“Yeah, I know. I tell her all the time she should talk to Amanda about it, since she’s probably into all that stuff, but she just goes on about how she wants to bond with me and books are something we both like.” I scoff. “Her books and my books are not even close to being the same thing.”
“Yeah, right.” He runs his hand through his hair, dodging some guy in a suit who’s on his phone and not paying attention to where he’s going. “So, do you talk to Mandy—uh, Amanda, often?”
“No,” I say. “I don’t see a reason for it. We aren’t children. We have nothing in common. Just because my mother married her father and we’re somehow legally obligated to be siblings doesn’t mean we have to be close. I didn’t choose to merge the families, so I shouldn’t have to deal with it.”
“Wow, Huds. Tell me how you really feel.”
“Shit, sorry, I just… It’s nothing.”
“It’s obviously something.”
“I just don’t want to talk about it,” I say.
“Cool. We don’t have to talk about it.”
The tension between us is high as we make our way back to the hotel, and I know it’s because I all but snapped at him about my family stuff. I could have said it nicer, but the whole dynamic frustrates me. My parents frustrate me, even though I have this strange need to still have a relationship with them. They always piss me off, yet I always go back.
And all this shit with my stepsister and stepdad… I’m just tired of it. My mother doesn’t understand why I won’t be some perfectly happy family with them.
She doesn’t understand that I am a grown adult who has his own life and just wants to be left alone to do his own thing.
We’re in the elevator when Trey finally speaks again.
“What time is your flight tomorrow?”
“2:15.”
“Shit, really? Mine’s at 2:45. I rented a car. You want me to give you a lift to the airport?”
“I don’t—”
“Look, it doesn’t need to be anything, Huds. We don’t even have to talk, if that’s what will make you feel better. If you need some quiet after all this, I’ll give it to you.” His blue eyes flash with something I can’t quite place, but if I had to guess, I’d say it looks sad. Guilty maybe? But before I can say anything, he says, “Just let me bring you to the damn airport.”
I stare at him, unblinking as the elevator comes to a stop, the doors opening. I need to get off or they’re going to close. I can’t find words, though, and so I just keep staring at him.
The doors finally close, not having any patience for me, and we move on up to floor twenty-nine.
Trey sighs and moves to step off when the doors open again, but I grab his arm.
“Yes.”
“Yes?” he says with a smile.
“What time do we need to leave?”
The doors close again, and now we’re going back down. Neither one of us seems to care as we figure this out.
“Well, we want to be at the airport by 12:30, probably, just to be safe. It’s a busy airport. So we should leave here by 11:45?”
“I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
We stop at the twelfth floor and ride down to the bottom for the older couple to get off, then Trey hits the buttons for us to go back up. This time, when the elevator stops on my floor, I get off.
It’s after twelve, and though I should be sleeping, I can’t. I’ve been lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, replaying my day.
Mostly the conversations with Trey and how I could have done them better.
But I also keep circling back to the fact I caught Alex and Mack together… holy shit. That’s a pair I never expected. Talk about opposites.
