guy dynamic.”
I huffed, disbelieving, which didn’t count for much.
“How would you feel about a sub-a-thon, Mid?” Chai’s voice sounded through my earbuds. “Next month, maybe? Feel free to say ‘no.’ I’ve heard they’re brutal, but they always seem fun.”
I typed into the stream chat,If that’s what you want, that’s exactly what we’ll do.
She squealed with excitement, and my shoulders relaxed at the sound. For the past couple months, my life had been about recovery. I reacquainted myself with the life I once had and my friendship with a girl I’ve never met face-to-face.
Resuming conversations with Chai was the easiest thing I’ve done since getting out of the hospital. My body’s response to her laughter felt like sinking onto a couch after being on my feet all day. Nothing else gave me that feeling. And for all I knew, nothing ever had.
“We’ll get you back out there, bud,” Lincoln continued like I gave a damn. “At least you learned your first lesson: when a beautiful girl accidentally wrecks your nose, you at least ask for her number.”
I sighed and touched the band-aid on the bridge of my bruised nose. Some girl from the arena knocked the hell out of me a few days ago. Lincoln thought she was a riot. I thought she needed to slow down. She’d spoken so fast that I could barely keep up.
“Hey, do you have any—”
“No,” I interrupted before he got the chance to make the mistake of asking.
Lincoln slouched. “Liar.”
“You should charge him. Make a side hustle out of it.” Sam appeared at my window and gave me a knowing smile. The girl he’d been rubbing up against was heading toward Henrik’s house, needing a bathroom.
“He can’t afford it,” I said. They both laughed because, yeah, the comment was ridiculous. It didn’t take me long to learn of the four of us, only I came from a family that didn’t have money to spare.
“Name your price, Mid,” Lincoln teased.
“Don’t”—I took a breath so my tone wouldn’t appear too clipped—“call me that.”
“What’s this about?” Sam looked intrigued. I couldn’t catch a break.
Lincoln jerked his chin at my phone. “Some girl on the other end said that, and he scrambled to put his headphones in.”
“Ah.” Sam tried to look over my shoulder, but I pulled the phone to my chest.
“You ever mind your own business?” I asked.
They laughed like that was the most ridiculous thing they’d ever heard.
As far as I knew, my gamer tag and moderating for Chai were things I kept from my friends. I don’t know why, but for now it felt nice to have something of my own. From how much the guys called me up to hang out, I understood we spent copious amounts of time together. We weren’t just friends. From all the photos I had in my house of teen versions of us, we were more like brothers. How did you tell your brothers you barely remember their names and didn’t trust them for shit?
“Fine, fine,” Lincoln gave in. “I’ll leave you alone…if you sell me two pills. I got a fifty.”
“I’m not selling my drugs. I don’t take them for recreation.”
Sam’s brow wrinkled, and he stood up straighter. “I thought you said you didn’t take them at all. You didn’t need them anymore.”
“I need them.” My mouth was a firm line. As if to prove my dependency, my lower back warmed with a familiar ache.
“I see.” Sam’s jaw clenched, concerned. “Are you in pain right now?”
“Yes.” I turned my gaze back down to the phone, checking on Chai’s chat to make sure everything was okay.
