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“Colin?”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. I’m your best friend.”
“Aw, did Colin-poo get his feelings hurt?” Lance teases.
“Fuck off,” Colin tells him. “I’m just sayin’…I would have told you.”
“If you were in a relationship with your stepbrother?” Troy asks.
“Hey, why are you dragging me into this?” Ash counters, and yeah, I know it’ll be okay. I don’t doubt how Troy feels about me, but it would kill him to lose a friend. I don’t want to put him in a situation where he has to choose.
Would he even pick me? No. Stop that. Don’t think of that shit.
“Are we done here? Because we’re on a date,” I tell them.
“See why I was shocked? He’s an asshole,” Marty says.
“Stop complimenting me.” I shoot him a look.
“I don’t even know how to reply to that.” Marty frowns.
Troy tugs at me. “We’re gonna go.”
We say our goodbyes to the group, Troy telling Colin he’ll talk to him later, and then we’re on our way. One set of friends down, one to go.
“What do you want to do first?” I ask Troy, though I know what he’s going to say. There aren’t big, crazy rides here like in amusement parks, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s what he’s going to want to do. Troy has always loved rides. He’s like a big kid wanting to go from one to another to another.
“The rides, of course.”
“How did I know you were gonna say that?”
“Because you know me,” he replies. “Better than anyone else.”
Yeah, yeah I do. That fact makes me proud.
*
Given the sizeof Peachtree Springs, the festival isn’t huge, so I guess it’s not a surprise that we have time to go on everysingle ride, some of them twice. It’s not something I love nor something I hate, but I do like Troy, and seeing him happy makes me feel invincible.
The only person I’ve ever felt like I made happy is my mom, and that was in a totally different way. But I’ve never been the kind of son Glen wanted. Even before things went down with him and Ellie, I’ve always known he wished I were someone else—someone who plays sports, someone who isn’t surly all the time, someone who cares what people think and wants money above all else, instead of being this strange combination of angry and bleeding heart like he always said Mom was.
But for whatever fucking reason, I make Troy happy, and that’s enough for me.
I scoff.
“What was that about?” Troy asks.
“Nothing. My head. It’s being weirdly mushy tonight.”
He pumps his brows. “Want to let me in on what’s going on in there?” He leans in, brushing his lips to my temple. “Please? I’ll be a good boy.”
“I like it when you’re a naughty boy.”
“I can be that too.”
When he pulls back, I grin. “I know you can.” And a moment later we hear, “Holy shit. That’s why you didn’t want me to try and fuck your stepbrother! Why didn’t you say anything?”
I groan when I see Brenner and Taylor approaching. But really, it’s good that they know too so we can get it out in the open. It’s hard keeping Troy from them.
