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ut at the same time, when he did realize he d caused pain to someone he lik
ed, he was the first to shoulder the burden. Ronnie was different. Caleb li
ked her. He had a strange way of showing it sometimes, but he definitely li
ked her. He wasn t willing to stick to his no-seeing-other-people idea on h
er behalf when he realized she wasn t going to date him and decided to go b
ack to being friends. But friends didn t obsess over each other. Especially
while on a date with someone else. According to Theresa Milldrum, Caleb ha
d taken her out a few days ago, and she wasn t at all happy that he d spent
their time together speculating about Ronnie. Ronnie, who was so-not-worth
-it, Theresa had said.
We ended up in the den, the small space where Joe claimed to do most of his
father-son bonding. According to Joe, he d sit on the black leather love sea
t and his dad s chair would squeak as he wheeled it back and forth in front
of the pellet stove, barking out lectures about how it was time for Joe to g
row up and be a man.
On the far side of the room there was a sliding glass door that led to a dec
k. The Douglas s had more deck than yard, and a hot tub that had once fit se
venteen people before water started splashing over the sides. Tonight it hel
d six teenagers stripped down to boxers and girls in t-shirts--some cases le
ss than that--as a tall bottle was passed around along with a good amount of
splashing. I quickly noticed Ronnie sitting against the corner of the hot t
ub, her shoulders under the water to keep warm. She was wearing her glasses
, which had fogged up and made it difficult to tell where she was looking, b
ut she was smiling as she chatted with the others around her. I frowned at C
aleb and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. But his attention was out the wi
ndow, his fingers raised to touch the glass.
What do you think about that guy? Caleb asked, and I did a double-take at
him over it before I looked out the window, deciding he meant the tall, pale
redhead with a healthy dose of freckles over his chest, sitting next to Ron
nie.
What about him? I asked.
Caleb frowned at me. Who the hell is he? he asked, as if his line of though
t should be clear to me.
I shrugged. Don t know. Looks like he came with Ronnie.
Yeah, I see that, Caleb snapped, quickly becoming frustrated. Do we e
ven know that guy? How does she even know that guy?
His name is Steve Kenyon, Milo said from behind us, drawing our attention
in his direction. I used to go to school with him. I think he plays basketb
all.
He s Stratfort? Caleb demanded, becoming more perturbed as he looked b
ack at Ronnie and Steve.
Guess so, Milo replied, shrugging. He didn t seem to see anything wrong
with Stratfort the way Caleb did at the moment. I think he hangs out with
Brandon Sholer sometimes.
Milo slid his eyes in my direction, wondering if that would make a differenc
e. But I didn t care one way or another about Steve or Ronnie or Brandon as
my gaze drifted to Milo s hands, the paint staining his fingers. I smiled at
it. Maybe things were getting better at home for him. This was the second t
ime in three days I d seen him outside of school, and I liked the feeling. I
liked that he smiled back at me, his skin seeming to have a healthy glow be
neath the dark hair that fell across his forehead, and his shoulders were st
raight and relaxed under a black sweater.
I didn t know you d show up, I said to him.
I didn t feel like sitting through a movie with Jame, Milo replied, but th
e way his eyes fell over my face made me feel like a better reason he had wa
s just plain wanting to see me. I grinned at him as if he d just told me a s
ecret and he raised an eyebrow over it, but his mouth curved with amusement.
Jame s not here, right? Caleb suddenly asked Milo, obviously affronted b
y the mere thought.
Milo looked only mildly irritated when he remarked, Would he even have ma
de it past the front door?
I sighed, not caring to comment. Caleb had the good grace not to, either. Bu
t, in all fairness, this was Joe s house, and it s not like any of us would
have been welcome anywhere near Jame s place. And just because Milo and... w
ell, most of my friends, at least, had learned to play nice, it wasn t as if
I hadn t tried with Jame. Ignoring him didn t work, and pretending he didn
t secretly want to spit in my face every time he saw me didn t work. I think
it was all still a sore point for Milo, though, and it was a sore point for
me, knowing that Milo was bothered by all of it, so we d both made a point
to avoid the topic whenever possible. I was all for avoidance now as I gave
Milo a nod.
Come on, I said. Haily will kill me if I leave her alone with Theresa for t
oo long.
Milo fell into step beside me easily and I raised an expectant eyebrow at Ca
leb, who shook his head at me and pushed open the glass door, letting in the
cold, the stench of pool chemicals and the noise from outside. I ll be out
here, he told me.
I rolled my eyes when the door was closed and looked at Milo, allowing my s
mile to return. I m glad you showed up, I said. It s actually been kind
of boring around here.
Actually... I was sort of just stopping by, he said carefully. I had some time
...
I found myself rolling my eyes at Milo, too, as I tugged the sleeve of his s
weater to get him to follow me. Well, while you re just stopping by, come h
ang out for a while.
He shrugged uncomfortably, but didn t comment on having to leave again. If
he did I d guess that he was uncomfortable. Probably because Joe made him f
eel that way, in which case I d be leaving with him. It was nice that thing
s didn t turn out that way.
It seemed Milo Trust was the least of Joe s concerns when someone cracked a
lamp his mom had just bought, and no one wanted to fess up to it. Joe qui
ckly became Hurricane Joe, not at all shy about telling everyone it was tim
e to get the fuck out. Direct quote. It was only after everyone was gone th
at Haily pointed out to him that the crack was supposed to be there as part
of the design, and the rest of the three-piece set looked just like it. Bu
t no one seemed like dwelling on the fact that the house had gone quiet as
Haily, Caleb and I stayed to help him clean up, and after a few moments of
silently pleading to Milo, he picked up a garbage bag and followed me aroun
d with it. Joe seemed more relaxed once all the evidence of a hastily plann
ed party was safely tossed away in the neighbor s dumpster and he threw on
a movie none of us paid attention to as we sat in a circle on the rug in th
e living room, passing around Caleb s knit hat. I was seated between Milo a
nd Joe, and when Joe passed me the hat I drew out a folded piece of noteboo
k paper and read the small print in blue ink.
Has lucky underwear.
Haily, Joe, Caleb and myself chanted, while Milo said, Caleb?
Haily laughed out loud as she passed Milo a bottle of orange vodka and th
e opened two-liter of Sprite that had become our chaser. That would be w
ears no underwear, she informed my boyfriend.
Milo made a face as he looked at the vodka, and then finally lifted the bot
tle to his lips, took his drink and then guzzled Sprite. By the time he was
finished his face was flushed, probably because he was way ahead of the re
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