The only thing I want to do with your arrogant ass is crush you academically.
I still haven’t admitted to my friends how much that exchange turned me on.
“I made an assumption, but it’s not totally my fault. The gender-neutral name? How she—”
Cooper cuts in with a laugh. “That’s right. Didn’t, like, four girls try to sit with you that day?”
“Thank you for finally being on my side. That’s exactly what I’m saying. You can’t blame me for thinking my partner was going to be a guy in a band who liked history. Besides, that’s in the past.” I grin. “We’re adults now, and I can’t wait to keep her on her toesthis summer. I should start a scorecard to keep track of how many times I piss her off.”
“It’s nice to have you around, Sebby,” Nate says.
I have friends in New York. A group of coworkers at the news station and the guys I row with four days a week. A neighbor I’ve gotten a beer with once or twice and an acquaintance from college who reached out to me when he spent last summer in the city.
But no one compares to these two.
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” I say, meaning it.
“Now that our food and lovefest is finished …” Cooper pulls out his wallet and drops money on the table. He slides out of the booth and stands. “I’m going home and collapsing in bed. Last night was the longest shift of my life. My phone is on Do Not Disturb for the next twelve hours.”
“We’re not one of your emergency bypasses?” Nate scowls. “This is why I pick the pie over you.”
“The feeling is mutual. My bed is more important. Y’all will be fine.”
“Get some sleep, man,” I say. “We’ll see you later this afternoon.”
“Hibernation is more like it.” He grins. “It is good to have you back, Seb. It’s not the same without you around.”
“It’s good to be back.” I match his smile. For the first time in what seems like ages, I feel light. There are endless possibilities ahead of me. Spending time with my sister and finding new ways to piss off a woman who doesn’t like me. “We have a fun few months ahead of us, boys.”
The first week of June careens toward the middle of the month where the days are long, the afternoons are hot, and hurricane season is in full swing.
I spend most of my time answering comments on social media posts about hurricane kits and tracking tropical waves that make their way off the coast of Africa. There’s the occasional interview with a news station interested in talking about storm preparedness, and I unwind in the evenings on my front porch, Mia, Harlow, and I taking up residence on the rocking chairs where we drink sweet tea and share a slice of key lime pie.
I’ve found myself in that deliriously wonderful spot between almost overwhelmed but completely happy. Second-guessing how things can get better than this and trying not to think about the position at the National Weather Service that’s looming in the back of my mind. My inbox has been empty, but I’m staying positive.
Trying to, at least.
My phone buzzes on my desk. My attention cuts away from the satellite imagery of the Atlantic Ocean I’ve been studying for thirty minutes to Harlow’s name on the screen. I smile and slide the notification open.
Harlow
Who thought a chili competition in the middle of summer was a good idea?
Diabolical, if you ask me.
Come over whenever so we can get started!
“Shit,” I say to my empty office.
Time slipped away from me like it always does when I dive headfirst into work.
When I go in, I goall in. Everything gets pushed to the back burner, and I lose myself for longer than I should. I fixate and obsess and pour every ounce of myself into my projects until there’s nothing left. Until I’ve neglected the other parts of my life, not on purpose but because I’ve been putting my focus somewhere else. Stretched too thin after making science a priority, not the people I care about. Busy from wanting to be acknowledged and seen as someone who matters.
I shove back my desk chair and shut off my computer. I fire off an answer to Harlow while grabbing my purse and the list of ingredients she sent me last night to pick up from the store.
Stopping by Publix, then I’ll be by!
I throw on a baseball hat to hide my four-day-old unwashed hair and step outside. Suffocating humidity greets me, and my smile is easy when I climb into my Hyundai. I trade out air-conditioning in favor of open windows, the breeze warm on my skin, and I can’t believe there was ever a time in my life I thought about escaping Florida.
