Clearing my throat, I head upstairs and gather my stuff, saying farewells to everyone on my way to the front door.
It takes me a minute to find Mac, but I make sure to say an extra thank-you as I stand on the back deck and watch him smoke a joint.
He snickers at me. “Stop being so damn polite, Jimmy Li. I’m your friend. You don’t have to do that shit with me.” Taking another drag, he holds it for a second before blowing that disgusting-smelling smoke out of his mouth.
I wrinkle my nose.
“Yeah, yeah.” He sighs, holding up the joint. “I know they’re not good for me. Just need a little help relaxing, you know?”
“You didn’t need them at the start of this year. I thought you’d pulled back on that stuff. What made you take it up again?”
His laughter is short and hard. “Summer.”
“Summer?”
“Moving back home.” He shakes his head. “Should have just fucking gone to Europe or something.” He taps his fingers on the railing, his legs twitching before he leans his forearms on the wood and stares out at the lake. “I hate my house, man. I just… can’t wait to get back to Nolan, you know?” He lets out a breathy laugh, but it sounds more like a sigh is being ripped out of his throat.
I know how he feels.
Kind of.
We come from families that make it impossible to relax.
And I love school for that reason too.
But school also equals vast amounts of pressure, and this year will surely be harder than last year, right? The workload will increase. The classes will be more challenging. It’s not like I can just sit back and cruise through the year.
Cruise? When have you ever cruised?
I shake my head with a sigh and murmur, “I’ll catch you on campus, then?”
“You will.” He bobs his head. “I’ll be on the court week after next, just like all these other assholes.” He flicks his chin toward the house.
I let out a soft snicker.
“So maybe we can meet up before practice or something.”
“Sounds good.” I give him a lame thumbs-up, then walk away before he judges me for it.
I’m nearly at my car when Charli comes running out to stop me.
“Jimmy, wait up!”
Spinning with a frown, I grip my bag and ask, “Did I forget something? Did I do something wrong?”
“No.” She laughs out the word, obviously confused by why I’d ask that. “You’re cool.”
“Okay.” I’m still worried because she hasn’t stopped walking toward me. Why does she want to talk to me?
“I just wanted to ask you something before you left.”
“Okay.” My shoulders tense.
“Well, uh…” Tucking a lock of black hair behind her ear, she smiles up at me. “Darian and I have access to a big house just off campus this year, and we were wondering if you’d like to be one of our roommates.”
My lips part in surprise. They want me to what?
“Only if you want to, of course. It’s gonna be me and Darian. Sawyer, obviously, and then we’re asking you and Ben and…” She swallows, scraping her teeth over her bottom lip before muttering, “And Mac. We thought we’d ask Mac.”
