Page 74 of Dire Straights

REN

WHEN I GOTto Maddy’s house to meet Cyprian so I could catch a ride with him to the swim meet, I was surprised to see Aspen’s car in the driveway too. The contrast between his secondhand little sedan and Caelyx’s gleaming red convertible was almost comical. He’d said he wanted to come, which was great, but he didn’t have to bring his car, he could have just ridden with us in Cyprian’s Jeep. When I knocked and Caelyx let me in the door, I realized why. Arie and Che were sitting on the couch, looking like they were ready to go.

“Are you guys coming to the meet, too?” I asked, after returning Che’s small but friendly wave. He looked cute and color-coordinated as usual. Arie was wearing what I thought was some kind of sports jersey, but it looked like it was meant to fit a toddler, exposing pretty much his whole stomach. Nothing too out of the ordinary for him, though.

“Yep,” Arie answered. “Aspen told us you guys were going to support Maddox, so we figured the more the merrier, right?”

Well… Probably. I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of mood Maddy would be in after everything was said and done. But seeing our friends come out to root for him couldn’t be a bad thing, right?

“Right,” I confirmed, though I wasn’t exactly sure. “I’m sure he’ll be really thankful.” I didn’t mention the fact that this was going to be the last time he ever swam on the team, figuring that would invite too many questions and bring the group mood down. “You’re going, too?” I asked, turning toward Caelyx.

“Yes, sir,” he answered. He’d been calling me sir ever since the final night of winter break when I’d come over and apparently had really loud sex. Well, one of us was loud. And Maddy really, really hated when he called me that. But for that reason, Caelyx was pretty committed to continuing to do it. “And I call shotgun. In Cupcake’s car.”

“If you’re riding with me, I’ll drive off a bridge,” Aspen warned him flatly. “Why don’t you drive yourself in your million-dollar death trap?”

“Caelyx, you can ride with me,” Cyprian quickly cut in, to keep the peace. “And we need to head over now, so we can get some decent seats.”

So I ended up riding with Cyprian and Caelyx, and Aspen took Arie and Che in his car. I wondered why Caelyx hadn’t taken his fancy car. If I had something like that, secretly I probably would have liked showing it off. Then again, I might be scared of wrecking it.

“So Aspen’s your roommate, right?” Caelyx asked, glancing back at me from the passenger seat. I’d honored his shotgun request, even though he’d said it for a specific car.

“Yeah.”

“That’s cool,” he said. The way he was trying to sound ultra-casual reminded me of when Maddy didn’t want anyone knowing he was excited about something. “Does it get crowded?”

“Crowded?” I repeated, tilting my head in confusion.

“I mean when Maddox hangs out over there, too. You guys, and him, and whoever he’s seeing…”

“Oh,” I said, realizing what he was asking. “Yeah, um, I don’t think he’s really interested in, uh… Dating. Anyone,” I added, so it didn’t seem like I was saying it specifically about Caelyx. But recalling our conversation about feeling like most guys needed a muzzle, I was pretty sure he was not an eligible candidate in Aspen’s dating pool.

Caelyx gave a single nod and a casual hum in response, shifting his gaze back up front. Was he actually interested in Aspen? There was no way. He just liked screwing around with him, like he did with Maddy.

We parked next to Aspen at the convention center, glad it wasn’t too terribly crowded. There were a lot of buses parked around, probably teams from other nearby schools. As we unloaded from our respective cars, I noticed Arie had a large piece of poster board decorated with paint and glitter to readGO MADDOX.

“Nice sign,” I said, although I knew it probably embarrass the crap out of Maddy. It probably didn’t matter though, since this would be his last swim. He would never have to see any of these people again, anyway.

“Thanks,” Arie said, waving it over his head with a mock cheer. “Che helped. He was the artistic director for the project.”

“Great job,” I said to him. When he smiled, I smiled. His happiness was kind of infectious in that way. It was like seeing a tiny puppy wag its tail.

It was a bit crowded as we made our way in and headed towards the hall that led to the seating area. Because of all the noise and commotion, I almost didn’t hear someone calling my name.

“Ren! Hey, Ren!” The deep voice of an adult man that I vaguely recognized… Oh, crap. It was Maddy’s dad.

“Mr. H! Um, hi,” I greeted him, forcing a big, fat smile on my face that betrayed nothing of my worry for Maddy getting ambushed by all these people after what might be a tough moment for him. He hurried toward me, and I noted that Missy and another woman I didn’t know was with him. “Hi, Missy,” I said, giving her a small wave.

“Hi, Ren! Great to see you again,” she said with a friendly smile.

“Kate, this is Maddox’s friend, Ren,” Mr. H gestured to me as he spoke to the woman I didn’t know. “He came over with Maddox a couple of months back,” he explained.

“Oh, it’s great to meet another one of Maddox’s friends,” she said, reaching out to lay a warm hand on my arm. “You know, he never tells me anything. I’m Kate, Maddox’s mom.”

“Oh,” I said. “Nice to meet you.”

“Ren, we’re grabbing seats!” Cyprian called from down the crowded hall. “Oh, hey, Mrs. Holmes! I didn’t know you were coming!”

“Cyprian, hello! We’re surprising Maddox.”

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