“You almost did!”
“Baby, why?” Anna murmured, rubbing his shoulder.
“What about Mano?” Ranya spoke up.
“He stayed back,” Steve answered, and she took off running toward him.
When she reached him, he was still lying there. “Mano?” She bent down, searching his face.
He didn’t answer. He just stared up at the black sky scattered with stars, his thoughts spiraling around the kiss and everything that had been said.
“Are you okay? Did he hit you?” she asked, touching his face with concern.
“Leave me alone,” he rasped, still looking at the sky.
“Babe, what happened? Why…”
“I said leave me alone.” He shut his eyes.
She sighed, giving him one last look before walking away.
A storm of thoughts tormented him. This felt wrong. Ody had a girlfriend, and he was betraying her with everything they had been doing. But then... What was this thing between them? What did it mean? Would it end once summer was over?
It was the first time Mano had felt something like this with anyone.
What if Anna found out? What if someone from their group had seen them? They were both men. This was wrong. It was insane.
He covered his face with his hands. He had to stop it. But could he?
“Are you gonna tell us what the hell’s going on?” Steve asked Ody. “He tried to hit you back at the buffet, and you wouldn’t say why. Since then you guys haven’t spoken, and now you almost punched him. What the fuck is going on?”
Ody’s eyes flicked around the group. Everyone was waiting for an answer. “Guys... just drop it. It’s nothing serious, really.”
“And when will it be serious, baby?” Anna asked. “When someone actually gets hurt?”
“That’s not gonna happen.”
“Dude, just tell us what’s up,” Steve pressed, looking him in the eye.
Ody knew he couldn’t keep dodging the question forever. “Okay, look. We disagree on something.”
“About what?”
“Kash and his group,” Ody said, and only Steve and Anna seemed to understand.
“What do you mean?”
“Uh... Mano thinks we shouldn’t let them off the hook after what they did. But I don’t want to keep this going.”
“Yeah, you’ve told us that before. But honestly, I agree with Mano,” Steve said.
“What?”
“Steve, what are you saying?” Anna asked, frowning.
“I mean, come on.” Steve looked between them in disbelief. “After everything they did to both Ody and Mano, we’re just letting it go?”
“If you remember, bro, we already gave them what they deserved back at that school,” Ody said.
