Page 43 of The Wicker King

August groaned and threw his hands up in the air. “Fine. Fine. I’ll pay. But next time, I swear to god we’re doing Rock Paper Scissors to decide instead of playing Hot Hands. Because it’s not even fair that I have to pay for ice cream and deal with welts.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. On with it, vassal.” Jack smacked August’s shoulder annoyingly as August rummaged for his wallet.

MILK

Watching Jack eat was one of August’s least favorite activities. It was so awful, but once you got started, you couldn’t stop staring at the mess. Jack slurped the bubble-gum ice cream dripping down his fingers. He followed the line all the way down his arm, licking shamelessly. He’d asked for a cone.

August had no idea why anyone would do such a thing. He neatly spooned his ice cream out of his cup and concentrated on looking dour.

“You seem happier than usual,” Jack said.

“I’m actively frowning, Jack.”

“Pfft, like that means anything. You frown all the time. Usually you have this extra rage wrinkle between your eyebrows, but it’s gone now. What did you do?”

“I broke up with Gordie.”

Jack looked way too excited about that information.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing. I’m proud of you, man. She deserves better.” Jack covered the entire top of his ice cream with his mouth and sucked hard.

August grimaced and looked away. “Yeah. She does.”

GOD

They spent their afternoons with Rina every day now. They usually stopped by with snacks or dinner, then spread out on the floor to finish their homework. Her place was pretty great. It didn’t have the hollow emptiness of Jack’s giant house or the mild parental supervision of August’s considerably smaller one. Plus, neither of their houses had a cute chick constantly puttering around.

August looked up from his history notes and watched as Rina bent down to rub some scuffing off her gold heels.

He felt Jack watching him watch her, so he turned to raise an eyebrow at him. But when he looked over, Jack was looking down at his book.

“Hey, Jack?”

Jack looked up, startled.

“Where are we now?” August asked.

“We’re … on a hill. It’s windy here, too, but I can’t feel it. I can only see it waving through the grass.”

“My apartment is on a hill?” Rina popped her head out of the kitchen to participate.

“You could say that,” Jack said wryly.

“What else is out there?”

“Sheep,” Jack replied instantly. “Or at least they look like they could be related to sheep. Too many horns.”

“Jesus.” Rina looked horrified. “How do you even get around?”

Jack picked at the carpet.

“You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want,” August said softly.

Jack shrugged. “No, I don’t mind. The only thing that’s consistent now is people. I just watch the way everyone moves through a space and follow the paths. Plus, I’ve had at least three months to coordinate things. It’s not as bad as it seems. And when that fails, I just follow him.” He gestured at August.

August didn’t meet his eyes.