All We Can Do Is Wait(12)

“What part?”

“Uh, the Back Bay?” Alexa said, a little sheepishly, knowing that “Back Bay” is near-universal Massachusetts code for “rich.”

Kyle didn’t seem fazed, though. Maybe he already knew—Laurie seemed like the kind of person who would tell everyone everything the minute she could—or maybe he didn’t care. “Nice” was all he said.

“Where are you from?”

He smiled ruefully, looked down at the table. “Technically, here. Or, I mean, not here here, but near here, I guess. My mom lives in Bourne. By the bridge. So I’m from there. Like, during the winter and stuff. But I’m out here all summer. I stay with Davey and Courtney sometimes. Or Laurie lets me sleep on her couch. It’s cool. It works out most of the time.”

Alexa suddenly found herself blurting out, “You’re welcome to stay with us, we have extra bedrooms,” before realizing how weird and bad that sounded. Not only a stranger inviting some boy to stay at her house five minutes after meeting him, but bragging about how many bedrooms her parents’ house had.

But again, Kyle didn’t seem bothered by it. He smiled and said, “Sounds good. Yeah, I mean, that would be amazing, thank you.” He smiled again, and Alexa felt an ease wash over her. Who was this magical person?

“Courtney’s kind of intense, huh?” she said, trusting that Kyle wouldn’t report this back to Courtney.

Kyle laughed, nodded his head. “Yeah. She’s cool, though. She’s just a big-town bitch in a small town. She’ll be fine once she gets to New York. That’s more her speed or whatever. I think we’re gonna move there together, actually. Or, well, I mean, I’m hoping to.”

Alexa felt immediately envious of Courtney and her exciting new life in New York with Kyle. “That’s awesome. When are you guys moving?”

Kyle shrugged. “I don’t know. Soon, I hope. When I turn eighteen. I mean, it’s not like my mom would call the police if I left now or whatever, but you know. It’s just easier to wait until then. Plus we gotta work here and save some money, right?” He did a little ta-da with his hands, as if to gesture toward the splendor of the place. It was funny to see Courtney and Kyle so down, jokingly or not, on a job that Alexa was so happy to have.

And that had been the start of it. Not that night, or the night after, but pretty soon Kyle began spending many nights at Alexa’s house. There were two guest bedrooms that no one was using, and when they eventually met him, Theo and Linda seemed to find Kyle charming, or at least a diverting novelty. Even Jason, who was always so weird and aloof with kids he didn’t know, quickly warmed to Kyle, Alexa and the two boys winding up spending many nights, after Theo and Linda had gone to bed, out on the porch, talking and laughing and sneaking Sam Summers.

As Alexa grew closer to Kyle, she told him things she hadn’t told anyone else. About her brother’s troubles, about her social stresses, about how she sometimes felt like an accessory in her parents’ lives, rather than their daughter. In turn, he told her about his nervous, grand hopes for the future, about the troubled home life he longed to put in the rearview.

Kyle began to seem less magic, but not less good. He was caring and smart. Sure, he was a little moody and occasionally flaky, but other than that he seemed reliable, like Alexa could depend on him like she couldn’t depend on her parents or her brother or, really, anyone at school. That was important, wasn’t it? To find someone solid.

Plus, they had fun together. A week or two after their first meeting, the two happened to be in the break room together when Laurie’s charging phone buzzed, and there, right on the break room table for all to see, was a particularly graphic sext from Davey—had he and Laurie already started hooking up by then? Alexa wasn’t sure.

Kyle’s eyes grew wide and he looked at Alexa, his mouth agape in delighted shock. Alexa had seen a penis before, of course, but not the penis of a guy she knew.

“Oh my God,” she murmured.

Kyle nodded. “I know. I had no idea he had it in him. Or, I mean, on him.”

Which was just about the funniest thing Alexa had ever heard. She and Kyle laughed about that on occasion for the rest of the summer.

They laughed a lot, and made fun of basically everything. But Alexa also felt safe being entirely earnest around Kyle. So much so that one quiet Tuesday night, Alexa found herself telling Kyle something she hadn’t told anyone else.

“I don’t think I want to go to college.”

Kyle stopped counting the money in the register and turned to her. “Really?”

Alexa shrugged, sighed. “Yeah. I mean, at least not right away. I want some time to, like, figure life out before I just go off and do the next thing that’s, like, expected of me. You know?”

“I guess,” Kyle said, giving her a smile. “But no one really expects much of me.”

Alexa laughed, hoping it didn’t sound mean. “Well, I expect big things from you.”

“Bigger than Davey’s d—”

“Kyle!” Alexa cut him off, looking around to make sure no one was listening to them.

Kyle leaned back on the counter. “So what will you do? Instead of college, I mean.”

“I dunno. Maybe something like the Peace Corps? If that’s not too cliché or whatever. Or Habitat for Humanity. It’s not like I just want to do nothing. I want to do good things—and travel and stuff.”