Golden Boys (Golden Boys, #1)(71)
“She’s really hard to hate,” I add. “Like, she would make me stay until eight at night and not realize that I was about to collapse from exhaustion, but then she’d really make me feel appreciated. Like I single-handedly saved the campaign every time. But anyway, they’re splitting us up?”
“I know, and we were all so close,” Josh jokes, which earns him an elbow in the ribs from April.
“Betty Caudill is pissed. She and two other members of Congress got together and created a new monthlong high school internship program from scratch. We’ll actually have mentorship, we’ll learn about all the roles in the office, and we won’t just get yelled at by strangers and watch you and Meghan dash off to meetings anymore.”
“I think you’re with Betty,” Josh says. “But we’ll find out soon. I’m just so glad this is going to be a real thing. You know I never got to actually meet Senator Wright? I was in the bathroom the one time he came to the office and had time to say hi.”
“And I was on the phone,” April says. “So. I got the world’s fastest handshake, and that was it.”
“Sorry I didn’t come forward earlier,” I say. “You were obviously right, but I was just clinging to this experience like it was going to define my future or something.”
April shrugs. “It’s fine. It’s hard to be angry with someone who’s such a mess.”
“What she means is,” Josh says before sending a glare her way, “you weren’t the one who screwed us over.”
“I’ll take that,” I say as we make our way toward the entrance.
We stand at the doors, and I know everything will change as I step through them. And I’m so fucking ready for it.
? iMessage ?
GOLDEN BOYS
CHAPTER FIFTY
HEATH
It takes all my energy to stay normal in the group chat. When real-life me is spending most of his days in bed sulking. I kind of hate the person I’ve become over the past couple of weeks. I don’t shame myself for kissing Cole—I mean, he’s cute and sweet, and in that moment, I knew I wanted him to be my first kiss.
And I doubt that was just the wine talking.
Reese is complicated and delicate and beautiful, but Cole is simple. It’s like how Gabriel described his semirelationship with Sal: easy, fun, but ultimately, not real. I wanted something that wasn’t real, something distracting. But I don’t want to be distracted anymore.
As I’m zoning out, Diana barges into the room, which makes me jump.
“Didn’t walk in on anything, did I?” she says bluntly. “Assumed you’d be too sad to be doing anything unsavory.”
She sits at the foot of the bed and hands over the crumpled Dunkin’ bag in her hand and an iced coffee.
“Here,” she says, and the sincerity in her voice wavers. It’s always felt tricky to have a deep, serious friendship with her. She turns anything sincere into a quick sarcastic joke, and I have a feeling it’ll take years for me to fully break down those walls she puts up. But this feels like progress. She usually balances levity with her more serious moments, but this time she doesn’t.
So I set the coffee on the side table and tear into the bag of doughnuts.
“Oh, I was expecting the Diana special, a maple and a strawberry.”
“I absolutely polished those off on the walk over here. I remember you saying you liked the chocolate doughnut holes, and you … well, you eat a lot, so hopefully I got you enough.”
I smile at her, and she doesn’t turn away. “Thanks, Cuz.”
“You have to promise me one thing, though,” she says as I raise the first doughnut hole to my mouth.
“It’s been two weeks, Heath. You have to say something to Reese, and you have to find a way to snap out of this. Give him a call. Something. Anything. If you don’t, I’m taking back the doughnuts and I’m eating every single one in front of you.”
“You’re evil,” I say.
She shrugs. “I’m not even hungry, but I’d do it just to punish you. That’s how much I care.”
I agree to her terms, and enjoy every last one of the doughnut holes, savoring my final moments of sulking. I don’t know if I can actually commit to saying something to Reese, but it’s worth trying. Diana and I talk about Cole, and how I hope things won’t be awkward when we next see each other. I haven’t seen him since the party, and at this point Diana must’ve told him about my feeling too sorry for myself to even hit the beach.
Diana leaves, and I put myself together. Shower, shave, and I even style my hair. I put on the tank top I got when I first showed up here, at the beach shop where Cole works, and just stare at myself in the mirror.
My hair’s become a little lighter; my tan’s deepened substantially—and this time without all the trademark baseball-practice tan lines. At first glance, I feel like a new human, but I also know I’m the same person. The only thing that’s changed, the only thing that matters, is that I might have lost my best friend. And I can’t let that happen.
I sit on the couch and start to draft the perfect text. Then I think a FaceTime might be better, but he probably wouldn’t answer, so I think maybe we can go old-school with a lengthy email? Or maybe I can just shout “I LOVE YOU” in a voice message and turn off my phone until the embarrassment subsides or I have to move back to Ohio, whichever comes first.