Page 93 of Old Acquaintances

“Hey Ritchie,” I said, coming up beside Tucker. He handed me a cup of coffee and a carton of creamer.

Ritchie said slowly, “Hey…Ella.”

Tucker scooped peanut butter from a jar on the counter and stuck the spoon in his mouth. He smiled when I pried it out and used it to stir my coffee.

Ritchie’s eyes moved between us, quietly watching as Tucker grabbed my butt and moved me, bending down at my legs to get a box of Cheez-Its. Ritchie sipped his coffee quietly when Tucker hooked his arm around my waist and slid me back to his side. He shook the box at me, and I shook my head.

Ritchie coughed into coffee, but it sounded a little like a laugh. I looked up to see a smile on the corner of his mouth. He muttered, “Mystery solved, I guess.”

“Huh?” I asked.

Staring into his cup, Ritchie said, “Other girls don’t moan ‘Eli’ when they come.”

Tucker’s eyes bulged.

My jaw dropped.

My brain said,oh my god oh my god oh my god,but my mouth didn’t say a word. I dropped my coffee cup on the counter, it splattered a little, and walked quickly back to Tucker’s room. I shut the door behind me, and it opened a second later.

“Oh my god!” I squealed, falling into his desk chair. I was crying before I knew it.

Tucker shut the door and slid on his knees to face me. “Hey.” He grabbed my face. “It’s fine.”

“He knows!” I cried. “And he will tell everyone, and it’ll make everything weird, they’ll be staring at us!”

“He won’t tell anyone, trust me.” Tucker wiped his palms on my cheeks, brushing away the tears.

I whined, “This was a mistake.” We couldn’t do it again.

Tucker flinched. His chin quivered, but he nodded slowly.

I pressed my knuckles to my eyes. If Johnny knew Tucker and I slept together then he wouldn’t look at us the same way. Everyone would watch my reaction to Tucker’s girlfriends or assume I was just some slut who befriended boys I wanted to have sex with. I crossed a line.

You don’t fuck around with friends,Tucker had said, and he was right. We could have kept it just between the two of us, but if Johnny, Serena and Wyatt found out, then the dynamic would fracture. Not to mention our families. Heaven forbid one of my sisters found out. They would inevitably tell my mom who would tell Lori, who would tell Christian, who would say something in front of his sons. My dad wouldn’t be able to look at his perfect Elijah the same way. They’d scrutinize everything we did or said.

Tucker said, “It’s over, Ella, it’s done with. We can’t take it back. But we can move on. We’ll just pretend like it never happened.”

I opened my eyes to his soft, yearning face. His hands were rubbing along the tops of my bare thighs, soothing me. They pushed up under the shirt and he didn’t notice, didn’t try to move them any higher. He kept his eyes on me

Chapter Twenty-Three

Today

We stop off at one more restaurant. I sit with my cocktail while my friends run off to the dock to feed the tarpon fish. Only Tucker sits with me, several seats away, beside the water. It’s quiet between us. He’s fiddling with his phone. His fingers open and zoom into an image, it looks like some antique wooden door, and he responds to a text message.

He interrupts our silent time with, “Why don’t you want to feed the fish?”

I distract myself with my dress’ folded strap. “I don’t care for fish. Their freedom is confronting. Why aren’t you?”

“Because I don’t work in an aquarium.” He smirks. “I jog along the river at home. I see fish all the time. It’s not new to me.”

I sip my drink and relax into my chair.

The sun is going down. Tucker has another Dr. Pepper with a side of water, and he flips his phone over, the collar of his shirt open to his clavicle.

There are sneaky things about him, like a collarbone. Everyone has one. He’s shirtless often, it shouldn’t a unique feature. Yet, on this person that I know so well, I’m reminded of what I know that others don’t.

The feeling of his shoulder. The straight bone under my fingertips. The soft flesh of his neck.

---