Page 14 of Years in the Making

I buckle in and then slip my bag behind my seat. “It’s so clean in here,” I say, looking around.

“Were you expecting empty fast food bags and dead rats?” he asks, one eyebrow quirked.

“No!” I throw my hands up defensively. “Okay, maybe one or two burger wrappers, but no rats.”

“I share the car with my sister, and she’s a neat freak. If it was solely mine, there would probably be some empty water bottles at the very least.” He shifts the car into gear and looks over at me expectantly.

“What?”

“Am I just driving around, or do you have directions for me?”

“Right, I’ve heard those help. We are going that way.” I point straight ahead. “So you’re already in a good position. Then you’ll make a left at the first stop sign after the lights, onto Renfrew. Then—”

“Whoa!” he cuts in, laughing. “How about just letting me know the next direction after I’ve completed the one right before it?”

“As you wish,” I say sweetly, and if I’m not mistaken his eyes darken ever so slightly. But when he blinks, they are the pale blue they had been before. “Okay, questions.” I drum my hands on my knees, my mind suddenly blank. “Favorite dinosaur?”

He breathes out deeply, his eyes glued to the road. “A T-Rex. I think they were probably misunderstood.”

“You think a tyrannosaurus was misunderstood? Was it the teeth and general build of a predator that gave it away?”

“We assume it was the bad guy, but how could we ever truly know? No one was there to record anything. I mean, I trust all the science behind fossils, but they don’t tell us how they were behaviorally. They could have been amazing parents or scavengers, out there cleaning up dead things.”

I stare at him, waiting for him to laugh, but he doesn’t.

“I’ve got one,” he says, briefly looking over at me and catching me staring.

“Shoot.”

“What exactly do you want to do with your degree?”

I have to think for a minute because there are several paths I’ve considered taking. “Well, I do enjoy my job at our local library. Helping people find the perfect book and assisting with various children's programs. But I love the idea of working in the archives of some grand library.”

“I’m not going to lie, that sounds dusty.”

“Honestly, it would probably be the opposite of dusty. They keep old collections and documents in very specific rooms. Like a missile defense system against dust.”

“Do they have places like that here?”

“Yeah, although things would obviously be far newer than, say, in places like Italy or the UK. I’d love to go work for a bit at the University of Edinburgh.”

He nods, his eyes still on the road. “Would you want to live abroad for a long time, or would it just be short term?”

I shrug. “I don’t really know. I haven’t thought of it that hard. I’ve got two more years of my undergrad before I start my master’s. I think I would go away with the intention of it being temporary, but you never know.” He gives a single nod, and his face is a bit pinched. “Don’t worry, there is plenty of time to become my best friend before I leave. Turn left here.”

The rest of the drive is pretty uneventful, and the rain stops five minutes in. I find out a bit more about his family, although it seems like he’s holding something back. I can’t be upset about that, though; we’ve only just waded into the waters of friendship. I tell him about my part-time jobs, and he tells me about his spring and summer baseball leagues, including the one year they played snow baseball for three weeks. And while I try not to let my imagination wander, I can’t help wondering what he looks like in his baseball uniform. Is he a socks-up-to-his-knees type? What color is his uniform? Because the idea of a blue jersey and white pants isn’t the worst visual.

All too soon he’s pulling into my driveway. I’m reaching around to grab my bag when I see the front door open out of the corner of my eye. When I turn around fully, I see my dad’s old apprentice, John Keisman, standing on the bottom step, hands on his hips, squinting at the car. John is a few years older than me and is currently doing his master’s in biology at Oxford. It’s been more than eight months since I’ve seen him, and I feel a bubble of excitement rise through me.

I look at EG and then back at John before settling my eyes on EG again. He’s looking at John too—actually, he’s glaring at John, so I lightly touch his arm to get his attention.

“Thanks for today, it was a nice change from doing all thatstuff on my own.”

“Yeah.” His attention drifts back to John, and I’m wondering if he thinks he’s the boyfriend I do not have. I’m about to come clean, but he continues. “We, ah…” He rubs the back of his neck before looking back at me. “We should do it again sometime.”

I fight the giant smile that’s threatening to form. “I would love that.” His eyes dip to my lips, and I fight the urge to lean into him. “Have a safe drive home, Thomas.” I try one last name, earning another head shake before I exit the car and run at John who wraps me in a giant hug.

“I didn’t know you were home,” I squeal, barely noticing the sound of EG reversing out of the driveway.

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