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No, I wouldn’t date women again, which…
“That’s okay,” Fox said, bringing me back to the here and now. I shelved my inner-chaos to deal with later. “Maybe I should apologize. I didn’t mean—”
“No, no. The same rules apply to you. Only apologize for toe stubbing and hallway bumping. I’m… it’s a lot. And we’re in public. Kind of… I don’t know, scares me?”
“I get it. Completely. I’m normally not big on PDA either, but with you, well, I get swept up.”
As if Mother Nature herself was in on the conversation, a particularly strong wave rolled over us, sweeping us up and taking us closer to land, closer to each other.
“Maybe we should head out… Want to grab something to eat?”
“Sure, let’s do it, then I can help you pack up your stuff.”
“You really don’t have to,” I said, as we started taking big strides through the water toward the shore, where our clothes were still sitting neatly piled.
“But I really want to.”
I didn’t have many answers to the questions floating around in my head then, but I was sure of one thing in that moment as we made it to the ankle-deep water: Fox was someone to keep around.
20 Gabriel “Fox” Morrison
“All right,” Jonah said, standing outside of his apartment door with a key in a slightly shaky hand. “This is a rip-and-dip situation. An in-and-out mission. If you need backup, just shout out my name, all right, Fox? You hear me?”
I couldn’t hold back the laugh. “Yes, sir,” I said, going along with it.
“Seriously, though. I think Wendy’s home, so this could end up being even more dangerous than our little warehouse escapade from earlier today.”
“I think we’ve proven we can handle the tough shit.”
Jonah nodded. He went to put the key in the lock, but his hand started shaking pretty bad, causing him to miss it the first few times. I heard him curse under his breath, and I could see red start flushing up the back of his neck. I didn’t want him to feel like I was bothered by this at all, or like he should be embarrassed.
I took a step forward and put a hand on Jonah’s. He looked at me, and I smiled. We put the key into the lock together and turned, the heavy click echoing through the dimly lit hallway.
“Thank you,” Jonah said, his voice low.
“Come on.” I turned and grabbed the stack of empty cardboard boxes. I didn’t want to make the moment any bigger than it needed to be. Jonah knew I was there to help whenever he needed it, and that was that. “Let’s rip and motherfuckin’ dip.”
Jonah laughed as he pushed the door open, stepping in tentatively and then motioning for me to follow.
Jonah’s apartment was cramped but still homey. There were two chunky tan couches and a pile of shoes and sandals stacked by the door, a couple of heels in the mix. The carpet was tan, with a couple of light splotches where spills had occurred. There was a worn-out bookshelf holding rows of different kinds of books and a tiny desk next to the shelf with a computer that looked to be on its last motherboard. Two windows, both shut tight to keep in the air-conditioning, looked out to the apartment building next door, showing off the pale yellow walls that were in desperate need of a new paint job.
“This is it,” Jonah said, looking around. “We’ve lived here for the last four years… and now I’ve gotta get up and go.”
“Change isn’t always a bad thing, Jonah. What comes next could be leagues better.”
“I hope so.” Jonah walked over to the big glass tank that was sitting on a stand near the television. Inside was a vibrant green jungle, with a dinosaur chilling on a sturdy branch, its head tilted toward us and its eyes following Jonah as he drew closer.
“Check it out, meet my iguana.”
“I thought I already did,” I said, teasing Jonah as I moved for a closer look.
“Ha. Ha.” Jonah shot me a look, his face cracked into a smile. Good. I wanted to make this as easy and carefree for him as possible, even though I imagined Jonah must have been feeling a torrent of emotions and all of them probably negative.
Jonah unlocked the lid and lifted it up, setting it to the side. Chibby didn’t move an inch as Jonah reached in and grabbed him, lifting him up and turning to him.
“He’s a big one, ain’t he?”
“This is nothing; he’ll get much bigger. They get to be around six feet.”
“I’ve seen some even bigger than that roaming around Miami. And when I was deployed, I’d see lizards the size of busses. Crazy shit.”
“So you’re not scared?” Jonah took a step forward, Chibby’s small black eyes now on me, his mouth slightly agape and showing off rows of tiny, sharp teeth.
