Page 16 of College Boy

Chapter Ten

Mitch

“But Reggie, you said I could stay here this week.”

Mitch stood in the living room, the freshmen he’d traveled with to Flamingo Shores shambling by with bags packed and slung over each shoulder, their hangdog expressions as heavy as their overstuffed luggage. He peered at each one as they passed, hoping for acknowledgement or confirmation, let alone the least bit of assistance, but got only silent scowls or avoiding eyes.

“Yeah, Mitch, that was when we were staying here, but Leia got tickets to the Gaslight Festival down in Boca so we’re bailing and, well...” Reggie shifted from sneaker to sneaker, avoiding Mitch’s eyes like the rest of them had on their way out the front door. “I barely know you, you know?”

“That didn’t stop you from taking my gas money for the trip down and back,” Mitch pointed out, struggling not to sock the little shit in the jaw just for good measure. “In advance, you know?”

“I’ll still take you back home, bro, you just can’t stay here while we’re all gone. Obviously.”

Reggie was young, cute and spoiled, a lethal combination and one Mitch found it hard to argue with. And still, even though he knew his young host’s mind was already made up, he couldn’t stop himself from trying to sway his decision just the same. “I get that. Honestly, I do. I just ... I have nowhere else to go,bro.”

The others had filtered past by that point, wandering out into the driveway and loading up the minivan with their hastily packed bags, leaving Mitch and Reggie standing alone in the living room, negotiating.

“It’s not my rule,” Reggie insisted, avoiding Mitch’s eyes all the while. “It’s my mom’s rule, for real.”

“Fine, I get that. I’m not trying to get you in trouble, but...” Mitch’s eyes wandered over Reggie’s pint-sized head to the long, thin, glorified rec room that bordered the Olympic size pool outside. “What about the pool house, huh?”

Reggie turned to follow his gaze, as if he’d never seen the damn thing before. His slight body tensed and, sensing reluctance, Mitch inched closer to the sliding glass doors leading out to the pool, like a realtor trying to close the deal. “I mean, I won’t be in the main house, there’s probably nothing to steal out there except towels and sunscreen, I bet you don’t even keep it locked.”

Reggie’s hand reached out to open the slider, nodding for Mitch to slip past. “I suppose,” he murmured, following Mitch onto the pool deck as they scanned the length of the glass-walled pool house. “But if my mom ever asks, you’ll have to pretend you just snuck in while we were gone.”

“What?” Mitch was more amused than offended. “Why?”

“Have you met my mother?” Reggie all but gasped, before answering his own question. “No, you haven’t, so I’ll give you the deets. She’s a stone cold freak about shit like this so when I say you have to pretend like you snuck in after we left, just ... swear, okay?”

“Fine, yes,” Mitch promised, shaking his head as Reggie reached for the sliding glass door, leaving him on the pool deck, his own bag slung over his shoulder. “I can’t imagine a scenario where it might come up, but absolutely, sure, of course.”

“Okay, well, see you in five days then, okay, just ... steer clear of the main house, right?” Reggie looked panicked, even as he reached to lock the slider.

“Scout’s honor,” Mitch murmured, flashing a few fingers in what he imagined to be a super secret spy sign. Reggie seemed relieved, even as he locked, bolted and shuttered the sliding glass doors behind him, going so far as to draw the curtains just in case.

Mitch sagged with relief, glad that he hadn’t been banished altogether even as he felt more displaced than ever. Laughter flitted over the back fence as the freshmen clamored into the minivan, the engine firing up and the tires all but squealing out as the gang screeched out of the parking lot and raced down the street.

“Boca or Bust,” Mitch murmured to himself, swinging open the pool house door to peer more closely inside. The space was narrow but long, little more than a bathroom at one end, a wet bar at the other and a kind of sectional couch that looked as uncomfortable as it did modern, stylish and hip. He tossed his hastily packed roll bag atop one of the stiff cushions before sinking down onto the one beside it.

The night had seemed loneliest when Emma left him, there at the curb, casually pedaling up her own driveway and on, into her house. But suddenly, abandoned by his so-called friends, banished to a glorified outhouse, stranded in a strange town with nothing but the long, empty night to keep him company, he had never felt more alone.

Ever. In all his lonely little life...

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