Page 35 of Running With Lions

Sebastian’s friends are no help. Mason’s taking a leak on a bush. Hunter is sprawled in the back seat of Mason’s car with his head in Willie’s lap as Willie destroys a John Mayer song with his off-key singing.No, Willie, your body isnota wonderland.Sebastian’s on his own, doing a mental headcount as he lugs Zach over dirt and pebbles.

“I can fly!”

“Shut up.” Sebastian has one arm around the small of Zach’s back. Zach is freakishly tall, something Sebastian isn’t jealous of. But it makes this whole tandem-walking thing weird. “You’re gonna wake the coaches,” he warns, as if that might work.

“Then they’ll see I can fly!” Zach’s eyes are shadowed by his disheveled hair, but the moon shines off their hazel color.

“Perfect.”

At this rate, weight training in the fall won’t be necessary.

“I love you, man,” Zach slurs, head lolling to one side. “Like, you’re my bro and my captain and—”

“Okay, got it.” Sebastian carefully prevents Zach from teetering over. If he can get Zach to focus a little, they’ll make it to the door before he turns twenty-one.

Sebastian lets Zach talk, because Zach can concentrate on his limbs when he’s yapping about whatever’s on his mind. Zach badgers him about always being sober, something Sebastian does forhisbenefit. And, for the record, beer tastes like sour mouthwash and bile. No one is convincing Sebastian otherwise, not even the guys.

“I’m not wasted,” declares Zach.

“Not at all,” Sebastian lies. Zach stumbles, and Sebastian’s legendary reflexes kick in. He stops Zach from face-planting into a bush.

Zach mumbles gratitude before launching into a story about that time Sebastiandidget loose with the guys. At Carl’s last party. Sebastian was just so done with Sam’s shit, he had a healthy hit off Mason’s joint, coughing violently before mellowing out with vodka. He was a champ for not passing out, or flirting with a wall, as Jack did.

“Dude!” Zach gasps as if he’s been kicked in the face. “I totally did something stupid, didn’t I?”

“Well.” Sebastian considers listing all the things Zach did. He can’t hold in “You nearly puked all over Val’s friend.”

Zach turns pale. “Was she pretty?”

“They wereallpretty.”

And they were, not that Sebastian flirted with any of them. One girl, with eyes like a Disney woodland creature and an uneven smile, was cute. He usually would’ve at least made an attempt to flirt, with his corny jokes, but tonight he couldn’t get past how her eyes were green instead of gray thunderclouds. Massive downer.

“So,” Zach says, tipping forward, “I didn’t get her number?”

“Nope.”

Zach and that girl would’ve had a lovely story to tell their grandchildren about how they met: “Yep, I nearly blew chunks in her hair and then asked her to the movies!” More romantic comedies should start that way.

“She wasn’t interested anyway.” Zach vainly attempts to stand erect. “She had goals, and a high school loser like me wasn’t good enough.”

“Hey,” Sebastian says. “You’re not a loser, Zach.” Obnoxious when he’s drunk? Sure. But not a loser.

Zach grins lopsidedly, as if he almost believes Sebastian. Guys like him—Zach lives in a rundown home with a chain-smoking father who would rather yell at the TV than come to any of Zach’s games—don’t always win the cheerleader types. Zach isn’t what Sebastian would call fragile, but anyone’s entire universe can be shattered when it involves approval from family or someone you’re attracted to.

“Maybe she heard you were a virgin,” Sebastian says with a labored chuckle. Humor is always good medicine for unhealthy thoughts.

Zach, shitfaced and wobbly, scoffs. “I am not. I get plenty of tail.”

“That’s not what the girls in Bloomington say.”

“Liar!” Zach smacks a hand over his eyes, sputtering. “You’re a dick, Hughes.”

Sebastian pauses so Zach can regain his breath. He leans over as if he might finally hurl. Sebastian hopes not. These are his favorite low top Chuck Taylors; the fabric is worn and faded.

“Cool?”

It takes a second before Zach nods, pulling a grin out of thin air. “You should’ve scored with someone tonight. Get over the whole Sam thing, you know?”

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