Page 128 of Until You

“How are things going at school?”

Eric shrugged again. “Pretty good. I went on a date last night.”

“Really? Who is she?”

Eric laughed. “Now you sound like a girl.”

“Guilty as charged. Who is she?”

“Someone from band. Now that I have my shit together, I get to march again. Want to come see the game on Friday night?”

“Yeah,” he said, surprised he meant it.

“Maybe you could bring Lanie.”

“Eric, Lanie won’t be here. She’s moving to Atlanta.”

“Why?” he asked, his gaze still on the screen.

“Because she took a job there…It’s complicated.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

He was starting to smell a rat. Grabbing the remote, he flipped off the game.

“Hey!” Eric protested.

“What did you hear and whom did you hear it from?”

Eric leaned over, trying to snatch the remote from Tyler’s hands. “Now you really sound like a girl.”

Tyler held the remote out of reach. “I’ll turn it back on if you talk.”

“Fine. Matt. And Kevin.”

“Both of them?” Traitors.

“They’re worried about you. Why haven’t you answered your phone?”

They’d each called him a couple of times that morning, but he’d been with Lanie, and he hadn’t felt like talking. “I needed a break.”

“So you figured you’d hang out with me?”

“Yeah.”

Eric looked surprised, then grinned. “Now, turn on the game.”

Laughing, Tyler obeyed.

They settled in and watched two quarters, but when it turned into a slaughter, Eric said, “I’m hungry. Let’s go get something to eat.”

“It’s two thirty, and we just had a pizza an hour ago.”

“So?”

So, indeed.

Tyler drove them to the Plaza. After they parked in a garage, they walked a couple of blocks to Brio.

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