I blow on my tea and then take a sip. “I think so?”
“It was sort of…big and floppy. A sun hat?”
I nod and consider this information, which is fitting somehow. “I approve.”
Ben rolls his eyes. “Great. Thank you.”
“I don’t think Javier is a hat guy,” I say. “And it went, you know. Pretty well. It wasn’t bad.”
He’s making an absolutely tragicdo not tell me detailsface, so I drink more tea.
“Except you’re related,” Ben points out.
“We’re notrelated.”
“You’re almost related.”
“It doesn’t count if you meet when you’re adults. Then you’re just people with common…interests.”
“You mean common family members?”
“It doesn’t count.”
Ben says nothing, but he hums the theme fromDeliverance. I flip him off.
“My pointis, I would like you to tell me I’m not a bad person if I don’t tell the entire world that he and I hooked up, because he’s probably just treating himself to a spa weekend and he’ll show up tomorrow, and if our secret’s out he might murder me,” I say. “It was a dumb, spur-of-the-moment thing that I shouldn’t have done, and it’s not going to happen again, and if our families find out it’ll…”
Ben sips some tea and waits for the rest of that sentence.
“It will create problems. Besides, it was no big deal. We were just casually blowing off some steam like adults, and it’s not going to affect anything going forward. Obviously.”
“Obviously,” he says, though I don’t approve of his tone. He considers for a moment. “And I don’t think you’re a bad person for trying to balance your respect for his privacy with your concern over his whereabouts. His parents don’t sound like they’d be very chill about this, honestly.”
“I like Paloma a lot, and I think she’s really good for my dad,” I say. “But I think she’d freak the fuck out.”
“I think I’m being pretty chill.”
He has a point. “You’re being very chill. Thank you.”
“If he doesn’t show up, when are you gonna tell them?” he asks, giving me a pointed look. “Not to be gross, but I’m assuming his DNA is all over your place?—”
“It’s notall over,” I mutter. It’s not on my couch, for example.
“—and you know that if you try to clean it up it’ll only look more suspicious.”
“I don’t know. Tomorrow?” I try to ignore the awfulness ofwhat if something happened. Not to sweet, messy, chaotic Javier who loves his cat and puts towels down on nice couches. “I texted some with his brother, and apparently sometimes hegoes off for a few days and forgets to tell anyone what he’s doing? So—tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” Ben agrees, and I drink my tea and wonder if I’m an awful person.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
JAVIER
I misjudge the last rock,and my foot slips off and into the creek, the water up to my mid-calf.
“Dammit,” I mutter to myself, readjusting my pack that just jostled out of place.
Then I consider for a moment, put my other foot in the creek, and walk to the other side. Honestly, the water’s kind of nice. It’s maybe an hour past sunrise and hot already, and only getting hotter, and besides, I’ll probably be home by noon. It’s not like I have to hope my boots will dry overnight so I can walk in them more tomorrow.
