My heart thudded against my sternum, and my ears felt full.
It felt like the whole team was watching us.
But after a second, Jaden spoke up, and the circle continued.
THE MINUTIAE OF MIDFIELDING STRATEGY
Wednesday afternoon, after practice and another carefully executed avoidance of Chip—courtesy of Jaden, who had noticed things were kind of weird and made a point of dragging Chip into a conversation about the minutiae of midfielding strategy—I took the bus to Rose City with a swarm of stellar remnants in my stomach.
I had to do something.
I still couldn’t reach Sohrab, and Dad was still depressed, and things with Chip were weird.
But Landon was there, and we needed to talk.
Besides, Mom needed some Earl Grey (regular, not nitro) and I was running low on Moroccan Mint since Grandma and Oma were drinking so much.
When the bus stopped, I grabbed my bike and walked it toward Rose City. It had been a long time since I used the customer entrance.
Alexis was at the register and waved when I walked in. I waved back and headed to the shelves.
It was weird, pulling tea off the shelves instead of stocking it.
“Running low?” Alexis asked when I took it to the counter.
“Yeah.” I glanced toward the tasting room. “Um. Is Landon around?”
Alexis nodded. “I think they’re almost done.”
“Cool.”
I stood against the wall and sucked on my tassels.
“We’ll probably do two cases. Maybe three,” Mr. Edwards said over his shoulder. He turned and saw me. “Oh. Darius.”
“Hi.”
“Good to see you,” he said.
“You too.”
He gave me this sad, closed-lip smile.
“He’s inside.”
“Thanks.”
I knocked on the door frame.
“Hey.”
Landon turned around, and nearly dropped the gaiwan he was holding.
His cheeks colored as he set it in the sink.
“Hey.”
We looked at each other for a long time.
