Page 35 of Rules of Association

Clint finished his message and hit‘send’without even rereading a word. Then, done with work I guess, he snapped the tablet closed and peered up his shoulder at me. “Then why have you sent‘how are you’to a person named‘C’six times in a row?”

Well, fuck.

I lifted my eyes to my phone laying basically on the other side of the table from us before looking at him. “How can you see that far away?”

Tine and Clay were now looking at each other with wide eyes, stupid goofy smiles playing at their lips.

“Why are you avoiding the question?” he asked mildly.

“Six times, Connor?” Clay whistled. “Damn man,ease up.”

Literally just, fuck.

“It was on different days,” I grumbled, stalking over to my phone and swiping it away from view. I peeked at the message screen again. Still nothing.

Usually I wasn’t so needy, but the messages reallyhadbeen sent on different days. Six different days to be exact. Six days of radio silence from Cee. Basically ever since I’d given her the advice to “try”. And nothing. Not even a text.

That night she came over to cheer me up, we’d played around with the skim boards on the shore until it was pitch black outside. Falling on our asses, getting up and doing it all over again. Cee came over all the time. Letting herself in, sleeping over, and helping herself to my food or my clothes. So it hadn’t seemed monumental at all when she slept over that night and slinked her way out the front door the next morning after breakfast. I thought nothing of it, I especially didn’t think it would be my last time seeing her for an entire week.

So yeah, I texted her a few times. Sue me.I was worried.She could hardly keep a thought to herself on most days, not to mention the way she barged into my house like it was her own. Not hearing from her for so long was doing bad things to my anxiety.

I didn’t want to just show up on her unannounced. Usually I wouldn’t really care, we didn’t really have a boundary when it came to each other’s living spaces, but she had seemed really down about the whole thing with her parents, lately. I thought maybe some space would do her some good.

Now I was thinking fuck space. I almostneededher to answer me at this point. What the hell was she doing anyway?

Across the room, I guess Tiney couldn’t keep in her excitement any longer. Squealing, she abandoned Clay at the counter to rush me. I took a large step away, trying to avoid her, but she pounced on me anyway reaching little grabby hands toward my phone. “Let me see her!”

“Not a chance,” I said, fighting off her advances with an elbow.

“What’s her name?” she went on.

“None of your business.”

“What’s she like?”

Like your sister-in-law,I thought. What I actually said was, “None of your business.”

“How long has it been?” she continued.

“Tineyplease,” I groaned. “I’m not seeing anyone, okay? This is just a friend.”

Tine’s excited movements stopped, and she looked at me like I was some horrific thing she found on the street. I looked back at her quizzically, she just shook her head. “I didn’t know you were like that, Con. I thought for sure Clay would be the player but turns out it’syou!”

“Oh for fucks sake,” I grumbled turning back to Clint. “See what you’ve done?”

“Six times?” Clay repeated in a mumble to himself in the kitchen as he set the light down and stripped his sunglasses off.

Clint sat indifferently in his same seat, shrugging at my accusation. “It was just a question. You’re the one being weird about it.”

“I’m not being—” I started but cut myself off. Iwasbeing weird. Overly defensive and not at all cool about this. I just never got so close to having to explain this thing between me and Ceci yet.Iwas okay with coming clean but I wasn’t okay with outing us without her agreement. So still, I was letting my anxiety from her silent treatment fry my brain and take control. I needed to chill. I took a breath. “I’m not seeing anyone, alright?”

Lately, I wasn’t even“seeing”the person I always wanted to see. And if she hadn’t put this stupid secret rule into place about our friendship then I could just ask if they’d seen her lately.

But Ceci did things the way Ceci wanted on Ceci’s time, and right now she didn't want to talk to me. And for some reason that was throwing me way off kilter.

Without my noticing Clay had ventured over to Clint’s side, Tine close to them and they were all staring at me like I’d grown feet from my head. Then, in a fake whisper, Clay said, “You know Clint, I don’t think we ever gave himthe talk.”

Clint looked up to Clay thoughtfully for a second before nodding. “You’re right.”

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