Page 89 of The Girl with No Name

“You played with the fuckingRed Lemons, bro! That was epic.”

We hug, say goodbye, and I head up the stairs to my place.

When I open the door, Mason is inside, sitting at his computer playing video games and watching baseball on the living room TV.

“Yo yo,” he says. “Good weekend?”

I set my guitar and things down and collapse on the couch. “Eh. It was good until I made out with this girl,” I confess.

“No shit?! Damn, Walker. I didn’t think you had that in you.”

“Me neither.”

“Hottie?”

“Not that it matters, but yes.”

“Picture?”

I chuckle. “Funny enough, we didn’t take a single photo all weekend. It’s a little remarkable, actually.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I texted Samantha and said I’d call her tonight.”

“Who cares, man? It’s no big deal.”

“Not a big deal? Come on, man.”

“Nah.” Mason waves a dismissive hand. “Just pretend it never happened. Problem solved.”

“Is that what you do?”

“I don’t really think too hard about things.”

I sigh. I’m jealous of Mason in a way. He’s able to be so easygoing about everything. On the other hand, I don’t really see how that’s possible. “How many of these girls you date think you’re exclusive?” I ask, irritated.

“I don’t know…” He laughs. “All of them?”

“Don’t you ever feel bad about that?”

“Dude, who cares? Their fault for not figuring it out.”

“Well, it’s tough to figure out when you lie to them.”

“Man, stop taking everything so seriously. You need to chill. You left the butter out before you left, by the way.”

“Man, fuck you,” I say with a laugh.

“Butter goes in the fridge. We’re not ten years old.”

I get up from the couch and take my guitar to my room. I look at the ring for Sam on my dresser, the photo of us. Grabbing my shoes and changing into jogging clothes, I lace up for a run to the lake.

It’s a gorgeous, smoldering, sunny afternoon, and the lakeshore path is packed with bikers, joggers, walkers, dogs, anda couple of pot smokers. I pass Castaways and the big boat, where this whole adventure began last Thursday night.

Dunn’s words ring in my ear.“You’ve either got some self-loathing to do, or a stand to take.”

And then Mason’s advice comes, more like a devil my ear.“Who cares? Just pretend it never happened.”

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