Life in Fusion (39 page)

Gabe finally rolled his eyes and moved in to kiss me.

I put out my hand to stop him. “Dude, could you not roll

your eyes when you start to kiss me?”

“Are you serious?” Gabe asked.

292 Ethan Day

“It’s way rude.”

Gabe laughed. “This is silly.”

I grabbed him by the back of the neck and pressed my lips

onto his. Our lips parted for one another and our tongues met. I

could taste the gummy bears from his mouth which wasn’t bad,

so much as odd. Then we pulled apart suddenly, each sitting up.

“That was…” Gabe trailed off.

I was trying not to visibly cringe. “Creepy.”

“Pretty much,” he added.

“But good to know.”

Gabe nodded. “True.”

I sighed, relief sweeping over me. “BFFs we were meant to

be.”

“This goes to the grave, right?” he asked.

Panic swept over me. “Um, if you know what’s good for you.”

“
Man
, that kiss was really—”

“Embarrassing,” I said, cutting him off.

“Just a smidge.” Gabe frowned. “I blame the twins and their

creepy, incestuous-laced cannabis.”

We each started to laugh over that one as we settled ourselves

back down into the pillows.

“Stupid twins,” Gabe mumbled in an
I’ll-get-you
tone.

We both snickered, as if newly united in our desire to seek

revenge against the twins.

We lay there, quietly for a moment, yet there was no

awkwardness to the silence. I closed my eyes, which now burned,

as if begging me to relent already and give up the fight. I sighed

again, feeling the smile spread over my face, thanking anything

and everything out there in the universe—eternally grateful that

whole scenario had ended the way it did.

Could have been way worse had there been anything deeper

there, I thought.

Life in fusion
293

“Why are you smiling like that?” Gabe asked.

I shrugged, realizing he was now frightened.

“Cut it out, dude,” Gabe said. “You’re freaking my shit out.”

I shut my eyes tight and did my best to reign in my joy that my

best friend wasn’t in love with me.

I felt Gabe take my hand in his. “I think you’re really brave,

by the way.”

I opened my eyes and turned to him, just barely able to make

out his features in the low light.

“For picking up and moving like this.” Gabe sighed. “I could

never do it. I’m kinda in awe of you Boone. Honestly.”

I pulled his hand up to my lips and kissed his palm. “Thanks

for saying that, Gabe. And you’ll be surprised by what you’ll do

when you fall in love with someone. I’d like to take the credit but

it’s not bravery—merely the consequences of falling. You’ll see.”

“I hope so,” Gabe whispered.

I kissed his hand once more before holding it against my

chest. “I promise, someday you’ll see.”

With that, he pulled my hand and I scooted over, wrapping

him up in my arms while he snuggled into my body. It was the

last time we’d probably be able to be like this with one another,

and I think we both felt that. It was a little bit sad, but in a good

way. I think we both understood how lucky we’d been to have

had each other in our lives. And while that was something no one

could ever take away from us, we also knew it couldn’t remain as

it had been.

As we fell over that edge into sleep, I couldn’t help but think

there was something sort of bittersweet in that.

The drive from Albuquerque to Summit City had been a good

one. We did a lot of laughing, chatting about our past escapades,

and accusations of who’d started what were leveled. It amazed

me Gabe still tried to blame everything on me. Granted, much of

what had gotten us into trouble growing up had been instigated

by me, but not all of it.

A multitude of really horrible singing had occurred by the

time we hit Colorado as we listened to the greatest hits of our

early twenties club days with songs like,
Genie in a Bottle
and
Bye

Bye Bye
. And I, of course, pissed and moaned until he relented,

stopping so I could buy more trashy road-trip food whenever the

whim struck me.

Gabe drove the cram packed SUV the entire trip. Wade had

surprised
me with it one day after I’d finished my rehab. I was

anything but happy he’d bought me a fucking car, and I insisted

he take the thing back. He refused, saying he’d paid cash for it

and once they’d driven it off the lot it was too late, claiming

the value had decreased or some such nonsense. I told him hell

would freeze over before I ever got behind the wheel. He said

he wouldn’t be able to return it and get all his money back, so I

might as well shut the hell up and keep it.

I believed that to be the single worst excuse I’d ever heard and

I cussed his ass good for doing it, especially since we’d discussed

the topic on more than one occasion and he knew how I felt.

My turncoat parents backed him up, which pissed me off more.

Everyone, for that matter, acted as if I was being stubborn and

ungrateful.

Wade had a way of working the system to get his way, acting

as if
my
car wreck provided him carte blanche to do whatever

the hell he wanted. The prick. Thus far, I had yet to relent, since

I still hadn’t actually driven it. We argued so much that Dixie

finally threatened to murder us both in our sleep if we didn’t shut

296 Ethan Day

up about it. It wasn’t even actually about the car for me. It was

the blatant disregard for my wishes, treating me like a child who

didn’t know what was good for me.

As Gabe and I rounded the winding road that led to Wade’s

house, I was happy to see the moving truck was no longer there.

I smiled, figuring Wade was fit to be tied over the mess his house

now had to be in. I was smug for all of thirty seconds before

realizing I had to help unpack it all.

“Moving sucks,” I said, suddenly in a crummy ass mood now

that I’d worked myself up over the whole car debacle.

“Sheesh, what crawled up your butt, crankers?” Gabe asked,

backing the SUV up to the front door.

I snarled up my lip at him and he shook his head, cutting the

engine. “Never mind, forget I asked.”

I got out of the car, twisting and stretching out my body in

an attempt to work out the kinks. Gabe came around the front

of the car, patting me on the back. He followed me to the front

door.

“Want me to carry you over the threshold?” Gabe asked

sarcastically.

