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Cole went over to Declan and wiped the chocolate from the corner of his mouth. “Your last one, huh?” he said. “It’s probably not good manners to take someone’s last cookie, now, is it? Maybe we should remedy that and all head down to the bakery.”
It’s probably not good manners to make a bet about sleeping with someone, either, I thought, but only smiled brightly. “Sure,” I said. “I have to go into town and do a couple errands, anyway, and I certainly wouldn’t mind picking up some more cookies.”
Chapin’s downtown consisted of a post office, a library, a church, the town hall with an open space with benches called the Village Green, the Brown Bag Bakery, and a market/general store. All of this was clustered around the one set of traffic lights in Chapin, at the intersection of Main St. and Route 42.
At the market, I got a basket and threw in some floss, a box of dryer sheets, and a package of steel wool. I paused at the wall display of seed packets. I was pretty much a novice when it came to gardening, but even I knew that it was getting to be late in the season to do any planting, so if I was hoping to have any success with that, I’d need to get started sooner rather than later.
“Are you having a garden?” Declan asked as he walked over and stood next to me, tilting his head back so he could take in the whole wall of seeds.
“I’m thinking about it,” I said. “I’m not that experienced when it comes to gardening, though.”
“That’s okay,” he said. “You just have to try; that’s the most important part.”
I smiled. “You’re right.”
Chapter Six
Cole
That Sunday, my parents took Declan to the children’s museum in the next town over, so Ben came by so we could go for an off-road ride. He was wearing a T-shirt and baggy shorts that probably didn’t have a chamois, and his “riding” shoes that looked more like skateboarding shoes. He made a face when he saw that I had changed into my kit.
“We’re not doing Tour de France, here, fucker,” he said.
“Yeah, I know, but if I’m going to be riding, I’m more comfortable in this, whether we’re on the road or the trails. Not interested in getting chafed, thank you very much. Maybe you’re into that sort of thing, but I’m all set with that.”
He sat down at the kitchen table and watched me fill up my water bottle. “So how goes it?” he asked. “I assume no progress has been made in terms of you winning our bet; otherwise, I would have heard about it by now.”
“I might not have won the bet yet, but I’m working on it,” I said.
He gave me that Cheshire cat grin of his that he gets when he’s up to no good. “You sure about that?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Well, as you know, I rode my bike here, which took me right past Allie’s house. And she happened to be out front doing that gardening shit. Why are women so into that gardening shit, anyway? I mean, not being afraid to get your hands dirty is cool and shit, but it’s like a little much sometimes, don’t you think?”
“Focus,” I said.
“Right. So yeah, riding by on my bike, minding my own business, all I did was wave, say hello, just like a normal functioning member of a civilized society would do. I’m expecting her to wave back and shit, but no, she actually got up and waved at me in such a way that I knew she wanted me to stop.”
“This all just happened now?” I asked skeptically. The front windows were open—how had I not heard any of this?
“Yessirree, it did. And would you like to know what our little conversation was about?”
“Probably not.”
“Oh, but I think you do. She wanted to know if I would like to get together with her later.”
I tried to keep the surprise from showing on my face. Huh? What? Was he just bullshitting me?
“I know, right?” he continued. “Not what I was expecting at all. But it looks like she had a change of heart.”
“So do you guys have plans?”
“She gave me her phone number, and I told her I’d text her this weekend. Maybe we’ll do something Saturday night. Just haven’t figured out what yet. Now, if this all happens, this kind of puts our bet up in the a
ir and all. I don’t know if we should still move forward with it.”
I felt that old competitive streak flare up, and it was almost like we were 10 years old again, on our BMX bikes, doing a track stand, waiting for the starting gate to drop. No fucking way was I going to let him win this easily.
