The Best Friend (Red's Tavern 1)

“Life is change,” Red said. “That’s all it ever really is.”

I knew he was right. But I still felt like everything in my world was floating in mid-air.

15

Evan

Einstein said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The same genius who gave us E = MC2 would have called me an insane fool for being so addicted to Mitch. Not that that would stop me.

“Okay, Madeline, you’re going to be with Rachel. Carter will be with Thomas. Sophia, you’ll be with…”

I looked down at the randomly generated list of partner pairings. I always chose random pairs when I assigned small projects, because I wanted things to stay fair. But I couldn’t help but notice that Sophia had been paired with her friend Tina, and then Zach had been paired with Andy Benson. The same Andy Benson that had apparently “ruined his life” last week when he found Zach’s love poetry.

“Sophia, you’ll be with Zach, and Andy will be with Tina,” I said, switching the groups last minute. I glanced up and saw that Zach was already blushing beet red at his desk, but I swore Sophia had a small smile she was trying to hide.

“Can I go to the nurse? I have a headache,” Andy said. He wasn’t even looking up at me—his eyes were cast down on his phone.

“You can go after class. Group up with your partner and get started planning the project. Remember, you can only use one sheet of paper.”

The project was to create a simple paper airplane using geometry to get the most aerodynamic form factor. It sounded easy, but it was always surprising to the students how difficult it could be.

For the rest of class, I walked around the room, checking in on each pair and making sure they were on the right track. When I walked over to Zach and Sophia, they were laughing, talking about some anime show rather than doing any work on the airplane project.

“Got a strategy in place?” I asked, and both of their eyes shot up to me and they sat up straighter.

“Yes, Mr. Bailey,” Sophia said, looking down at her notebook and flipping through the pages. They were still empty. “Um…”

“We’re going to make it small for maximum sturdiness,” Zach chimed in. “And the less drag it has, the better it will be.”

“Very true,” I said, nodding. “And I assume it will be decorated with plenty of drawings from that anime you guys were just talking about?”

They both held back smiles.

“You’re doing great, guys. Just stay on task.”

I walked off, trying to hold back a smile of my own. It definitely seemed like the two of them were getting along just fine.

The bell rang ten minutes later and I watched as Zach and Sophia started to walk out of the room together. Andy slung his backpack over his shoulder, pushed past the two of them, and muttered something to Zach. I couldn’t make it out, but Zach definitely was shooting daggers into Andy’s back as he walked away.

Zach tossed a crumpled up piece of paper toward the trash can but missed. When the classroom was empty I walked over to toss it, but I couldn’t help but notice what was written on the page. He’d been scrawling in his notebook early on in the class.

I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home.

It was written over and over again, at least ten times.

My chest tightened. It was clear that Zach felt better by the end of the class period—he was probably thanking the stars above that I’d paired him with Sophia—but the kid was clearly struggling.

And all that made me think about was how it must feel for Mitch. He was trying so hard to make a good new life for himself and Zach, but of course Zach still missed the life he had in Chicago. I wanted to help Mitch so badly, but I knew I couldn’t.

Hell, I didn’t even know if I was emotionally ready to be around him at all. I couldn’t fucking resist him, but it was only hurting me. And soon, it might hurt both of us, if it all exploded in my face.

If my best friendship in the world was ruined just because I couldn’t keep my cock in my pants, I would hate myself forever.

After school let out and I finished all the paperwork I had for the day, I headed straight to Red’s. I knew Mitch wouldn’t be in until later, and I needed to blow off some steam. I got my usual glass of Amber Sunset and sat at the bar, enjoying the relatively empty bar at five o’clock.

All of this could be lost, too. If things went bad between me and Mitch, I wouldn’t even be able to come to Red’s anymore without seeing him, or at least thinking about him. It was a damn nightmare.