Summer Sweat (Spruce Texas)

He looks confused for a second, turning to gaze at the desk. After a moment of reluctance, he heads over to it, looking around. “Am I supposed to be seein’ somethin’ here?”

“That piece of paper. Folded up by the lamp.”

His eyes land on it. He picks it up, for a second seeming not to even know what it is. Then he opens it. “Oh. This.”

“That.” I pull the shower curtains open again and step inside.

“Yeah, some chick at the front desk of Strong Fitness Zone,” he goes on, talking to me from the other room, “she tossed this application at me when we were heading out. Forgot about it.”

“She put her number on it, too,” I remind him.

I hear the crinkle of paper as he turns it over. He must have brought it with him into the bathroom. “Huh. Didn’t notice.”

“It’s okay, y’know. If you want to call her.”

“Huh …?”

“Or if you were planning on filling out that application. Get a job at the Strong Fitness Zone. Might be more your speed. Fun. Lot of people your age working there.”

“Wait a sec,” he protests. “Where’s this comin’ from?”

“Not to mention the pay,” I go on as I lather up some soap in my pits, “which very well might be better than here. Though it’s hourly, so not sure if that’s reliable. Depends on how Jimmy and Bobby are running things.”

“Wait, wait, stop.” He pokes his head in around the curtain. “What are you even talkin’ about?”

I eye him. “I know you said you didn’t mean the words, but in the truck, you said all of this is just for now. ‘My summer job,’ you called it, and nothing more. You insisted you’re not a farmer.”

His eyes harden. “I meant it when I said I didn’t mean them.”

“But they came from somewhere, Hoyt. I saw your eyes light up last night when you were having fun with your sister. And at the gym, leaping into big pits full of foam blocks, eyeing that big rock wall, jumping on trampolines … You were in your element.”

“You were havin’ fun, too!”

“I don’t wanna keep you from living your life. Out here, you’ll just suffocate.”

He reaches into the shower, shuts off the water, then glares at me. “Don’t go puttin’ words in my mouth.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not, Hoyt. Those were literally your words.” I turn the water back on.

He twists it right back off. “Turtle knows.”

I was reaching for the shower knob again, then freeze and look at him. “He knows what?”

“Us. You. Me. Everything. He’s secretly a ninja and as wise and knowing and sharp-eyed as a fucking actual turtle.”

I stare at the shower curtain, surprised.

“Was it the toolshed …?” I ask, trying to piece it together. “Did he actually catch us that day in the toolshed? Or—?”

“What does it matter?” Hoyt cuts me off, then shoves a towel at me. “I’m not puttin’ in my two weeks’ notice. I didn’t keep this stupid application in my pocket for any special, secret reason. I forgot all about it, in fact.”

I guess I’m gonna have to live with half a shower tonight. I take the towel and start drying off. “Hoyt, this is about more than just that sheet of paper. This is about your long-term happiness. You have goals and dreams. You want to attend college. You need money for that. You also want a vehicle. You need money for that. Like I said, the pay at Spruce Fitness Zone—”

“Strong Fitness Zone,” he corrects me.

I snort. “See? You’re already in the mindset.” I step out of the shower, stroll over to my dresser, and put on some briefs. “Y’know what? Maybe this is just one more sign.”

“I don’t believe in stupid signs,” sasses Hoyt, leaning against the doorframe to the bathroom.

“You should, because you’re being showered in them. That application in your pocket that’s now in your hand. Your family last night at your sister’s birthday party. Some girl’s number.”

“Pfft, I don’t even like girls that way.”

“And now Turtle’s figured us out.”

“I can’t escape the way I feel. I … I can’t help how deep these … these feelings of mine are for you.”

I face him. “You need to live your life, Hoyt. Your real one.”

“I am!”

“This heated thing we’ve got going on between us … despite how perfect it seems, despite how deep and inescapable you think your feelings are for me … it’s just summer sweat off our backs.”

“Like hell it is!”

“A fling. You opened my eyes. I opened yours. And it’s over.”

“No, it ain’t.”

After slipping on some loose shorts, I come up to him, my face in his. “It doesn’t mean it wasn’t worthwhile. It meant a lot to me. It means a lot to me. But you’re young …”

“I wish you’d quit fuckin’ talking to me like a child.”