That was true. And I admittedly knew exactly who he was talking about, but I forced myself to stare blankly back at him anyway.
“C’mon,” he whispered, looking disappointed in me. “Little Al Pal.”
Just hearing her old nickname had my heart pounding, but I tried my best to ignore it and shove down all those old emotions.
“You should go find her. Piper and I wasted way too much time. I wish I would’ve bulldozed into her life, like, five years ago instead of waiting around.”
“I don't need to go find her. I know where she is. She’s not lost.”She just doesn’t want to be here.
He frowned. “Maybe not physically, but sheislost, dude.”
“Huh?” I rubbed my eyes. I was way too drunk for riddles.
He leaned forward and lowered his voice to say, “I heard her talking on the phone with Piper and Mer the other night. I wasn't spying or anything, they were talking in the living room. Ali sounded so—oh. Oh fuck.” He stood abruptly, scraping his patio chair back against the concrete.
“What? She sounded sowhat?”
“I have to get my wife before she cracks her head open.” He tore off his hat and threw it on his seat. “She’s trying to teach those benders how to do skating lifts. Here, watch our stuff.”
“Wife? What? You have a wife?” I squinted up at him. I wastalking toKappy,wasn’t I?
He laughed as he jogged away. “Piper’s always been my wife,” he yelled over his shoulder. “And no one’s lifting her but me.”
“Wait, what were you going to say?” I called after him. I wanted to scream at him to finish. Ali sounded so…sowhat?
A phone ding went off next to me, distracting me.
I searched my body for my phone, but it was missing.
Another ding.
It must’ve been Kappy’s.
Ope.
Nope.
Looking over at the pile of their stuff, I quickly realized it was Piper’s phone, and it was open to a text chain with “Al Pal.”
I fully knew I shouldn’t look at their messages. It was an invasion of their privacy, and it wasn’t right. But it’s not likeIopened her phone, it was sitting right there, already open. And Kappy told me to watch their stuff. So, my eyes were on their stuff, including the phone, watching it. No harm, no foul…right?
Leaning over the phone, I saw a picture of Ali with a couple other girls standing in front of a grey castle with crumbling walls. The message read:You should come visit! I’m on the Irish leg of Castle Cruises and I think it’s my favorite. Bring Kappy if you’re worried about leaving him home. I know Mer can’t come because the baby’s so young, but I really miss you guys!
“Get JP! C’mon,” someone yelled.
“Huh?” I looked up, feeling caught.
Ziggy and Wilson, two of my teammates, were grabbing me, pulling me out of my chair.
“Wait, wait,” I slurred, patting my body to search for my own phone.
“McQuaid, get your ass over here—we need another player!”
“He’s on our team!”
“No, he’s on ours!”
Apparently I played a round on everyone’s team.
