Page 109 of King of the Crease

“Sorry, Daddy.” June bows her head.

“You suffered through a bar crawl for me. That’s true love.” Jack kisses him on the cheek, and I swear, a slight wave of relief washes over Griffin. There may be twenty years between them, but Jack is totally smitten with him. He’s not going anywhere.

“How you holding up?” Griffin asks me.

“Everyone keeps asking me that. You’re all acting like I had my gallbladder removed or something. Nick and I broke up, if you can even call it that.” I wave off my friends’ concerned faces. “There was no way it could work. So we ended it. Whatever.”

“Not whatever. You liked him, Hank,” Des says.

“I did, but…it wasn’t meant to be. He’s in Ardenia. Doing royal things. I haven’t heard from him since the news about him leaving the monarchy. He’s busy.” I sent him a text checking on him when the news broke, but it’s been crickets. “He has a lot on his plate.”

“Maybe he needs you there, but he’s afraid to ask,” Jack says. He nods his head at me as if there’s only one logical solution here.

“So I’m supposed to go there and what? Take an Uber to the castle?”

“Why not?” Jack shrugs his shoulder. Oh, to be a delusional twentysomething again. I’m waiting for my older and wiser friends to mock his suggestion.

They do not.

“I…that’s crazy. I couldn’t even sneak onto a float in the Yankees championship parade in high school. I can’t get into a castle. It won’t work.”

“If I recall, you technically did get on the float for a few seconds before security threw you off,” Tanner says. I rub my shoulder in phantom pain from hitting the barricade.

“Man, when did you get so negative?” Des asks me. “Hank, do you want to be with him? Yes or no?”

“I—well, I mean⁠—”

“Yes. Or. No.” June leans forward in her seat and stares me down.

“Yes! Of course I do. I love him. But…” I pull at a loose thread on my shirt. “The funny best friend doesn’t get the happy ending.”

“Funny best friend? What the hell are you talking about?” Des says, turning heads in the entire row.

“You know…I’m Hank. I say funny, odd things. I’m not the leading man.”

“Hank, you’ve said a lot of dumb things before, but that is the dumbest.” Griffin shakes his head.

“Yeah. You’re not even that funny,” Des cracks.

Tanner pats my knee. “If you want to be the heroic main character, then be the heroic main character. Your script isn’t written. The part you play is the one you cast yourself in.”

His words land harder than I did when I was thrown off that parade float. It’s time that I stop playing the side character.

“There is a prince in a tower who wants you to rescue him,” Des says.

“Yeah.” Confidence builds in my chest.

Des locks eyes with me. “It’s time you storm that mother⁠—”

“Des.” Tanner shoots him a look.

“—flipping castle.”

Being the main character in your life is a scary concept, but it’s time that I actually try.

“Des, can I borrow your credit card? I need to book a really expensive plane ticket.”

My friends’ faces absolutely light up. Des hands over his credit card with the biggest smile. What would a main character be with a wealthy sidekick?