Page 134 of The Love Haters

“I didn’t take that nickname from you. It just happened!”

“That’s exactly my point.Idon’t get a cool nickname becauseyougot the cool nickname.”

“There’s more than one cool nickname to go around!”

“Apparently not!”

“Take it,” Hutch said.

“What?”

“Take the nickname. I don’t care. You be Hutch.”

“I can’t be Hutch,” Cole said. “It’s too late.You’reHutch.”

“So pick something else! The world is lousy with nicknames.”

“What am I supposed to pick?” Cole demanded.

“I don’t know!” Hutch said, throwing things out. “Catfish! Lightning! Boots and Saddles!”

“Don’tevercall me Boots and Saddles.”

“I don’t know, man! Do an internet search! Pick something. I’ll call you whatever you want.”

“You can’t pick a nickname for yourself off the internet. That’s not how that works.”

Rue and I looked at each other. This conversation couldn’t really be about nicknames, could it?

Hutch was looking Cole up and down now, likeFine. “Ace,” Hutch declared then.

“What?”

“Ace. That’s your new nickname.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“I’m not an Ace at anything!”

“Better get on that, Ace.”

“Now you’re trying to piss me off.”

“No, Ace. That’syourthing.”

We’d made it back to the Starlite, and The Gals and Sullivan were out by the pool, holding little drinks with parasols. They started to greet us, but then they sensed the argument brewing and got quiet instead. Rue and I took chairs close enough to The Gals to look like we had joined them, but close enough to the boys to eavesdrop.

“Yeah. Fine,” Cole was saying. “Maybe I should’ve forgiven you sooner. But you never should’ve tried to make me come here and film a whole video about what a hero you are.”

“I was trying toseeyou,” Hutch said.

“There are lots of ways to see me.”

“Not really. But you know what? You could’ve just said no. Instead, you made me think you were coming. And Rue, too, by the way. And then you sent an underling instead.”

For the record, I resented being called an underling.

---