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His instinct is to run, but since Ryan is staying put, he stays put. He understands it’s easier to run from strangers. There’s much less pride on the line.
Skylar lines up another bottle, and this time it smashes on impact, glass flying everywhere. The other guys find this hilarious.
Avery can feel himself shutting down, going into survival mode.
“What the fuck do you guys want?” Ryan spits out.
“So tough!” Skylar mocks. Then he throws his golf club at Ryan’s face.
Or at least he makes it look like he’s going to throw the golf club at Ryan’s face. At the last possible moment, he holds on to it. But not before Ryan’s lifted up his arm, cringed from the blow that doesn’t come.
Avery can see Ryan’s humiliation at falling for the fake-out. As the guys are laughing some more, Avery wants towalk over and put a comforting hand on Ryan’s back, wants to tell him it’s okay. But he can’t do that, because he’s not sure what kind of reaction that will get, and also he’s not sure if it really is okay.
“Did we interrupt you guys making out?” Skylar says with a playful disgust. “Did we miss the show?” He’s close now, too close. He takes the golf club and uses it to push Avery toward Ryan. “Don’t let us stop you. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Avery feels the guys’ eyes on him and has no idea what they see.
“Come on!” one of the guys calls out. “Do it!”
Skylar starts to poke Ryan with the golf club, making rude kissing noises. Ryan grabs at the club, tries to pull it out of Skylar’s hands. He expects Skylar to pull back, but Skylar surprises Ryan by pushing instead. Ryan’s caught off-balance and falls back on his ass, knocking into Avery. Then Skylar takes back the club, easily shifting it out of Ryan’s hand.
Everyone is staring at Ryan on the ground, even Avery. The other guys are loving it, shellacking on the insults. But Skylar stays quiet. He lets his satisfaction speak for him. No matter what Ryan does now, Skylar’s already won.
“You need to get a new boyfriend,” he tells Avery. “This one’s damaged.”
“Fuck you,” Avery says. It feels lame to say it. Stupid. There has to be something better for him to say, but that’s all he’s got.
“No,” Skylar says. “Fuckyou.”
Ryan is getting up now. Skylar steps back and putts a piece of glass so it hits Ryan’s sneaker.
Survival mode is on full volume now. Fuck pride. Fuck justice. Just get the hell out of there.
“Let’s go,” Avery says.
“What, so soon?” Skylar taunts. “That wasn’t much of a show!”
Avery tries to read the expression in Ryan’s eyes, but he can’t. He has no idea what Ryan is thinking right now, what he’s going to do next. It’s like none of the rest of them are there—it’s just Ryan and Skylar, facing off.
“I want to go,” Avery says. Let them blame him. Let him be seen as the weak one, if that will get them out of here.
“Okay,” Ryan says. It’s directed at Avery, but he still doesn’t take his eyes off Skylar. “It was great to see you guys.”
“Yeah, great to see you, too,” Skylar replies.
Ryan and Avery start to walk away. The guys respond by knocking more cans and bottles in their direction. Ryan doesn’t break into a run. He just keeps walking, and Avery keeps pace. Glass and aluminum are hitting them, flying around them. The guys are whooping with joy. They follow for a short distance, then finally, at the sixth hole, let them go.
Avery starts walking faster. Ryan keeps up.
As soon as they are out of range, safely crawling back through the opening in the gate, the cork pops on all the words Avery has been keeping inside. “That was scary,” hesays. “But we’re fine. We’re totally fine. Those guys are assholes. The important thing is that we’re okay. Let’s just forget about it, because there’s no use in worrying about it now. We’re okay, right?”
“I’m really sorry,” Ryan says, “but I think I need us to be quiet for a second.”
He tries to say it gently, tries to make it clear that it’s nothing personal against Avery, but Avery can’t help but feel a little rebuked.
Skylar’s parked his car so it’s blocking Avery’s. And it’s a truck, so it’s not like Avery can ram his way out. Instead Avery has to do a twenty-point turn and run over a sidewalk to make an escape. The whole time, Ryan seethes.
“It’s all right,” Avery says.
