Page 60 of Road Trip

“I love you too,” I said, because I could. “I’ll miss you when you’re gone.”

Jacob sighed and leaned his head on my shoulder. “I know. It’ll suck. But I’ll come back and visit when I can. And it’s better than you being in San Diego.”

I wanted to cling to the last of my stubbornness and tell him he couldn’t know that, but he was right on both counts. Itwouldsuck. And itwasbetter than San Diego.

“I’m gonna send yousomany dick pics,” I said, “and you can tell those fancy college boys about your hot boyfriend back home.”

“Dick pics,” he said, grinning. “I could get behind that.”

I didn’t know if I had the guts to send dick pics or not. I guessed that was something for Future Matt to figure out. You know, Future Matt? He was that guy who dated his best friend Jacob and lived with the Mercers and went to community college in Melfa—and didn’t hate it.

I liked the sound of Future Matt a lot.

EPILOGUE

JACOB

374 milesAn entire lifetime to go

ODU, Norfolk, VA

Seven months later

It was spring break and most of the guys in the house were going to Chincoteague. Not me, though. For the first time in ages, I wasn’t heading through the tunnel to the Eastern Shore. And instead of packing just a towel and some board shorts, I was packing jeans and boots as well.

Dale, my roommate, stuck his head around the door. “Oh, you’re still here, bro?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought your boyfriend was coming to pick you up?”

“Yeah, not until after lunch, though. He had to work this morning.”

I checked the time. Between Matt’s and my end-of-semester college schedules, we hadn’t seen each other in three weeks and I’d missed him like crazy. Texts and calls weren’t the same as seeing Matt’s face split into a grin or having his head resting onmy shoulder. But the next week was going to be just the two of us, and I was looking forward to having Matt all to myself.

“Dude,” Dale said, looking at the cans of beans shoved in my backpack. “Are you sure you don’t want to come to the beach instead?”

“There’s a beach at the lake.”

Dale gave me a look. “I meant arealbeach.”

“You know I’m from Cape Charles, right? I don’t have a shortage of real beaches in my life that I need to address over spring break.”

“Okay, but we’re all staying in amotel.”

“Bro,” I said, “I know you have a crush on my boyfriend, but you can’t take him on spring break with you.”

“I do not have a crush on Matt!” Dale, the straightest guy to ever straight, exclaimed. “He’s just really fucking good atElden Ring.”

“Get the hell out of here, Dale.” I jammed a flashlight into my backpack. “Have a great spring break!”

He knocked twice on the doorjamb, something he always did but had never explained. “You too. Have fun camping and try not to get killed by a scary dude with a chainsaw.”

“Yeah, I’ll try.”

The house was mostly empty when I took all my stuff downstairs a while later. There were a few guys still here but the main living room was clear, so I dumped my bags in the hallway and went and flopped on the couch.

Joining a fraternity hadn’t been in my plan, but Greek life at ODU was pretty low-key, the rent at the huge fraternity house was reasonable when it was divided between a bunch of us, and I liked living here. Charlie had talked to me a lot about choosing the right fraternity, and I’d accidentally picked a good one—or rather, they’d picked me.

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