Page 38 of Hits Different

Of course you. It's always you.

I nod. “We don’t need to be weird about this”.

“Understood”. He nods, and the blood rushes back to my head. “But to be clear, I am nothing but a bajillion per cent flattered”.

“Really?” I risk a glance.

“Dude”. He reaches an arm across my shoulder and pulls me into a sideways hug. “It’s the most flattering thing anyone has ever said to me. Besides”. His lips twitch.

“Besides, what?”

“I mean,come on”. He gestures at himself, “You’re only human”.

“Di Rossi!”

“I mean it. It would almost be weird if youdidn’tdevelop feelings for me”.

“Trust you to ruin the moment”, I’m surprised by how easy it feels to smile. Like I’ve let go of something that’s been weighing me down without even realising it.

“If we had stayed friends, I guess we would have talked about this years ago”.

“We could enrol you in SBF101 and get you caught up in the ways of allyship and…”

“Don’t make me feel worse!”

“That’s not what I meant”, I throw him an easy smile, “It’s weird to talk about this stuff. I’m glad you asked, and thanks for being cool with my answer. A lot of guys wouldn’t be”. Even if it’s only a half truth. We round the corner, and I stop dead.

The sign for the diner reads ‘Mama Leonie’s Greasy Pizza’.

I’m drooling. Literally drooling. Right here on the street, like a raccoon. “Did I do good?” Parker grins.

“You nailed it. SBF101 though”, I say thoughtfully, “That’s not a bad idea”.

“For all us unenlightened dude-bros out there?”

“Just trying to find a class that you wouldn’t flunk, Di Rossi”, I dive out of the way of his playful punch. We can do this. We can be friends. “Ow! Violence!”

“Violence? I’m a lover, not a fighter”. Parker holds the door for me. “You know that”.

Chapter 15

Fireworks

Three Years Earlier

Brandon

I scramble to my feet just in time to take a punch right to the mouth. I hit the dirt, spitting blood onto the sand. Parker glares at his own hand like he can’t believe what it just did.

I wipe my mouth roughly as the first firework explodes overhead. “That all you got?” The words fall out in a fury.

Millie’s friends immediately scatter, either to avoid getting caught up in trouble or because this isn’t the kind of fireworks they came to see.

Parker shoves me. I shove him back, hard. He’s wasted, I realise, a second before he charges at me. This time I meet him with a punch of my own, sending him skidding across the sand.

“Stop it, Carter!” Millie yells. She muscles between the two of us. “Parker, calm down. It was just a stupid dare. Of course I wasn’t making out with Brandon. I don’t evenlikeBrandon!”

“Fuck you, Millie”, I pant, tensing for another charge.

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