Page 11 of On The Run

“Septum piercing?” Laura guessed. Mom and Dad had been to the café with us a couple times, and of course, Aiden was there.

“Yeah, that’s it. He seems like a good kid.”

Laura whirled on me. “Kid?” She sounded accusatory, and I was so confused.

“Um. He’s not a kid-kid. He’s college age. 21-22, I think.”

She relaxed a bit. “Oh, ok. Still kind of young for you though.”

I pouted at her and chugged my beer. I thought I was the one who needed that vodka tonic. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, nothing. You just get this look on your face every time he’s mentioned.”

“I do not,” I replied indignantly, though I probably did.

“Yes, you do,” Jana and Mom agreed unhelpfully. I crossed my arms.

“Great, now you’re all ganging up on me.” They were all watching me expectantly. “Ok, he intrigues me. He’s cute and really great with Gray.” I leave out how adorably flustered he looked while running to his class. “But, as you just pointed out, he’s way too young for me. I’d never pursue anything.”

“Is he even gay?” Jana asked.

“I’m pretty sure, yeah.” I’d heard enough comments between him and Anna to feel confident that he wasn’t totally straight at least. “Not that it matters. There is literally nothing going on there. Gray has a bit of hero worship for the guy, that’s all.”

Laura picked up her phone and was tapping it incessantly. I tried to lean over to watch what she was doing, but she angled her body and held the phone away from me.

“Do you know his last name?” she asked.

“Laura, what the hell are you doing?”

“Finding him on social media. I’m curious what he looks like.”

I scrubbed my face with my hands. “Jesus.”

“Well, do you?”

I was embarrassed to admit I did. I heard him on the phone once, talking to a doctor or some other professional call, and he gave his full name. I was proud of myself that I never looked him up, unlike my damn nosy sister.

I looked to Mom and Jana for help, but I realized I wasn’t getting any there. They both crowded around Laura, looking at her phone and pointing to things. I was surrounded by children.

I gave in. Besides, I was curious what his social media said. “Sewell. Aiden Sewell.”

Laura started typing. After a few minutes, she scrunched her face. “Weird.”

“What?”

“He doesn’t have any social media. There’s nothing.”

“Maybe it’s under a different name?”

Laura shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Oh wait, here’s something. Is this your boy?”

I bristled at the “your boy” part but took the phone. It was a picture from a newspaper article about a local event from the library. Surrounded by a bunch of older and middle-aged ladies was Aiden. He looked a little uncomfortable, like he didn’t want to take the picture, and the longer side of his hair was falling into his eyes. He was holding up a hard cover copy of a book, but I couldn’t make out the title. Underneath the picture was a brief caption:A volunteer for the library, Aiden Sewell, poses with participants from the monthly book club.That was the only thing they could find.

“Yeah, that’s him,” Mom answered for me, causing me to grunt.

“Oh, he is cute,” Jana exclaimed. “Not your usual type.”

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