Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
“You naughty motherfucker. Here I’ve been thinking you’re all by yourself, but you’ve been swiping left and right all this time behind my back.”
“I just got on there.”
“You didn’t even ask me to look at your photos beforehand?”
“I was embarrassed even to be doing it, but one of the women in my swim class insisted, and then she took some pictures and helped me set up the profile.”
“So much for a little uncle-nephew time. I was thinking I needed to spend time with you, but I guess maybe my greater concern should have been if you have condoms and if you’ve been on PrEP.” He laughed again. I always prided myself on being able to make Tex laugh, and he pretty much did the same thing with me. Cheering up one another was almost a sport for us. “So when are you seeing this mystery man?”
“He’s picking me up at ten tomorrow morning, and we’re going to see a movie.”
“Seems early for a date.”
“We both agreed we’d rather do that than try and stay up past seven. And if I wanna get some action, then after a heavy dinner it just doesn’t sound pretty.”
“Just remember, if you guys end up day-drinking, you Uber back to whoever’s place.”
“If I have anything to drink, I’m not gonna be able to have any fun, that’s for sure. But speaking of whoever’s place, I was going to say…” He let it drag on like that so that he wouldn’t have to ask, I figured.
“Shit. Are you kicking me out, Uncey Tex?” I asked, the way I might have as a kid.
He tucked his head low and put his hand to his chest. “You’re trying to kill me here, Kylie. I don’t know that we’ll come back here, but he lives with a roommate, so I was thinking…”
“That’s totally fine. It’s your house. You should be able to trick out here at your leisure. I’ll find something to keep me busy.”
“If you can’t, that’s fine.”
I considered my options—hitting Ben or Taryn up. Maybe we could all see a movie… But then another thought sprang to mind. “You know, my English teacher mentioned something about volunteering with Housing 4 Hope on Saturdays.”
I hadn’t told Tex what happened the previous weekend, knowing full well he would have freaked the hell out. He’d noticed the injuries on my hand and asked if I was okay—with that knowing look he had when I got into scuffles—but he let me have my space. He was good at that. He was one of the only people in this world who got me.
“It’s probably fun.” I slid my phone out of my pocket.
“I don’t imagine there’s a way to sign up tonight for tomorrow morning.”
“Of course there is. I saw an email on their website. I’ll shoot something to them to see if they need any help.” I pulled up the site and clicked on the link, pulling up the email app on my phone.
“So you were on their website already? How long have you been thinking about this?” he asked.
“Since my teacher mentioned it last Saturday.”
“And when did you start listening to your teachers?”
“This one’s cool.”
“A cool teach? I doubt it.”
“I can’t believe you say teach. What an old-timey word.” Although, obviously, I’d thought it adorable enough to appropriate it for James. “He’s the one I helped on the first day,” I added.
Tex laughed. “Oh, that’s right. Mr. Nipples.”
I couldn’t stifle my smile. “He’s a good guy. A bit of a Goody Two-shoes, but I don’t… There’s something else there too.” I got lost in my thoughts about him until I noticed Tex eyeing me strangely. “He’s cool for a teach. That’s all.”
Cool for a teach. Nice for a teach. Hot for a teach.
They must have been desperate for people to help out that weekend because the project coordinator emailed me back within five minutes with details about the build. I was a little frustrated that I wouldn’t be able to chill on the couch, binge shows, and devour a box of crullers and a pan of brownies, but not enough to keep me from going. As consolation, I picked up some crullers on the way for breakfast. Hit the fucking spot. But when I showed up at the site, I was annoyed not to see James’s car in the line alongside the road, where the other volunteers were parked.
You’re not doing this to see him, I reminded myself—a lie. Even though I would have been down to volunteer anyway, I had an ulterior motive. I wanted to talk to James some more, like we had in the car on the drive back to Uncle Tex’s. I didn’t even know why, any more than I knew what led me to nearly going to that dumb extracurricular event.
James was a mystery to me. There was this innocent and kind quality about him. Part of me wanted him to make some asshole comment so that I could write him off like I did most people. But the more I got to know him, the more drawn to him I became, though I didn’t enjoy admitting even that much to myself.