Page 62 of The Waiting Game

“Oh, shit, Matty. I didn’t realize that,” Dustin said. “Why didn’t you say something to me?”

He shrugged. “What difference did it make? It’s not like he was on the team.”

“Seriously. Did no one think they could talk to me about stuff at the time?” Dustin asked with a frown.

“Oh, don’t worry so much,” Felix protested. “We don’t need to go running to our captain every time something goes wrong.”

“Well, I wish you would!” Dustin protested.

“Seriously, not that big of a deal, D. The guy and I weren’t that close and I got over it. Besides, not everyone can be Haler and Jo here,” Matty grinned at them. “Who don’t let their sexual relationship get in the way of their friendship.”

“We’re not having sex!” Jonah protested.

“Yeah, but you did in college, right?” Colton asked.

“What? No!” Jonah protested. “For fuck’s sake, where do you people get these ideas?”

“Yeah, seriously. Besides, Jonah would be way less uptight if I was dicking him down,” Felix teased with a wink in Jonah’s direction.

Jonah buried his head in his hands. “I don’t know why I’m friends with any of you.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“You don’t have to come over tonight,” Jonah said as Felix followed him to his Maserati.

“Do you not want me to?” Felix asked. Jonah had gotten all exasperated at the end of dinner when everyone was joking around about their relationship and he wondered if he’d crossed a line.

Jonah gave him a weird look. “What? No. Of course I do. I just … I didn’t want you to feel obligated.”

“Since when has spending time with you and Grandma Ji-min ever been an obligation?” Felix protested, confused.

“Okay. Fine, come over!” Jonah threw up his hands. “The more the merrier.”

“Okayyy,” Felix said. “Why are you in a shitty mood tonight?”

Jonah sighed. “Sorry. I just … there’s a lot going on in my head. I’m worried about Grandma and how I’m going to handle all of that with the playoffs and—”

“And that’s why I’m coming over to help you make a plan. Idiot,” Felix said affectionately.

“I just don’t see any reason for you to totally disrupt your life.”

“Dude, I said I’d help you make a plan, not that I want us to adopt six children together next week.” Felix paused. “What the hell is this weirdness about? Are you worried this stuff with Grandma Ji-min is going to impact my recovery?”

Jonah winced. “Maybe a little.”

Felix considered the idea. Yeah, he’d been stressed lately but he couldn’t say he’d felt the urge to drink any more than he usually did. It was there, in the background like always, but he felt like he could control it.

“I feel okay,” he said, honestly. “Besides, I have an AA meeting tomorrow night and I’ll grab some coffee with Ismael after and we’ll talk. Does that help?”

“Yes,” Jonah said. “And it’s not that I doubt you or anything. I just—”

“Worry. I know. But you have enough going on with Grandma Ji-min to fret about. Let me support both of you. You’re my fucking family—you know that. Or at least you fucking should. And I know what this has to be doing to both of you given the loss of your parents and Cho.”

Jonah flinched but Felix only felt a little bad. Neither Jonah nor Grandma Ji-min liked talking about how afraid they were to lose each other. But if Felix had learned anything in rehab, it was that sometimes the quiet parts needed to be said aloud.

Dragged out into the light, they didn’t eat a person up the way they did in the dark.

He fucking hated it. But he was trying to get better about doing it anyway.

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