I assume he’s going to ask me more about my mom, but instead he says, “You hungry?”
“What?” I ask.
“Hungry. It’s a feeling you have when you want to eat.”
I smile. “I know what it means. I just don’t know how we went from talking about my dead mom to talking about eating.”
“Did you want to talk more about your mom?”
“Not really.”
“Then let’s go get something to eat. I’m starving. I missed breakfast helping out this girl who nearly drowned.”
“I wasn’t drowning. I just didn’t expect the waves to be that strong.”
He pulls out onto the road, going in the opposite direction from Brock’s house.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“You like Mexican?”
“Yeah, but usually not for breakfast.”
“You gotta try these breakfast burritos. Best I’ve ever had.”
“You eat burritos?” I ask.
“I eat everything. I’m not picky.” He glances at me. “Are you?”
“I don’t really like health food, like salads and stuff, but my cousins do, especially the older one. He yelled at me for eating his protein bars. You should see their fridge. There’s almost nothing in there that’s edible.”
“You can come eat at my house. I’ve got everything. Healthy stuff. Junk food. Leftover take out.”
“How can you eat whatever you want and look like that?”
“Like what?” he asks with a smile.
“You know what. You’re pure muscle. How do you get a body like that by eating junk food?”
“I eat healthy most of the time. Lots of meat. Chicken. Eggs. But I also eat chips. Ice cream. Burritos.” He pulls into a parking lot next to a long, green metal building.
“This is it?”
“It doesn’t look like much, but the food makes up for it.” He gets out and comes around to open my door.
“I got it,” I say when he goes to help me.
“You sure?” he asks as I limp to the door.
“I’ll be fine by tomorrow. I just need to rest my knee.”
We go up to the counter and order two sausage and egg burritos. We find a table, and as we’re sitting down, a guy walks in who reminds me of Axl. He’s skinny, wearing a black t-shirt, and both his arms are covered in tattoos.
“Could I borrow your phone?” I ask Jackson. “I really need to call my boyfriend. He’s going to think I died.”
Jackson unlocks his phone and hands it to me. The screen is already on the number screen to make the call, like he didn’t want me to see what’s on his phone.
I put in Axl’s number. It rings several times before he picks up.
