Page 10 of Besties
“What did she say?”
Richie took a seat next to me and put his arm on the back of the couch, his fingers brushing lightly over my shoulder.
“Where’d you go?”
“Into the other room to make some calls. So spill, what did your mom say?”
“She asked if I wanted to come live with her. And she told me she loved me.”
“Yeah, I figured as much.” He reached up and patted my head. “You know I love you too, right?”
Sure, but not in the way I had always hoped he would. “Yeah, love you too.”
He ruffled my hair. “Good. Now get some sleep. Tomorrow we’re going to start putting things to right.”
Doing as Richie said, I got up and went into the bedroom. The decor of the hotel was nice, but I was simply too exhausted to pay it much attention. I stripped down to my boxers and climbed onto the bed. It was soft, luxurious, and… I couldn’t sleep. My mind was awash in thoughts of how I would do things differently if I had the chance.
After two hours of tossing and turning, I got up and went back into the sitting room. Standing at the window, I looked out at the city of Milwaukee. The place had been my home for twenty-eight years, but I’d never seen it like this. The lights shone brightly, giving the city an almost magical appearance.
“It’s nice, huh?”
“Mhmm.”
Richie came over and stood beside me. He put his arm against the window and leaned forward. “I miss this, you know? You, me, staying up late and talking. It reminds me of when we were teenagers and I slept over at your house. Your mom ordered us pizza, we ate until we were bloated, then somehow managed to scarf down the brownies she intended to take to work with her. In the morning she saw the empty box, and we thought for sure we were going to get our asses whooped, but she laughed and went to the freezer and pulled out another carton, saying she figured if she left one out for us, we’d leave the other alone.”
“Yeah, and then we all sat down and ate brownies and ice cream for breakfast.”
“Then after, the three of us made a new batch. That was such a clusterfuck, but it was probably one of the most enjoyable days of my life.”
God, I hadn’t thought of that in years. The laughs we shared at the table, especially when Richie smiled, his mouth full of ooey-gooey brownies. My mom had cracked up. We made such a mess of the kitchen, and Richie told Mom he’d clean it up. She assured him it wasn’t necessary, but he’d insisted. Then the moment she left, he roped me into helping him. He was right, it had been fun.
“Yeah, life was so much easier back then.”
That earned me a snort. “You really think so? Not how I remember it. The teasing, the incessant name-calling, the piranhas who hovered around you, waiting for you to shed just a drop of blood so they could tear you apart? Yeah, I don’t recall it being easier at all.”
I sighed. “Yeah, me either, but it sounded good.”
We stood in silence for a few moments. “Do you miss Jesse?”
The question threw me for a second, but I recovered quickly. “No. Not even a little. Before this mess happened, I was trying to figure out a way to break it off with him. He had champagne and caviar taste onmybeer budget. I was tired of constantly having to plug the holes in our rent and utilities.”
He made a humming noise. “Yeah, I can understand that.”
The silence stretched out, but never felt awkward at all. The buzzing that had been in my head for the last couple weeks lessened, and it was nice to be able to hear myself think again.
“You know… if I asked, Room Service might be able to scrounge up some brownies for us.”
The thought warmed me, but…. “I think I’m ready to try to sleep again. Is that okay?”
He pushed away from the window. “Yeah, I think that would be a good thing for both of us.” He stared at me for a few moments. “I’m glad to be here with you, ya know. I’m happy you called me.”
“Me too.” I caught myself staring at him a moment too long. Tearing my gaze away from his nerdy-sweet face, I took a step back. “You don’t know how much you coming means to me.”
“I’m always a phone call away, Max. I don’t want us to grow apart.”
I didn’t want that either.
“Good night, ya goof.” He winked. “See you in the morning.”
