Page 3 of Told You So
“Thanks,” I whisper and climb inside. I think about the past ten years and how many times I’ve both despised Nick and wished he was mine. Now, here we are. Two people who are more than acquaintances, but have never been friends.And he’s the one who found my brother.
Rubbing the warmth back into my legs and arms, I turn around to find Jesse’s eyes on me from the backseat. It happens so rarely, I can always feel his gaze. Watching. Wondering. Processing.
He looks away when my eyes meet his dark blue ones, but I know the way his mind works—everything is a puzzle that needs to be solved, a chronology of memories that lead to a single moment. Everything is a question he wants to ask or that he works to solve himself. I just don’t know what he’s processing now or what he’s deciding.
“Let’s get you home, J,” I say, turning back to the front. I shut my eyes against the heat pumping in from the vents, and chills trickle over my skin as warmth envelops me.
Nick climbs into the driver seat and quickly shuts the door. “So, where to?” He pulls his seatbelt over his shoulder and runs the windshield wipers to brush off the bits of fallen snow.
“Home,” I breathe out, as Jesse speaks over me, “Denny’s.”
I turn around to look at him. “Excuse me?”
Jesse looks at the clock. “I still want an ice cream.”
“A hot fudge sundae does sound primo right about now,” Nick muses and looks at me, expectant. “Besides, it’s New Year’s.”
“I think we’ve earned it. Don’t you?”
Spending more time with Nick feels significant, and I’m not sure that it’s a good idea.
Then, Nick smiles at me.
With two sets of eyes staring back at me, waiting, I can’t possibly say no. “Yeah, okay. Sure.”
Nick
“What’s your favorite,” Jesse asks between spoonfuls of hot fudge. It’s all over his lips and he’s got a little on his cheek, but Bethany just sits there, smiling at him, laughing and happy. She’s relieved, I think. “The Last Crusade, Temple of Doom, Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Crystal Skull?”
“You know all of the Indiana Jones movies?” I ask, surprised. “Aren’t those a bit before your time?”
Jesse’s brow furrows as he stares into his ice cream dish. He shrugs. “I like all movies.”
“Allmovies?” I clarify. I wonder what this kid watches with his free time, other than Jurassic Park.
He shrugs again, more of an inability to sit still than out of indifference, I think. “A lot of movies.”
“Jesse’s a movie buff,” Bethany explains.
“I’m starting to get that. Well, in that case, Crusade, hands down.”
Bethany frowns down at her phone as it buzzes on the table. I get the impression she’s texting her parents, but I haven’t asked.
“That one’s all right.” Jesse’s brow is still furrowed, like he’s deep in thought as he watches the fudge dripping off his spoon.
“Justall right?The Last Crusade is epic. The Holy Grail—Sean Connery...It’s a classic.”
“Youarea smidge older than him,” Bethany teases, finally peering up from her phone as she drops it into her purse. “What’s consideredclassicis sort of relative, right?”
I shake my head. “I’m disappointed in you. Classic isclassic, there’s a difference between what’s currently ‘cool’ and what’s ‘classic.’”
Jesse doesn’t bother looking up at us. I’m beginning to pick up on a pattern with him, so I don’t take it personally that he doesn’t really look at me. At least he’s not tapping on the table anymore, which makes me feel better, like maybe he’s warming up to me a bit more.
“Cool verses classic, huh?” Bethany says with amusement. “You seem very certain of this.”
I shrug. “Of course I am.” I drop my spoon in my dish and sit back in the booth. “Queen, the best band of all time, is classic; and The Goonies movie is another classic, one I think even you would like, Jesse, since you’re so keen on adventure.” It’s a harmless dig, but true given his midnight outing and penchant for taking off once in a while. “And of course, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a motion picture classic to everyone.”
“Maybe to people born in the 90s,” Jesse clarifies and he finally looks up at me.
