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"Yes," Maison says. And they can all hear how torn he is over the truth of it. "He will."
Travis sits up slowly and accepts a drink.
No one speaks again for a long time.
At some point, Maison empties the magazine for the gun before returning it to the table. Jake pulls up photos he took of the apartment and wordlessly hands his phone to Travis so he can see. Travis tries to smile, but he doesn't do very well.
"They'll be safe," Maison promises.
And it's true. All three know it, even if Casey and Carter don't. There are security cameras outside their apartment door and the building. A silent alarm that will alert their phones any time someone approaches their unit that doesn't match their body type. A trigger in the attendance system so they’re notified if Carter ever misses a class. Another trigger ready to be activated if either of them gets a job. A tracker on both their phones. A tracker attached to the bottoms of their pepper sprays and an alert that will be activated whenever the spray is discharged.
But it’s not enough. He needs Carter here.
You kept him, didn’t you?
Travis drinks some more, never meeting his friends’ eyes.
Eventually, Jake and Maison pass out.
Scotch bottle in hand, Travis stumbles downstairs and lets himself into Carter's room. The bedding was left behind, since Carter wanted to buy his own for his new place. The scent of them together is still in the sheets.
Travis spills a single tear before he falls asleep with his face buried in Carter's pillow.
Chapter Five
Operation Freedom is Casey’s idea.
It was the middle of the night when he first thought of it, Carter having just climbed into his best friend's bed after waking up to the sound of his desperate screams. After he managed to shake the nightmare off, Casey rested his head on Carter's chest and said, "You need goals."
He thought about giving Casey shit about a list of his own, but Casey being alive seems like a big enough goal these days, so he left it alone.
Two days later, Carter has a list on the fridge.
Operation Freedom
Buy textbooks
Find a job
Make a new friend
Go drinking at a college bar
Read a book just for fun
Have sex
All except the last one were goals he and Casey came up with together. He finds the last one added when he wakes up one morning, his plan to grab milk for his cereal long forgotten.
“Uh… Casey?”
His friend keeps his back to him, pouring coffee into a mug. “Yeah?”
“You added something to my list, I see.”
“Just an idea. You know – when you’re ready. You can remove it, if you want.”
It’s true. They wrote the list in pencil, fully aware some items might end up being way more than Carter is ready to handle.
