Page 47 of When The Rain Falls

"Finn Hugson?" The laugh keeps pouring from my mouth. "Your last name isHugson?"

"Shit," he says. "Fat fingers. Thegshould be ad."

"I'm leaving it like that. It's perfect." I laugh. "But, why? Why give me your number?"

With one hand still on the steering wheel, he rests the other casually on his thigh. "If you need to call someone at 2:00 a.m., you can call me," he says. "For emergencies. If you're desperate, I guess."

How? How is he also sweet, too? On top of everything else?

"Would you answer?" I ask tentatively.

"50-50." He glances at me. "Maybe 60-40."

"60, you'd answer?" I ask him. "Or 60, you wouldn't answer?"

"Let's leave some things a mystery."

"Ha." This is weird. For Finn to not be scowling or brooding.

"Other than needing appropriate clothing. You ok?" he asks. I think for a moment. Am I ok? No. Will I be ok tomorrow? I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe the loneliness will evaporate with the promise of a new day. Feelings always seem bigger at night.

Just then, my stomach grumbles. "Since you’re asking,” I say. “Iamstarving."

“I know a place.”

16WEIRD FOR FRIES

FINN

I grabthe paper bag off the counter and walk back to the van. I slip into the driver's seat and glance around the cab, trying to figure out where to set it down. Not on the center console. My sunglasses are there. And those are probably the most expensive things I own. I settle for putting it in my lap.

"That was fast," Aimee says. I hand her a wrapped package that's labeleddeluxeand I grab the one labeledBBQ.

"Fast and greasy,” I tell her. I open the plastic wrapper and spread it across my lap like a mini table cloth. Aimee just crumples her wrapper up and tosses it back into the paper bag. Amateur mistake. She's going to get hot grease all over those bare legs. And fuck. Now I'm thinking about what the bare flesh of her muscular legs would look like, slippery and hot. My eyes flicker up to the tattoo banded across her thigh.Above the tattoo is a no-fly zone, I tell myself, glancing back down at my burger. When I lift it to my face, liquid grease drips from the meat in the center down my arm. I can't decide if it's disgusting or amazing.

"Oh my God," Aimee says around a mouthful of burger. "This is delicious."

I pull the handle on the lever that moves my seat back, but it won't budge. I lean into it with my full body weight. Suddenly,my seat flies backward, leveling me horizontally. I get a face full of burger as it slams into my head. I feel hot liquid on my forehead.Well, that was graceful. I pull the lever again and try to sit up, the back of the seat comes with me. When I'm sitting normally again, I look at Aimee. She's laughing hysterically.

"You have a BBQ eyebrow," she says. I take a napkin and wipe my forehead.

"Well, you have a BBQ nose," I tell her.

"No, I don't," she says seriously, wiping the tip of her nose and examining the clean pads of her fingers.

"Yes you do," I say. "Right there." I take the BBQ sauce dripping down my finger and swipe it across her nose, leaving a thin smudge on her skin. Aimee's mouth lifts on one side and she gives me a chuckle. She wipes it quickly away with her own napkin. I don't know why I just did that. Teased her like that. But it felt right.

Aimee obliviously turns her attention back to the burger in her hand and takes a giant bite.

"I’m pretty sure this is the greasiest burger I've ever had," she finally says, wiping grease off her cheek.

"Yeah, I'll have heartburn all night. But worth it. Right?"

“Definitely,” Aimee says, her mouth still full. I take my own bite and a pickle falls out the other end, landing on the wrapper. I pick it up and pop it into my mouth. I didn’t like seeing her cry earlier today. It made my chest hurt. But I also don’t like the idea of her bottling her up her sadness. I’ve only seen a couple of them, but I hate her fake, thin smiles. Probably because her genuine ones are unrivaled.

Funny how she tries to laugh her way through discomfort while I practically drown myself in mine. Because I don’t trust the world anymore. I don’t trust happiness and joy. Not when it can all be snatched away in an instant.

"Is this where you take all the ladies you rescue?" she asks me.

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