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“Yeah, I’m hungry too. While we eat, why don’t you tell me what happened last Sunday?” Ryan asks, digging into the pork fried rice.
“Only if you tell me what happened last night,” I quip, raising my eyebrow.
He gives me a sheepish look and says, “I swear I was going to tell you about it today. It wasn’t a big deal and I didn’t want you worrying about it when you were with Emma.”
I take a bite of orange chicken and gesture with my chopsticks for him to go on. I’m not concerned about him being an “aggressive asshole.” More than anything, I’m convinced that Duncan over-exaggerated.
“So, I went out to The Taproom with Luke and the guys last night, like I told you. I was watching Chris and Luke play pool, and Duncan accidentally spilled his beer all down my back. He just came out of nowhere. I don’t know if he was with friends or alone, but he was sloshed,” he says before taking a swig of his beer.
“He was probably alone. Jared is pretty much his only friend that I know of. I can’t even count the number of times Jared had to grab him from the bar after he had too much to drive,” I say, rolling my eyes at the memories of Jared having to haul himselfout of bed and drive to whatever bar Duncan had chosen for the night.
“That makes sense. Luke ended up having to walk him out and wait for Jared with him. Before he spilled the beer on me, I heard him saying some vile stuff. I figured out later he was talking about you. He was calling you names and saying you were cheating on Jared.” Ryan looks at me and I can see the anger darkening his eyes.
“Just so we’re clear, I am absolutely not cheating. I wouldneverdo that.” I reach out and take his hand.
He squeezes mine and says, “I know. It’s just hard for me sometimes. I trust you, Summer.” After a beat, he continues. “Anyway, Duncan realized who I was when I told him to stop talking about you like that. After he said some more bullshit, Luke walked him out. That was it.” He shrugs and takes a huge bite of chow mein.
“So you didn’t almost punch him?” I ask, sort of wishing hehadpunched him.
He swallows and says, “I thought about it, but I wouldn’t have unless he hit me first. I thought he was going to before Luke walked him out. He charged me when I asked why he was so twisted up over you when you were with Jared, not him.”
I chuckle at the absurdity. “Why would he be angry about that? Of all the things to punch you over.” I roll my eyes and toss some broccoli beef in my mouth.
“I dunno, Summer. Luke seems to think he had a thing for you back in high school before you started dating Jared.” I choke on the piece of broccoli in my mouth, sputtering and coughing. Ryan pushes my glass of water towards me and I chug it.
In a croaky voice, I say, “Is Luke insane? Duncan does not and has never had a thing for me. Do I have to remind you of the time I overheard him calling me a cow?”
Ryan scowls and states, “No, you do not. Ireallyshould havepunched him.” He clenches his chopsticks so tight, I’m worried he’ll break them.
I pat his thick bicep and say, “Down boy,” playfully. He loosens his grip on the chopsticks and sets them on top of a container of fried rice.
He grunts and continues, “He’s obviously immature. A lot of immature guys turn rejection into hurting the person who rejected them. Was he only nasty to you after you started dating Jared? What about before?” He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me snugly into his side as if he can retroactively protect me.
“He was always on the periphery, you know what I mean? I was aware of him through school, but I feel like we hardly knew each other until we did that group project. He was nice enough then. We had to spend, like, a whole month working on that stupid poster and presentation. I don’t remember him ever being rude until afterward. He even drove me to and from Jared’s house after school a few times…” I pause as a memory hits me. “Oh mygod,I’m an idiot,” I gripe.
“Thanks for driving me, Duncan. I’m trying so hard to get my license, but my mom never lets me drive,” I say, tossing my backpack between my feet in the passenger side of his little beater car.
From what I’ve gathered, he’s very proud of this car because he bought it all on his own with money he saved working on Jared’s Grandpa’s farm on the weekends. He’s made it a point to tell me that his parents didn’t help himat all.I get the sense that he doesn’t get along with his parents because every time they come up, he completely shuts down. Not that I’m one to judge. I love my mom, but my dad can fuck all the way off.
Duncan gives me a radiant, recently braces-free smile and says, “No trouble at all, Sum. I like driving you around. If youneed to practice driving or whatever, we could always do that. Together, I mean.” He scratches the back of his neck and flicks his eyes toward me. We pull into the line of cars queuing up to exit the student lot.
“That would be awesome! I’m kind of terrified of freeways, so maybe we can start out in the grocery store parking lot?” I smile sheepishly.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want us dying in oncoming traffic. Grocery store parking lot it is. It’s a date.” Duncan shoots me a grin and I feel thankful to have finally made some friends outside of Steph. She’s amazing, but she’s always busy with leadership things or cheer these days.
“I’ll bring the crappy driving skills,” I say, throwing him a thumbs up and laughing.
“And I’ll bring the crappy car.” He laughs with me. It’s only a few minutes of comfortable silence later that we pull up at Jared’s house. “Do you want to do something afterward?” His hand fidgets on the gear shift while he stares straight ahead.
I turn to him now that we’re stopped in the driveway.“Like what?” I ask.
“Maybe we could grab di—” he starts, but Jared interrupts him by throwing himself dramatically on the hood of the car. We both laugh at his antics. Duncan clears his throat.
Jared opens my door for me and slings my bag over his shoulder. “What were you saying?” I ask, realizing Duncan never got a chance to finish.
Duncan looks between Jared and me. “Never mind. Let’s get this shit done.” He unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out. I follow suit, Jared tossing an arm over my shoulder as we walk to the front door.
I finish retelling the memory and say, “Duncan was trying to ask me out.” I run a stressed hand through my hair. “Ugh.I mean hewas nice enough then, but knowing what I know now? Yuck.” I grimace.
