Page 102 of Trip Through Your Wires

“Awesome.” I stick my fist out and he taps his to it. “Cabron, go grab Ellie’s credit card and order the pizza. She still owes me. I said not to worry, but I changed my mind.”

“What does she owe you for?” Marcus laughs.

“Going down to Georgia in the middle of the night to check on Jenica,” Cruz answers before I can.

“Oh right,” Marcus turns back to me. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that.”

“Yeah, me too, brother,” Cruz grins.

“About what?” I push up from the chair, and stretch.

“Well,” Marcus looks at Cruz who nods for him to continue. “We want to know when exactly, you and Jenica figured out your shit.”

I stop mid-stretch and flick my eyes from him to Cruz. The way he says it, coupled with the way they’re both looking at me, tells me not only do they know, but they came down here to get it out of me.

We were planning to tell Ells and Cruz this weekend. So what if I do it now, a few days before? “All right,” I confess. “We’re together. Satisfied.”

Marcus pushes up from the bed and comes over, clapping me on the back. “About fucking time you admitted it.”

Cruz gets up and looks at me grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “Amen to that.”

“Wait,” I look from Marcus to him. “You both know?”

“Hell yeah,” he laughs.

“How?” I shake my head in disbelief.

“How do you think?”

“Ells,” I say matter of fact. No doubt about it. “Did Jenica tell her?”

“Man, Ellie knew when you went down there.”

“How?”

“You were different,” he says matter of fact. “You had this big ass smile on your face and the tension you’d been carrying since Jenica’s visit was gone. Ellie knew her plan worked and has been busting at the seams to say something.”

All be damned. “So she planned it.”

“I wouldn’t call it planned,” he shrugs. “More like, gave you two a little push.”

“And you?” I look at Marcus.

“I overheard you two a few nights ago. Thought maybe you were calling some phone-a-sex line. When I asked Cruz when you shifted from sorority row to 1-800-HOT-BABE, he told me.”

I don’t give two shits that Marcus heard me. They’d all heard me at one point or another when we lived in the apartment. But there was something about them hearing words that were meant only for Jenica, that makes me feel a bit awkward.

“I think it’s cool as hell,” he smiles. “Just like the two of you being drafted to the same team.”

This time it’s Cruz and I who look at one another because we’re the ones keeping a secret. “What was that?” I ask like I didn’t just hear him.

Marcus rolls his eyes. “Guys, it’s fine. It’s the way it should be. I’m happy for you. I just don’t know why you didn’t think you could tell me.”

“Honestly,” I admit, “we didn’t say anything because we weren’t sure.”

“And now?” he asks.

I look at Cruz and he grins. “And now, we are,” he replies simply.

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