Page 37 of The Easy Way
[Cort:]No. Jesus. It’s just hard to figure out what to say. How would YOU describe YOURbrother?
[Cam:]Tall. Genius. Occasional Asshole. Hatesonions.
[Cort:]Okay. Damon’s big, loyal, long-haired, loves anything with anengine.
[Cam:]You make him sound like adog.
And in a way, it made sense, because Cam sorta thought of Cort that way. Determined, playful, loyal to a fault. But Cort would never allow anyone to leashhim.
[Cort:]Hush. Apple juice or orange juice, pick only one. And be aware this says a lot about you as aperson.
[Cam:]Apple. You’recrazy.
[Cort:]Apple lovers are minimalists and romantics. Orange lovers are risk-takers who secretly crave attention. Wanna knowmine?
Not charming,notcharming. It was strange and sillyand…
Oh, alright, fine. It was really fuckingcharming.
[Cam:]I already know. You even smell likeoranges.
[Cort:]I do? Weird. Very cute that you remember what I smell like,though.
[Cam:]Only because it buggedme.
Such an obvious lie, Cam knew Cort would recognize it a mile away. Moreover, he knew Cort would see the pitiful truth Cam had just revealed, and how much his feelings wereinvolved.
[Cam:]I just remembered I need to do my marathon training in the morning. Going to bed.Goodnight.
Ten milesunder his belt before the sticky-tar humidity rose up from the pavement to swamp him Thursday morning had Cam in a fine mood. He stopped for a water break before crossing the bridge back into Cambridge. He was in control. He would apologize to Cort for ducking out - which hadn’t been cool - and he’d return them to the lighthearted banter they’d enjoyed earlier in theweek.
Cort was right. If they were pretending to be together on Friday, they shouldn’t be at each other’s throats, but they didn’t need to become best buddies. He was going to message Cort to say so, when his phone buzzed from inside hisarmband.
[Cort:]Donerunning?
[Cam:]Hey, sorry about last night. Have to go to bed early to wake upearly.
[Cort:]That’s fine. For the record, Iwon.
Cam scowled.Won?Like it had really been a contest?Whatever.
[Cam:]Noway.
[Cort:]Youforfeited.
[Cam:]No, I delayed play. Different thing. Look itup.
[Cort:]You ran from our convo like a chicken at a foxconvention.
[Cam:]What the hell does that evenmean?
[Cort:]It’s an expression. It means you ran because you didn’t like admitting how attracted you were tome.
[Cam:]I needed tosleep.
[Cort:]That dog won’thunt.
Cam scowleddown at his phone, ignoring the curious glances of the other early-morning joggers. He stood with his back against the bridge railing, almost oblivious to the sun rising around him and the smell of coffee which always seemed to pervade the streets at thishour.
