Page 13 of Teach Me How

Bo and Skyler. Two of Josh’s best friends. They’re cousins, but could have been twins. Tall, dark, and broody. Bo is the more sociable of the two, but his quick wit and charm can come out in daggers if he chooses.

“Please tell me I didn’t see what I think I saw.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m allowed to date, Bo.”

“Not that herpes trap, you’re not.”

I cross my arms, but that just serves to prop up my already anti-gravitational boobs, so I drop my arms. “Just don’t tattle.”

Bo huffs a laugh. “If you were trying to be secretive, you should have gone somewhere different than Tia’s. Everybody in Silver Bend is going to be talking, I won’t need to say a word.”

“Tyson chose the place.”

“Yeah, well, Tyson Kyle has already ruined his reputation. He ain’t got anything worth saving. You, on the other hand, should be more careful.”

“Who gives a shit about reputations?”

One side of his lip curves up at my feisty response, but it slips just as quickly. “You should, Sis. A good girl like you shouldn’t be getting tangled up with a guy like that.”

“Why not?”

“Because that shit leaves a stain.” Bo looks impatient, frustrated. “Look, I won’t tell Josh, as long as you promise me you won’t go home with that asshole.”

“I don’t have to promise you a damn thing.”

He stretches to his full height, crossing his arms. “Then I don’t either.”

Frowning, I study his face. With a little growl, I toss my arms. “Fine. I’ll keep my knees firmly locked together. Happy?”

He laughs. “Thrilled.”

8.

Skyler

For the last ten years, we have had a standing tradition of watching the game at Josh’s place.

It started in high school, at his parents' house. When he moved across the road to his first house, we moved over there, too.

But time marches on and sometimes it goes round and round. Because Josh’s parents moved out and he moved back into his childhood home.

And our football gatherings are back at the big house. It’s still a mind fuck coming here. I can’t decide if I feel like a twenty-six-year-old or a sixteen-year-old.

Aside from a few inches of height, and a few bushy beards, we all look more or less unchanged.

Is this how it’s always going to be? Will we be like an aging still-frame? Beards and broad shoulders today, beer bellies and balding heads tomorrow? Still in the same place, sitting in our assigned seats on the couches?

There is one change and thank God for it, the guys have started introducing new blood into our little group. Josh remarried two years back and Erin has been a little redheaded ball of flame. Bo ended up with one of our classmates, Andy Reed of all people, and that’s strange, too. She and I went to the same babysitter as kids, but in high school, we never really talked. She was one of those bookworms and we were just a pack of jocks.

We went from living in two separate worlds, to inhabiting the same, cramped space. Life’s funny like that.

Dusty settling down might be the funniest joke yet.

Funny, because he was our resident lady’s man. The one who vowed he’d never commit to one woman. But that was before he met Marnie Black. She’s ten years older than him and apparently, just what he needed. Where we used to have a callous jokester, we now have a softer, more sensitive version.

It’s unnerving. But good. I suppose.

But that leaves me. The pressure is growing. There’s this feeling that I’m being left behind, that the sand is slipping through the hourglass and if I don’t get my shit together, I won’t ever. And I don’t want to miss the boat.

---