“Are you and Mr. Cane still messing around?”
“Meh. Not really. Not since the beach. He also hasn’t really been coming around much. Haven’t heard much of Kelly either. I saw them arguing the night we got back from Destin. I think she was mad at him about something.”
“They probably broke up. Don’t get me wrong—Kelly is so pretty, but she is not a good match for him.”
“That’s what I said!”
“She’s way too nice for him, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s not that interested in her. Maybe he was in the beginning, but now it kind of seems like he’s just with her so other people won’t assume he’s gay.”
“Oh my gosh, Frank. Shut up,” I laughed. “Trust me, he’s far from gay.”
“After the way I saw his tongue going down your throat, yeah, I’d bet a million bucks that he isn’t.”
My friend was a straight-up goof.
We sunbathed and swam for about two hours before leaving. There was no sign of Cane.
The next day, after doing some dorm room shopping with Mom, I figured another swim wouldn’t hurt, so I had her drop me off after we unloaded the car. She didn’t think anything of it. She also had to go into work for a meeting and was running late, so I told her I’d be okay waiting until she could pick me up again.
I loved his pool. It was never too cold or too warm. The temperature was soothing, and I spent the day floating in the water, basking in the sun. The sun had drained me by the time I was ready to get out, so I started to collect my things, but when I stood up, someone was standing in front of the glass door.
Cane.
He stood there with his hands in his pockets, and it seemed he’d been standing there for a quite some time.
I waved, and he took a hand out of his pocket to wave back. I slid my bag over my shoulder and walked to the door. He opened it for me, and ushered me inside the cool house.
“Had a good swim?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “It was just what I needed.”
“Didn’t get enough in Destin, huh?”
“Not by a long shot. If I could live there, I would. I loved that beach.”
He smirked and took a step back. “Well, if you want to shower, I have a guest bathroom with everything in it. I’m assuming you’re hungry after being out there all day?”
“Ugh. Yeah, I’m starving.”
“Good. I ordered some Chinese.” He shrugged. “I feel like being a pig tonight. Go shower. Food should be here by the time you’re done.”
I nodded, walking past him to get to the stairs. I looked over my shoulder, but he wasn’t watching like I’d expected him to be. Instead, he had turned and was making his way to the kitchen.
I don’t know why I was expecting dinner to be at his fancy dinner table in the dining room. Instead, Cane had taken out two folding trays, placed them in front of the couch in one of the dens, and then set his plate down on top of one of the trays, along with a glass of what I assumed was scotch.
He was acting weird today, but I said nothing of it. Instead, I topped my plate with lo mein and chicken fried rice, grabbed two fortune cookies, and joined him in the den.
He had the TV on and was watching a sports channel. This was definitely unlike him. The only time I saw Cane watch TV was if he was visiting my dad, who loved TV. He’d even told me once that he was too busy to sit around and watch a lot of shows, though he did try to catch a few games here and there if my dad told him it was a big one.
“Is everything okay?” I asked. I couldn’t help remembering this was the den where everything between us started. Maybe he was thinking about that.
“Yeah. I’m good.” He took a bite of his food.
“What makes you want to watch TV?”
He shrugged and placed his fork down, replacing it with his water. “I don’t know. Had a shitty day. One of my deals didn’t go through, and I can only blame myself. My head wasn’t in the game.” He huffed. “I just wanted to come home and forget about work for a while. Feel a little more human, and not so driven. You know?”
I bobbed my head. “I get it.” I was quiet for a second, using the prongs of my fork to shift my food around. “Why wasn’t your head in the game?”
“Just a lot of shit with my mom. Some stuff about Kelly, too.” He said his last sentence softer than the first. But to me, it rang the loudest.
“What happened with Kelly? I haven’t seen her in a while.”