Page 82 of Them Bones

“Look man, I get it, okay? That blonde, from the new year party? She looks like Kate Moss and Karen Mulder had a threesome with Brad Pitt. But Jenna is good shit. She didn’t deserve that. She’sheartbroken.”

Shane pulled the t-shirt away from his face, saw that he was still bleeding and put it back to his nose.

“I shouldn’t have left her. I’m a dick, I admit it. But I think you’re being a bitdramaticabout the heartbreak, Cody. We fuck. That’s it.”

Cody laughed. “Must be nice to look like you. To think all women justact like that.She loves you, dude. Like, gross running mascara, annoying hiccups, best friend brushing her hairlovesyou.”

Shane blinked. “She never said anything…”

“What’s she going to say?” Cody leaned back against the azalea bush. “Hey, Shane, so I know that you barely notice that I exist except when my mouth is wrapped around your cock, but I was thinking maybe you’d like to father my children?”

“Fuck off,” Shane said, spitting out some blood. “Jenna’s… no strings. It’s never been anything else. She’s never asked me for anything else...”

“You’redumb,brother. That chick would doanythingfor you.”

Shane looked at him and cocked his head, a mannerism he’d picked up from Laney.

“You like her, don’t you?” Shane asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Cody said, sitting back up. “She’d never touch me. Not with you in the picture.”

“Well, I’m not in the picture,” Shane said firmly. “I never really was.”

“You’re a cold bastard, you know that?” Cody said, shaking his head. “You’re just gonna walk away? Just like that? Like she was nothing?”

Shane steeled himself. “Cody… sheisnothing. I get that you’re never supposed to say this shit out loud. I get that you’re supposed to pretend that every girl you bag more than once means something. But she doesn’t. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. And I didn’t think I was, which is why I stuck around. But to me, there’s only one girl. Okay? One. She’s it. The rest of them…” He sighed. “I don’t even see them. I don’t see their faces. Don’t hear them when they talk. Laney is it, for me.”

“But you’re not with her, either.”

“It’s… complicated.”

“It always is with you, isn’t it?”

Shane smiled at his friend. “Look, Cody… when she’s up for it? Make a move. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Can I tell her it does?” Cody asked, a faint blush creeping up his neck. “Can I tell her you’re, like, mad? That you’re jealous, or some shit?”

“Sure,” Shane said. “Whatever you want. I owe you one, okay? Thanks for checking on her.”

“Are you going to call her?”

Shane shook his head. “No.”

Cody whistled. “Stone fucking cold, man. Really.”

Shane just shrugged, feeling exhausted. “Thanks for the pick-me-up,” he said, rattling the cannister.

Cody hopped back into his Taurus and honked twice on the way out.

By 4:00, Shane was losing his mind.

Jerry should have been back a long time ago, and Shane had half a mind to drive to Laney’s, despite swearing on Jerry’s 1967 GTO that he’d stay put.

Fuck you, Jerry. Where are you? You could have at least phoned…

He was about to kick at the retaining wall when he heard the telltale rumble of Jerry’s truck, the crunch of tires on gravel, and saw him come over the hill and down the laneway.

Laney was out the door while the car was still moving, throwing herself into Shane’s arms and burying her face in his fresh shirt.

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