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There was a long pause, and I concentrated on the song. The first one was kind of sad. The second one was melancholy but had more chord changes—it sounded more complicated. To Bubba I wrote,Close but either make them sob or make them feel real good. You don’t want that middling feeling at all.
Bubba:Good point. Thanks, Frankie. You’re the best.
I smiled.
Jake:You’re right. We were asses. I’ll take care of it. Night, Frankie.
I blinked for a moment, then wroteThx Jake. Cu2mrw.
I was half-asleep when I remembered I still had some reading left to for Government in the morning, I hadn’t quite finished it in study hall. With a groan, I dragged the book out and cracked it open.
My phone buzzed.
Mathieu:I enjoyed seeing you tonight as well. I am looking forward to cooking with you this weekend.
I grinned. So was I.
Buoyed, I looked back at the work.
Ten pages.
I could handle it.
Definitely.
* * *
Friday started off exhausting.I had a flat tire. Not a little flat, but deader than a doornail flat. Coop waited at my car, shirtsleeves rolled up to reveal tanned arms and sunglasses in place to keep the glare out of his eyes. “Your spare have air in it?” he asked by way of good morning.
It better have air in it. I unlocked the car and tossed my backpack inside before popping the trunk. He pulled out the jack and went to work loosening the lugnuts before getting the car up while I pulled out the donut.
It wasn’t the best tire in the world, but it would do. Maybe if I swung by the discount tire place on lunch? Careful not to smear my pale blue t-shirt, I rolled it over. Between us, we got the tire off and the donut on. Coop put the flat tire into the trunk after he’d stored the jack.
We both stared at the donut for a minute.
“That’s a piece of crap,” he said, almost conversationally but took the wet wipe I offered him to clean his hands.
“Yeah, I’m not a fan,” I admitted. “But I’ll go over to the place at lunch. All it has to do is get us there.”
He gave me a skeptical look. “I’ll go with you if you want.”
“I can handle it,” I said, waving him off. “You should eat with the guys. You and Archie need to make peace.”
He answered my comment with a quiet snort. “Archie will get over it. Besides, I’d rather have lunch with you.” My skepticism must have shown because he spread his hands. “What? I’m not allowed to want to eat with you?”
“Do you want the counter argument alphabetically or numerically?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it and finally went quiet until we got to school. We were later than normal and my phone, which had started buzzing while we were changing the tire, continued to buzz as I hunted for a spot. My favorite one had already been claimed. I snoozed, I lost.
Dammit.
The corner wasn’t the best spot, but I would get a chance for a new space at lunch.
“You know, I get it. I was busy this week,” Coop said as we took the long walk toward the building. I’d fished out my phone and found messages from Archie, Jake, Bubba and… Cheryl. Huh. I hadn’t heard from her via text in a while.
Long enough, I kind of forgot I had her number.
The message wasn’t a message but a picture.
