Page 24 of Rules of Association

“Always,” she said, her smile going goofy which had me snagging the bottle from her hands and nudging the smaller glass her way. That smile meant trouble. A few more swigs and it would beherstripping for a self-inflicted bikini contest instead. She made no protests, just holding up her shot glass and waiting for me to fill it. “So,I’mdrinking while the sun is still out because my parents are giving me an ultimatum. What’s your excuse?”

“Same shit basically,” I said. When she gave me a confused look, I sighed. “My mom visited the office today.”

“And she what? Stomped out your favorite computer? You look miserable, Con,” she said.

I looked away from her, feeling a little stupid that I was moping so much, even though I knew she didn’t mind. She’d seen me from broken down to lifted up, and she’d been my friend through every stage in between. Still, I hated this feeling. And Cee hated waiting, hence why five seconds after her question was left unanswered, I felt an elbow digging into my side. There went that patience again.

I looked at her, my mouth twisting to the side. Clearing my throat I added, “And I didn’t get to say all I wanted to. That’s all.”

Her eyebrows pulled downward, her expression immediately angry. “I don’t like that.”

“Me either.”

“You should have spoken up.”

“I know,” I sighed. “But I felt like it wouldn’t have mattered either way.”

Her anger got deeper, her face gaining a layer of color underneath. “Ireallydon’t like that.”

“You don’t like anything my mom does.”

“True, but I especially don’t like when she doesn’t let you speak,” she grumbled busying herself with raising up to her knees and shuffling along the sand so she was maneuvering in front of me. She was struggling, though. Huffing and grumbling as she tried to fight her way through the sand. Turning my forearms over on my knees I offered her my hands, palms up. She barely looked at me as she took them, gripping me familiarly and leaning her weight on my strength as she righted herself. When she was upright and in front of me, she tossed her hair over her shoulders and dropped her hands to her hips. “She's the only one you can't seem to get words out around. I mean, when you're with me I can't get you to shut up.”

It was a joke. But when she saw I didn't laugh, not really reacting at all, she sighed. “What were you going to say to her?”

“Nothing important,” I lied.

She huffed, blowing hair away from her face again. “You don't really go out on a limb to say things that‘aren’t important’, Con. And if you still haven’t gotten a chance to say it, I want to hear.”

I puffed out air. “It was just something about a business idea."

“Your tech company?” she asked.

I narrowed my eyes, trying hard to find the‘gotcha’in her tone. There was none.

“How did you know about that?" I asked. I know we talked about a lot, but I'm pretty sure I would remember telling her about this. That would make her the first person I'd ever told.

Sort of.

“Am I wrong?” she asked.

“No. You're scary right, actually.”

“Give me credit here, I do know you pretty well, Con.”

I nodded. “You do.”

“Will you tell me about it, then?” she asked.

“You know the virus software I installed on your laptop last month?” I asked. She nodded. “That’s one that I've been working on lately."

Her eyes grew slightly wider. “You made the scanny-thingy that runs when I boot it up?"

“I built the troubleshooter, yeah. And wrote the code for the system. The firewall I put in a while ago,” I confirmed.

"Wow,” she said. “I never knew I was so protected.”

“More like, you never knew you were my guinea pig,” I said. “You’re very easy to test on."

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