Page 82 of Just Friends

I know he’s asking about my workout, but as my phone vibrates with another text from Hazel, I have a better idea. “I’m finding Destiny.”

“Not again,” Adam groans.

Since the last time we talked with Destiny (or Fate?), we haven’t run into him again, but I have a sneaking suspicion he’s a ghost that haunts the men’s locker room, and all we need to do is summon him, and he will come.

The locker room is thankfully empty when we enter. It also smells like a foul mixture of sweat, feet, and Lysol.

“He’s not here,” Adam says, the lockers rattling as he leans against them.

“He’s a ghost. He’s always here,” I say, letting my voice sound airy, like an underpaid actor playing the villain in a children’s Halloween movie. “Destiny,” I call out. “It’s Alex and Adam. We need to talk to you.”

I pause, waiting for an answer from the spirit of a nude elderly man, but nothing comes. Planting my hands on my hips, I try again.

“Fate, are you there?”

The locker room door swings open, and Adam and I both spin around to look, our wide eyes briefly meeting each other’s. A familiar man walks in, although it’s not Destiny.

It’s Parker.

He stares at the two of us for a moment, confusion crossing his features. “What are you guys doing?”

“They’re here to talk to me,” a rattling voice says from behind me, and I turn around to see Destiny standing there, although he’s thankfully clothed in a velour tracksuit this time. His sun-spotted, transparent skin sags, and blue-gray eyes twinkle with mischief.

Adam sputters from his spot near the lockers, his mouth opening and closing but not making any intelligible noises. Honestly, if I weren’t just as shocked as he is, I’d be pulling out my phone to take a picture of that face. It would be perfect on my Christmas card this year.

Destiny clicks his tongue in disappointment at Adam before swiveling to face me once more. With a wrinkled hand, he motions to the red aluminum bench we sat on last time. “Take a seat, young man.”

“What’s going on?” Parker asks, sounding wary. His dark eyes dart between the three of us, trying to figure out the puzzle that is this unlikely group.

I settle on the bench, motioning in Destiny’s direction. “This is Destiny,” I tell Parker. “Destiny, Parker.”

“Nice to…meet you,” Parker says slowly, and it almost comes out like a question. “How do you guys know each other?”

Destiny props his hands on his bony hips. “I gave him some advice weeks ago about how to get his best friend to fall in love with him.”

“Ah,” Parker says, glancing at me knowingly.

“And you must be one of the men Alex set her up on a date with?” Destiny says, his faint English accent sounding stronger as he looks between Parker and me with raised brows.

My head whips his way. “How did you know that?”

Destiny winks and sits beside me. “I’m a ghost, remember? I hear everything.” With a wave of his hand toward the benches, he says to Adam and Parker, “Take a seat, boys. Let’s chat.”

As if in a trance, Parker and Adam sit on the bench across from us without a word. Only the sound of their shoes squeaking against the linoleum floor breaks the silence. After Destiny proclaimed himself a ghost, I don’t think any of us feel like we can ignore what he says. Our eyes catch and hold on one another’s before we turn back to Destiny.

The air feels charged, like the moments before a storm, and we’re all waiting for the lightning to strike. Without meaning to, I’m holding my breath. Even my heart seems to slow.

“You did the blind dates for a while now,” Destiny says, his voice cracking the heavy silence in the room, echoing off the lockers. “But you took a trip over the weekend, correct?”

My skin prickles, all the hair on my body standing to attention. This man really must be a ghost. I can feel Adam’s eyes heavy on me, as if trying to wordlessly ask if I told the old man about my plans, and when I shake my head slightly, his throat bobs in a gulp.

“Yes, we went out of town,” I say carefully. There’s no use lying when the man already knowseverything.

“Ah,” Destiny says, his chin dipping in a nod. “And did you tell her your feelings?”

Heat creeps up my neck and spills onto my cheeks, and I avoid looking at Parker and Adam now. Instead, I focus on the wetness pooled around the drains in the floors. On an exhale, I say, “Yeah, I did.”

“You actually did it?” Adam blurts, and I flash him a glare.

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