“Sure,” I said. “Sounds good.”
We drove in silence for a little while, Ben nodding his head along to the beat of the song, mouthing the words under his breath every once in a while. It felt a little strange to be in a car with him; I hadn’t even had so much as a first date throughout high school and college. Not that there was going to be anything going on tonight with Ben, either, but it still seemed a little strange to be sitting next to him, going out to dinner, like any other couple might be doing on a Friday night.
“So have you and Cole known each other a long time?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “Practically our whole lives. He’s like a brother to me, really. I knew when he ended up moving out here to Chapin that I’d move close by, too.”
“You guys didn’t grow up here?”
“Nah. We grew up on the coast, little beach town. Cole’s parents are wicked rich, if he hasn’t told you that yet.”
“He didn’t mention anything.”
“That’s not surprising. He doesn’t like to talk about that sort of thing.” Ben sighed. “There’s a lot he doesn’t talk about.”
He said this last part almost to himself, and though I could have pushed to find out what he meant, I chose not to.
“What about you?” he said. “You hail from the great big city?”
“I do.”
“And you just wanted to escape and live out the small town life fantasy?” He laughed. “Not that it’s much of a fantasy.”
“I like it out here,” I said. “So far. It’s nice to have quiet and space. To be in nature and not surrounded by concrete and asphalt and disgusting car fumes.”
“Cole lived in Boston for a while, when he was going to school. I’d come down and visit him sometimes. The city’s cool, but I don’t know if I could live there myself, either.”
We ordered fried cod, fried clams, and a basket of fries, plus two Cokes, which I normally didn’t drink. The food was incredibly good, though I’d probably have some sort of indigestion the next day.
Ben asked me how my new bike was. I’d gone into the shop one day after work, but he’d been busy helping someone else, so one of his co-workers had let me test ride a couple bikes before I finally settled on a hybrid that I could ride on the road and on the trails. We talked about bikes for a little bit, the conversation somehow always coming back to Cole.
“We raced BMX,” Ben said. “That was about the only time Cole and I have ever really competed against each other.”
“I get the feeling the two of you have a rather competitive relationship.”
“We do.”
“Not just with bikes.”
He nodded. “Not just with bikes,” he agreed.
I almost said, with women, too, just so I could see the expression on his face, but I decided not to.
When we were done eating, Ben drove me around a little bit, gave me a little tour of Gardner, and then drove me home.
“It’s funny,” Ben said. “While I had a really great time with you tonight, I feel like we talked about Cole more than anything else.”
“Did we?” I asked.
“Sort of seemed like it. Not saying that’s a bad thing or anything—he’s my boy—but, I guess I’m just not used to talking about another dude when I’m on a date.”
“Is that what this is?”
He regarded me. “Isn’t it?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I felt like I was a little quick to turn you down the first time that you had come over.”
He shifted in the seat and leaned on the center console, his face now just a few inches from mine. Ben was certainly not bad-looking, but he just wasn’t my type. I could tell that he was going to try to kiss me, which wasn’t how I wanted to end the night. So I fumbled for the door handle and pushed it open, undoing my seat belt right as he leaned a little closer.