Page 43 of Five

I roll my eyes. But he can’t see me. It’s too dark. “Look,” I say, spying Cliff on the path that leads back to the driveway. “He’s leaving.”

“Good,” Five says, pulling me back down on to the couch. “Now I want to hear the whole story from start to finish. Begin.”

“Begin?” I laugh. “God, Five. Don’t start with your weird mannerisms. I was just getting used to the grown-up version of you.”

“Explain.”

“That,” I say, pointing a finger at him. “Those curt, one-word sentences you were always barking at people when we were kids.”

“Rory,” he says, his voice now some man-version of the kid he used to be. “I want to know where you met him and exactly what the fuck he’s doing here in Bellvue, Colorado.”

“I just told you. Why are you being so weird about this? It was just a fling. Not even a fling,” I say, preempting his next question, which will be something academic like, Explain the term ‘fling.’ “His sister Tera is my best friend.”

Five goes quiet for a moment. Like he’s thinking really hard about this situation. “Look,” I say. “It was nothing. Just a time-passer. I was never going to sleep with him. Why the hell would I wait six years for you and then blow it?”

He’s still silent.

“I wouldn’t,” I say, starting to worry he’s really mad at me. “Five? Why the hell—”

“What’s your friend’s last name?” he asks.

“What? Why?”

“Is it Middleton?” he asks.

“How’d you know?”

He wipes a hand down his face, mumbling, “Oh, fuck.”

“What the hell is going on?” I ask, but as the words spill out of my mouth, I regret them. I don’t want to know what’s going on. How he knows the Middletons. What that means for us, our future, and everything that seems to be happening right now. Just when we’re finally getting back together and our parents are all out of town.

“I know him, Rory. He’s one of us.”

Well, that explains everything. “I need to get my phone so I can call him back and cut him loose. I don’t want him prowling around Fort Collins looking for me. Obviously, Tera gave him my address. God only knows where he’ll go next. Jesus,” I say. “What time is it?” I almost have a panic attack as I imagine him showing up at Shrike Bikes asking for me. My dad’s mechanics will have him on the phone so fast—

And that’s when the pool house phone rings.

Five and I look at each other. And then we dive for it at the same time, but I snatch it away from him at the last second and breathe, “Hello?” into the handset.

“Rory?”

I pantomime swiping sweat off my brow as Five watches, then say, “Yes, Kate?”

“Just what the fuck is going on? You’ve got a guy running all over town looking for you. And why the hell aren’t you picking up your phone?”

“Shit,” I say, more to Five than Kate. “Did he go over to Shrike?”

“You bet your ass he did. And your father already called over here asking why the hell some boy is looking for you.”

“What’d you tell him?” I ask, biting my lip.

“I said I had no clue. Because I don’t. But you need to tell me just what the hell is happening. Because that guy introduced himself as your boyfriend to pretty much everyone who knows you in this town.”

Five grabs the phone from me. “Did he say he was staying in town, Kate?”

“Five,” Kate says. “Do you know that guy? He was asking about you too.”

“Did he say he was staying?” Five says, ignoring her question.