“Nah, I’m good.” Tonight is the first night of summer camp. We’re holed up in some monastery five hours north of the Western campus. The town is small, but there are a few bars. I have zero interest in going out.
Bish tilts his head. “Between you and Masters, I’m wondering if I’m missing something.”
“What can I say?” I spread my hands. “It’s good.”
It’s been better than good. Classes finished up and Luce and I spent a month just hanging around before I had to come back for summer school. She worked, and I met her dad. He likes to play golf in his downtime, which is cool. I’m not much of a golfer, but he was a patient tutor and didn’t give me a hard time for being Luce’s boyfriend.
I even met her mom, who came off as sad more than anything. She asked about Ace’s dad, and Luce and I left shortly after. I took her home to Colorado Springs to meet my parents. We hiked on Pike’s Peak where I gave Luce my second present.
It wasn’t a piece of jewelry this time. It was a twenty-four-hour glucose monitor. The thing was more expensive than a diamond, but the features are amazing. Through a little needle pack stuck to her stomach or arm, it constantly monitors her blood sugar level and feeds the information to an app on her phone. If the numbers are off, she’ll get an alert.
Okay, so maybe the gift was just as much for me as it was for her, but her eyes glowed so bright, I thought she might explode. Safe to say she loved it. Better than a piece of jewelry, in my opinion, although I like seeing my necklace around her collar. Every time I look at it, I think I bought that. She’s mine.
The guys go off in search of town strange, and I wander back into the hotel.
“Come on.” Ahmed pulls me toward a conference room.
“What the fuck is this?” Inside the double doors are a few couches arranged around eight televisions and several game consoles. I see a number of guys there…Jesse shoves me onto one of the cushions and hands me a controller.
“Who do you want to be?”
I check out my options. “Princess Daisy.”
“Alright.” He picks Bowser.
“What is this?” I ask him.
“Mario Kart.” He gives me a you’re an idiot look.
“I know what the game is, but what is this?” I wave the controller around the room. “And how did I not know about it before?”
“You didn’t want to know about it before.”
And it occurs to me that this is why the guys who have serious partners are not out getting photographed with a bunch of girls hanging off of them. I shrug and settle in for a hardcore game of Mario Kart, and I have as much fun at summer camp as I can remember.
* * *
Lucy
“Hey, Ace.” I only open the door a crack when I see him standing on the front porch. Matt’s out back grilling, and I don’t really want my Fourth of July to be ruined by a fight between them. Dad’s working today to get the double-time pay but will be home tonight for fireworks.
“Can we talk?” He reminds me so much of that sad little boy I found on my steps crying because his dad left. All I knew at the time was that my mom made him sad, and I wasn’t going to hurt him like my mom had.
But so much time and so many things have gone on since then, I’m not sure what kind of friendship I can have with him anymore. Still, I can’t close the door in his face.
“Sure.” I step out onto the porch.
“I…I want to apologize for what happened between us.”
A little tension seeps away. “Thank you.”
“I’m not going to be seeing you much.”
“Oh?”
“You heard of MU?”
I shake my head. “No, can’t say that I have.”
“It’s a football school in Kentucky. Knox Masters' brother goes there. Plays Defensive End.” There goes Ace again, getting into the weeds of football talk. I try not to let my eyes glaze over. “Anyway, their quarterback got hurt last season. Tore his ACL and he announced he wasn’t coming back. Guess he’s a med student and decided that he’d had enough. They’ve contacted me and offered me the scholarship. No guarantee at starting, but I can compete for the job.”
“Oh, Ace. I’m happy for you.” I reach out and grab his hand.
“I know it might be a stupid decision. That I might be throwing away a chance at the pros by not going to safety, but I’d always regret not trying to follow my dream, particularly when one of them closed here.”
I don’t know if he’s talking about me or the team, but I don’t ask. It’s a question that doesn’t need to be asked. But after this past semester, I fully believe in the try it, what’s the worst thing that can happen philosophy because oh, Lord, the rewards are so good.
“I’m going to miss you, but if this is your dream, I fully support it.”
“Thanks.”
“Hug?”
“Yeah.”
I wrap my arms around his solid waist and squeeze him tight. He holds me in return. I love this boy as the brother I never had and I try to convey that in my embrace. He gives me a kiss on my forehead and then releases me to walk down my sidewalk and out of my life.
A few tears fall as I re-enter my house. Matt’s just inside the door.
“He tell you?”
“Yeah.” I give him a watery smile.
“You doing okay?” He draws me into his arms and places his lips on the same spot Ace kissed.