He walks off to the bathroom, and I can hear him humming something as the water runs before he comes back.
“Did you know he quit the band?” Tara asks him.
“Yep!”
“And?”
“Best idea ever! Now he can spend even more time with me.” He throws his hand up for a high five as he walks past me. I clap it without looking, shooting Tara a grin. She huffs a laugh, shaking her head.
“This,” she says, circling a hand at us, “this co-dependency you’ve got going on, it’s going to backfire on your asses.”
When summer arrives, Kit calls us into the studio. We’ll be allowed to open again in a week, and he wants us to clean the place, floor to ceiling.
“What’ve you been up to today?” Seth asks. He’s got a taco in hand, and a bag of candy sticking out of his back pocket as we stroll along the sidewalk.
“Tara came over, picked up some of her stuff.”
“Oh,” he nods. “So, you’re really over then?”
“We’ve been over for weeks,” I say, unscrewing my water bottle and taking a sip.
“Yeah, but like, sometimes people change their minds, you know? Did she seem to wanna get back together?”
I frown. “No. Why? You think we should?”
“Uh… I mean, she’s awesome! I love Tara. But you broke up for a reason, right?” He looks at me out of the corner of his eye.
“Yeah.” I toss my wrapping paper in a bin. “So, why’re we even talking about this?”
He takes a big bite of his taco and mumbles something I can’t hear.
“What?”
“Never mind. Come on.”
I stop and lift my gaze;Bold Tattoo Studioreads the sign on the window. It’s like I’ve never seen it before. I’ve worked here for eight years, and all of a sudden, I’m… what? Nervous to go in?
I have a weird feeling in my stomach.
Like when you didn’t want to go to school some days for no particular reason, other than something just felt off. Or different.
Everything feels different now.
Everythingisdifferent.
And I have a feeling we’ve barely even scratched the surface.
1
Seth
August 2021
I’mstillonmyknees when Adam—my next-door neighbor—zips up his pants. I can still feel the taste of him on my tongue, in the back of my throat.
“Thanks,” he says and pats my cheek. “I needed that.”
I’m rooted on the floor, and he doesn’t even notice as he picks up his phone from the coffee table, and turns towards the hallway.
