"No need to make yourself presentable for me,” I teased. “I didn’t bring Chase."
"Whatever." He eyed the guy next to me. “You move on already?”
My answer, consisting entirely of sputtering, gave Aaron enough time to introduce himself as a friend and then excuse himself so we could talk. Guess his empathy powers weren’t infallible since he assumed Jack and I needed a moment like I had with my father, but we’d never been that close.
Evidenced by how we stared at each other blankly for at least 30 seconds.
“Uh, so.” I searched my mind for a topic. Oh, Chase told me somebody at the DSA would get Rhonda back to Jack. “You got the car back, right?”
He held up the keys. Sure enough, the red Mazda was parked there on the driveway.
"Uh, thanks again. For letting me borrow it.” Even if your father made you.
"Yeah, whatever.” Jack coughed, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he looked away. “When I tore my ACL in college and couldn’t get out of bed I nearly went crazy. I get it, that’s all.”
“Right,” I said. Guess Uncle Garyhadn’tforced him after all. “I forgot about that."
"Well, we aren’t exactly close."
"Yeah."
That reminder turned our moment on the porch more awkward. Him doing me a favor for no reason, when he had nothing to gain, sounded laughable. But apparently it was true. What could be stranger than that?
“…We could be friends?” Jack offered. Alright, that was stranger. He shook his head a moment later. “That sounded like a question, but I mean it. I think. "
"Uh, I’m not sure..."
Jack scowled. “Fuck you too then.”
"Nothing personal!” I added quickly, well aware I was being the asshole this time. “You might regret the offer, that’s all... Me and Chase, uh, we’re kinda…"
Ah, this Jack was more familiar, the one frowning at me and vaguely pissed off. "Dude,Ihad dibs."
"I didn’t even know you gave him your number until later. And if we’re going by dibs, I saw him first."
"I made the first move," Jack argued.
"N-no, you didn’t."
"Bullshit. When?"
"Kind of the first night we met?” I sputtered out an explanation, staring down at the welcome mat under our feet. “We were wasted, and nothing happened, but I invited him to bed and tried to kiss him. Does that count?"
"Yeah. Bro code would besocomplicated if things that happened under the influence weren’t admissible." Jack sighed, extremely put upon to say the next words aloud. “Look, I gave him my number, he hasn’t used it. That’s all there is to it. You don’t really owe me anything. I probably wouldn’t do anything differently in your shoes. And actually? I kind of respect that.”
"Oh."
Was this… were we getting along? Was this what getting along looked like? What did it mean? And what did we do now?
"So uh… see you around?” Jack offered with a hesitant little wave.
I nodded. "See you around."
As I joined Aaron in his car and we drove away, I thought back to the photo album and the picture from one of our earlier family camping trips, one of the few Mom attended. No part of camping appealed to me, but learning to shoot with BB guns was alright solely because it was the only activity where I beat Jack… I hit one empty can to his zero.
Mom called me Bullseye and when Jack acted smug when he went back to dominating at the next outdoor activity, Uncle Gary adopted the name too. They were the only ones I’d ever allowed to use the nickname. I owed Jack in a way. The name reminded me of Mom, and I’d never have heard it again if Uncle Gary hadn’t wanted to teach his son a lesson about pride.
A lot of our history together wasn’t the friendliest, but we were undeniably connected all the same.
