Page 101 of The Sweet Spot

Luca splashes me. “Come on, newbie. Try again.”

“I need a break…”

“I’ll just drag you back if you get out,” he warns, but I’m already paddling to shore.

After resting and gnawing on an apple I brought, I join the boys again. This time, I’m able to stand up for more than two seconds, and I cheer loudly, pumping my fist as I go crashing down.

It was great while it lasted.

Later, Luca and I stop by the boardwalk for tacos. To think, I used to have these every day and now it’s been forever. I miss them.

“Logan stopped by last night,” Luca says as we’re finishing, wiping his mouth. “After I dropped you home.”

“Wow. What was that like?”

He shrugs. “A little weird. He, uh, apologized. I guess he and Brooke are kind of dating now. I think he really likes her.”

“Hm.” Unsure of what to say about that, I sip my soda. “Interesting.”

Luca snorts. “That’s one way of putting it.”

“So, he just stopped by to say sorry and tell you they’re officially together?”

“I guess,” he says. “I think we both know things will never be the way they were, but maybe they don’t have to be so fucked, either.”

“That makes sense. You can forgive someone without having them in your life, you know?”

He smiles a little, gathering our trash and tossing it in a nearby bin. “Yeah.”

Standing up from our bench, I raise my arms over my head for a good stretch. “Are you okay?”

“About Logan? Yeah.” He nods. “I’m glad he came over and owned up to that shit. It felt like closure.”

I’ll always find it sad that Luca lost one of his childhood friends that way, but people have to live with the choices they make. And, I guess, the choices other people make.

We stroll for a while down the uncharacteristically quiet main thoroughfare. It’s slow right now; most people are still at work or school “Hey, there’s something I want to talk about.”

Luca slides his hand into the back pocket of my shorts and tugs me closer. “What’s up?”

One launching platform of Sky Glider looms ahead, backlit by the sun. “Want to ride?” I ask Luca, tilting my head.

“Sure.” He shrugs. “Let’s grab tickets.”

“We don’t need tickets.” I scoff. “I know everyone.”

Sure enough, the bored looking kid on the platform yawns as we approach. “Hey, Wren. You getting on?”

“Hey, Jonah. If you don’t mind.”

Standing, he fastens Luca and me into the next car and we’re off, drifting slowly into the sky. I grin, wiggling my toes in my flip flops.

“Don’t drop ‘em,” Luca says, noticing.

“Never.”

We gaze at each other. “I remember the first time we rode this thing,” he says. “You were so nervous around me.”

“How do you know I’m not still?”

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