I pushed the door open and looked him up and down. “Like

your scrawny ass could lift me.”

Satisfied, having wiped the smirk from his face, knowing

he was sensitive about being a small guy, I went through the

front door. My eyes glazed over at the sight of all the boxes and

furniture crammed into any and every corner.

“Whoa,” Gabe said from behind me. “You’ve
really
got a lot

of shit.”

“Yeah,” I said, heartily agreeing with his assessment.

“That you, babe?” I heard Wade call out from somewhere in

the back of the house.

“We’re here,” I answered, listening to Gabe shut the door

behind me.

Life in fusion
297

I could see the top of his head bobbing up and down over

a wall of boxes. Wade’s smiling face popped into view and he

waved at Gabe, looking happy as a clam. Not even a hint of

stress over the current state of his house, which was a complete

and total wreck.

What an asshole!

“What’s wrong with you?” Wade asked, then looked at Gabe.

“Tough drive?”

“Beats me,” Gabe said, “he was fine until about five minutes

ago.”

“I’m in the room, people,” I snapped.

Wade started to move through the boxes to get to me, then

stopped and scowled. “Son of a bitch, this is about your goddamn

car isn’t it?”

“That would be impossible, since
I
no longer own a goddamn

car.”

“Fucking hell!” Wade spun around and went back in the

direction he’d come from, cussing like a banshee.

“Huh?” I felt a smile forming as I turned to Gabe. “I totally

feel better now.”

Gabe laughed. “You’re a prick, sometimes.”

“Why thank you.” I grinned, going for extra cheesy. “Don’t

get your panties in a bunch. Besides, fighting’s great for fucking.”

“Real nice,” Gabe said. “Can hardly wait for you to finish

writing that relationship advice book.”

“I’m gifted, I know.” I sighed, savoring my own brilliance. “I

can title it,
Boone’s Bits: A Guide to Taming the Shrew in all of You
.”

We both headed toward the door to go unload the car that

didn’t belong to me.

“You know what, asshole,” Wade yelled, causing Gabe and

I turn back. He seemed stuck for a moment as he stood there

looking me over all surly-like. “Well…you’re a fucking asshole!”

I was grinning, quite pleased with myself as Wade stormed off,

298 Ethan Day

heading back into the house somewhere, muttering something

about what a piece of work I am.

“See what I mean,” I raised my hand into the air as if offering

proof. “He’s pissed
and
all he can think about are assholes. It’s

like two prizes in one.”

“You’re sick.”

“As in rad?” I asked. “Like…you’re totally
sick
, dude.”

“As in demented,” Gabe said.

I scoffed, watching as he opened the gate on the SUV.

“Everyone’s a critic.”

q q q

After several hours of moving boxes from one room to

another, I wasn’t sure whether or not we’d made any actual

progress. I suspected all we’d done was move the mess around,

thereby redistributing things. But we had gotten the living room

mostly cleared out, so the illusion of making headway was alive

and well. The stupid movers had just tossed shit anywhere. There

were boxes of clothes downstairs, clearly marked bedroom, and I

found a box of dishes in the master bath that had kitchen written

in big, bold, black magic marker on the top and all four sides. So

the movers were either lazy or illiterate.

Gabe was unloading the last box of movies, cramming them

into Wade’s built-ins that surrounded his flat screen. He’d very

annoyingly decided to announce it, like a breaking news headline,

each time he noticed Wade and I had the same movie.

“
Jurassic Park
!” Gabe shoved the DVD into the cabinet. “But

Wade’s is Blue Ray.”

I took a breath, reminding myself he was my best friend, not

to mention free labor. Wade winked at me, silently saying he was

with me on this one. I placed my hands on my hips and pouted.

Damn it—now all I wanna to do is watch
Jurassic Park
.

I huffed and glanced around begrudgingly. Completely

cutting off the fabulous view from the giant picture window was

Life in fusion
299

my jungle of potted plants. I never realized how many I had until

seeing them all together like that. Surrounded by all the boxes that

held my kitchen stuff stood my dining room table. Thankfully

Wade had never purchased one, so there’d be no argument over

whether we’d be keeping his table or mine. Half his cabinets also

stood empty, so there was certainly plenty of room to store the

paltry amount of stuff from the Hobbit kitchen.

“This kitchen is gi-normous,” I said, cutting open another box

while he mixed up a marinade for the sea bass filets he intended

to cook. I unwrapped my blender and hand mixer, setting them

onto the countertop. “Were you planning for some imaginary

future where you had a wife and two kids? Thinking of running

a soup kitchen or intimate bistro?”

“Season one of
Gilmore Girls
?” Gabe turned, looking at the

two of us like we were big ole nell’s.

“Bite me,” I said, chucking a ball of rolled up newspaper

at Gabe. “That’s quality television.” I then, very hypocritically,

looked at Wade like he was big ole nell.

“You have it too!” he proclaimed. “And I do have extended

family, you know.” He reminded me, glancing around his

oversized kitchen. “I’m not the lone wolf you like to think I am.”

“Don’t remind me.” I scowled at him. “Oh hey, Boone…this

is an
old friend
, Robbie,” I added, mocking the nonchalant way

he’d introduced his ex at the party a few months back.

Wade was now grinning, pleased at hearing the tinge of

jealousy in my tone, I imagined. “There’s nobody for me but you,

baby.”

“Better not be.” I picked up the hand mixer and pointed it

at him like I might blend him to death. “Why are you making

fancy food, anyway? Couldn’t we just order a pizza or something

tonight?”

“You know what, you little asshole.” Wade gave me a sour

faced sneer. “You don’t have to hate things merely because

they’re healthy. You could, say…I don’t know…perhaps wait