Page 83 of Off Sides

“There’s booze up there and since you won’t give me more pain meds, I have to do something to make it stop hurting!” He glares at me, still holding his cast.

“Alcohol is the last thing you should be adding to pain meds, you dumb fuck!” Getting behind him, I grab him under the armpits and stand him up, then hand him the crutches. “I also found the stashes you left around the house and dumped them.”

Matt’s furious now and whirls around at me, swinging a crutch and yelling. “How dare you! You have no right to treat me like this! You’re not my dad or my sponsor!”

Yanking the crutch from his hand, I throw it aside and get into his face. “If you don’t want to be treated like a fucking child, stop acting like one.”

His face is red and eyes glassy. The Percocet in his body is having an effect, just not enough of one for his liking.

“I hate you,” he seethes in my face.

“I hate who you’ve become,” I snap back. “You are better than this.”

I brush past him, needing to get him out of my goddamn face before I hit him. Stomping through the house, I rip the front door open and almost run right into my childhood best friend, Josh.

He jumps and holds his hands up but smiles. “Hey, man, bad time?”

The anger burning my blood cools as I step out onto the sagging front porch. I sit on the step and Josh follows suit. How many nights had we sat out here growing up? More than I can count.

“I take it things haven’t changed much?” he asks, knocking my shoulder with his.

“Nope.”

It’s cold but there are kids out on their bikes anyway, laughing and hollering.

“How long are you here for?”

“A few days. Classes start up next week.” I grab a tall weed that’s somehow hung around and wrap it around my finger. “How did you know I was here?”

“I saw Charlotte at the grocery store and she mentioned it.”

I nod. Of course she did. Josh and I were inseparable for years but when I went away to college, we drifted apart. He stayed here and started working while I tried to move on. After a while, we didn’t have anything in common anymore.

“It’s good to see you,” I tell him. “How have things been for you?”

He chuckles and leans into me. I take the simple comfort and lean into him too. Since Nick isn’t here, I’ll take what I can get.

“Shit, you know how it is. Everything changes but nothing really does.”

I smile because he’s right.

“Your mom still okay?” She had a lot of health issues for a while when we were in high school and I would feel like a real dick if she had passed and I didn’t know.

He smiles. “Oh yeah, she’s too stubborn to die.”

It’s quiet for a while but it’s easy. We never did feel like we had to fill the silence with bullshit small talk.

I flick a quick look at his left hand but don’t see a wedding band. When I left town, he was serious about the guy he was with…what was his name…

“You graduate soon, right?” Josh asks, interrupting my thoughts.

“Yeah, in June. Finally.” Both excitement and dread hit my stomach. I want to be done with school but I don’t know what I want to do afterward and I don’t really want to come back here. I’ve been here, what, two days and I’m already itching to leave. And what about Nick? What’s he planning to do after school? Is he staying in Colorado or going back to Washington?

Just the idea of him leaving without me makes me want to beg him to stay.

“Are you going to move back home afterward?” He sounds hopeful by the prospect.

“I honestly don’t kn?—”

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