Page 15 of Steady and Strong

“Let me guess,” Joey said. “Your version of working was screwing around and acting like a jackass until the librarian threatened to kick you out.”

Luca tapped the tip of his nose to let Joey know he got it in one. “Like I said, we were having a good time together and then—boom. One day I go to Spanish class and find out Conor got the teacher to switch up the pairings.”

“Why would he do that?” Joey asked.

Luca shrugged. “Probably because he’s smart as shit, and I was crap in Spanish. No doubt he realized he’d be carrying me on the project and asked for a new partner.”

“No hablo español, eh?” Miles joked.

“The only phrase I bothered to learn was ‘no sé.’”

“What’s that mean?” Miles asked.

“I don’t know,” Luca replied. “Or at least, I think it does.”

Joey snorted. “I understand why Conor switched partners.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t just that. He changed seats in the class, taking one all the way across the room. It was like we were friends and then…everything flipped, and he avoided me like the plague.”

“That’s weird,” Miles mused.

For a while, Conor cutting him off so abruptly had really bothered Luca. Mainly because he’d liked Conor, and he couldn’t figure out what he’d done to the guy. But then school ended and summer started, and Luca had forgotten all about him. Because he had a driver’s license, a summer job earning decent money, and at least four hot girls to spend that cash on.

He and Conor didn’t have any classes together his senior year, so their paths never crossed. He spent his last year in high school working hard to maintain the C average that would keep him out of the doghouse with his dad and dating at least half the volleyball team—at different times. So he didn’t have time to worry about a guy who, for all intents and purposes, had disappeared from his life.

It was strange when Luca thought about it now because in some ways, it almost felt like Conor had switched schools, even though he hadn’t. After that broken Spanish partnership, he stopped seeing Conor in the hallways and at lunch. After graduation, Conor faded even further into the background, relegated to just a childhood memory.

“So is Conor being a dick or something?” Joey asked.

Luca shook his head. “No. We got into it about the fire a little bit, but even as we were barking at each other, I couldn’t help but feel like we were fighting about something else. When Tony told me Conor had offered us the contract, I was surprised, but kind of pleased because I figured it meant whatever problem Conor had with me was over.”

“And now you don’t think it is?” Miles wiped barbeque sauce from his fingers, a pointless endeavor, considering he reached for another wing the second he put his napkin down.

“I don’t know. I get the feeling he picked the fight as a way of severing our working relationship. Which makes no sense because I thought the three of us—me, Harper, and Conor—had been working well together up until then. I mean, as well as you can over Zoom.”

Miles leaned closer. “And you’re sure you didn’t piss him off over something else? Steal the girl he liked or something? From what I hear, you were a big hound dog back in high school.”

“That’s the pot calling the kettle black,” Joey muttered to his friend. “The stories you’ve told me…”

Miles rolled his eyes. “I seem to recall you matching me story for story.”

Luca chuckled, pointing at Miles. “You two really are the perfect duo. You’re the Tom to his Jerry. The Bullwinkle to his Rocky. The Ron to his Harry.”

“I’m not fucking Ron,” Miles grumbled. “And stop trying to change the subject. I’m just saying there must be something more than you being shit in Spanish,” Miles insisted. “It had to be a girl, or maybe you got picked for some team or office that he wanted.”

Joey chimed in. “Matt got pissed off when Tony won class president and the quarterback position on the football team.”

Luca shook his head. “It couldn’t have been anything like that because we weren’t on any teams or in any clubs together. I swear the only time we were ever together was in that class. I don’t think I stole a girl he liked, but…” He shrugged. “Maybe.”

Joey shook his head. “Nah. I don’t think that’s it. I’m pretty sure Conor is gay…or maybe bi.”

“Seriously?” Luca frowned. “I never got that vibe. Why do you think that?”

Joey grinned. “Because the dude was practically eye-fucking you at Chives a month ago, when Gage and Penny announced they were having a baby.”

Now Luca shook his head, not so much because he disagreed but because he was shocked. He sat there for a minute, replaying all of his and Conor’s interactions in Spanish class and in the library that week with this new information.

Then he recalled that night at Chives. Luca had forgotten his phone, and when he’d returned, Conor had been the only person left in the restaurant. Luca had bent over to retrieve his cell from the bench seat of the booth, where it had fallen out of his pocket, and when he turned around, he thought he’d caught Conor checking out his ass. He’d dismissed it, thinking it ridiculous.

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