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Max appears next to us, also out of breath, and his cheeks are chill-kissed as he throws an arm around Skylar’s small shoulders. “I love that y’all do this type of stuff. Feels more like a brotherhood than it did at my old frat.”
It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that Max was part of a fraternity. He told Skylar a bit about his time in Louisiana before he moved to Colorado, and it sucks that he was dealt a raw hand. Max, while… Well, he’s not a bad guy. Seems genuine. He doesn’t know how to make a drink to save his life, but Skylar assures me that’s not a necessary trait for a bartender to have. I’m happy that he’s found a fast friend in Skylar.
“We’re a family,” Skylar says happily, locking his arm with Rhys’s as soon as he’s close enough. “Cass and I didn’t really have that growing up.”
Max raises an eyebrow. “Yeah? Sorry to hear that.”
I cock my head at Skylar in a silent question. Heneverbrings up our past, especially to others. I’m curious what’s gotten in him today, but he ignores my obvious confusion and continues.
“We were foster brothers,” he explains to Max. “The lady who ran our house wasn’t really that nice. She’d do…mean stuff to us.”
My hands automatically clench into fists at the mention of Gwen. She was another level of satanic hell. Skylar still has nightmares about the things we had to endure. Rationing food when she thought we misbehaved, locking us in the dirty bathroom for her own amusement, slapping us around just for the fun of it. It’s not even just that, but the things she would say… I was spared the worst of it because I kept my head down, but Skylar was always going to be himself. Even when he tried to hide it, his beautiful personality would shine through, and Gwen would take every opportunity to remind him that he was nothing.
I pull him closer to me and kiss the top of his head again. “It’s all in the past.”
“Yeah,” he mumbles distractedly, his eyes hooded with that kind of glaze that accompanies thoughts of the past. After a second, he shakes it off and beams up at me. “But I had Cassius growing up, so it was all okay.”
“Sounds like you needed that,” Max says affectionately. “I’m glad y’all were able to move on.”
“Only because of Cass,” Skylar gushes, giving my arm a quick kiss. “He’s my hero.”
I gulp. Heroes don’t lie straight to their best friend’s face like I did. Suddenly, it’s not just guilt that I feel, but somethingdeeper and almost…panicky. It makes me shift, tense and uncomfortable in my own skin as Skylar goes on and on about all my wonderful qualities. Max listens with rapt attention, interjecting every now and then as we wait for Elton to come back.
I am Skylar’s hero. I’m his rock. I’m his unwavering light.
But am I worth those titles? I’ve lied to him. I’m not perfect by any means, even though he’s dead set on believing I am. I always have to be the calm one, the rational one, the one who’s there to be leaned on, never wondering if I’m going to tip over any second.
That’s the way it needs to be. Skylar and I have been steadily adding to his ‘build a boyfriend’ list, and I have to prove my worth. I have to be all of that and more. There’s no room for mistakes or complacency.
I start to sweat despite the icy air. What if I can’t be that for him? What if I don’t measure up to who Skylar believes me to be? I just need to try harder, be better, act?—
“Okay!” Elton shouts, knocking me out of my thoughts. He skates towards us with what looks like a teenage girl in tow. “This is Kelsey. She’s a junior at Lauderdale with a 4.0 GPA and she’s going to take our picture.”
Knox snorts from the other end of our group. “Did you get her social while you were at it, sweetheart?”
Elton narrows his eyes and turns to Kelsey. “That’s my husband I was telling you about. Grumpy as shit, right?”
Kelsey giggles into her hands before accepting his phone. “Okay, get together everyone.”
We all smush in as close as we can as Kelsey starts to take our picture. She gets a couple and has Elton look to make sure he likes them. “They’re perfect, Kels! Thank you so much!”
“Thank you, Kelsey,” we all shout and mumble as she blushes before skating away.
“Can you send those to us?” Skylar asks, already pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I want to make it my wallpaper.”
Elton nods. “For sure.” He pauses when he glances at his screen. “Shit, we’re going to be late for work. We have to go straight there. Babe, you’re not working tonight, right?”
Knox shakes his head. “Nope.”
“We only brought one car. How are you going to get home?”
“Cass can take him,” Skylar volunteers, which earns him a very rare glare from me. “He was just going to drop me off, but if you can give me a ride, he can take Knox home.”
Knox looks just as displeased while they plan out our carpool schedule like we’re children. What had become a fast friendship has turned rocky in the last few weeks after my outburst outside of the fight. I should have gone and apologized by now, but call me chickenshit. It’s not that I didn’t try—Knox has managed to find a way to avoid me at all costs—but I could have made a stronger attempt.
“Okay, it’s settled then,” Elton says, then smacks a kiss on Knox’s cheek. “Cass will take you home, babe.”
Skylar turns to me and gives me an equally sloppy kiss. “And you’ll pick me up later?”
