Chapter 14 Fourteen Bottles of Beer #2
“Since you slept with her?” I filled in, though I knew that’s not what he meant.
He was talking about Destiny’s death, but now, he was thinking back, trying to remember if it had started before that.
I knew it was shitty to plant these seeds in his mind, but I was tired of waiting for Dolly to realize he wasn’t the man for her.
If I had to get him to dump her, I would.
I didn’t want to see her hurting, but I knew she’d have someone who loved her waiting to dry her tears and kiss her all better.
“Yeah,” he said slowly, opening the cooler from the night before, where a twelve pack and a few strays lay in a soup of half-melted ice cubes and cold water.
“I guess so. She’s great and all, but she wants to do everything together.
She even got onto me about going to a Swans meeting one night, asked if I was going to meet some other girl. She’s gotten paranoid.”
“She’s been paranoid,” Colt said, popping the top on a beer and taking a swig. “Remember that night in the treehouse when you made out with Lacey and she flipped out?”
“This asshole gave her a reason to be paranoid,” I said.
I had given her a reason, too. At least I’d tried. I’d dropped a poison seed in their relationship back then too, but nothing ever came of it, so it didn’t matter. It was time to make another try.
He shrugged. “It was a game. I didn’t fuck her—y’all did.”
“Yeah we did,” Colt said, holding his bottle aloft and laughing.
“We’re not her boyfriend,” I pointed out, taking a sip of beer from my bottle that was already sweating in the blanket of May heat. “You gotta think about that shit when you have a girlfriend. We’re not tied down like you.”
“The joys of being sixteen,” Colt said with a sigh of satisfaction. “We can fuck whoever we want, and no one gives us shit.”
“You’re only fifteen,” Devlin reminded him.
“Still fucked a girl before either of you losers,” Colt said, opening the cooler to grab another frosty beer.
I grabbed one, too. “You may have scored first, but I’m a half dozen touchdowns ahead now.”
“I’m only a freshman,” Colt pointed out. “I’ve got time to catch up.”
“Aw, let’s change the subject,” I said. “Poor Dev’s over here sweating his single field goal while he watches us run up the score.”
“Fuck you,” Devlin said. “People aren’t a game for you to play.”
“Aww, did your girlfriend tell you that?” I asked.
“Better than where you’re getting your information,” he said. “You sound just like Grampa Darling.”
“Oh, we’re not shaming you,” Colt said, laughing. “You can’t help it that you’ve been sidelined for two years. But hey, when you’re ready to get off the bench and get in the game, we’ll be fucking gods at school.”
“I’m already a god,” Devlin said, tipping his beer up. “Scouts don’t come to see how well you’re taking care of the cheerleaders after the game. They come to see how you’re taking care of opponents on the field.”
“Okay, okay,” Colt said, holding up both hands. “I’m just saying, think how much fun we could have next year if we were all single… The three of us could run through every girl at Willow Heights by graduation. Wouldn’t be a girl there who hadn’t ridden the Darling D.”
“The girls at Willow Heights are… Boring,” Devlin said.
“How would you know?” I asked. “Just because you’re bored of Dolly doesn’t mean they’re all boring.”
“Trust me, they are,” Devlin said. “If I wanted someone besides Dolly, I could get her. But there’s no one worth leaving her for. Not in Faulkner.”
“Is that what this trip is really about?” I asked. “You looking for some action while keeping Dolly in your pocket for when you come home?”
“No,” Devlin said, scowling at me. “It’s not about any girl. I’m just bored.”
“You know what Mom says about that,” Colt said. “If you’re bored, you’re boring.”
“Maybe I am boring,” Devlin said, sitting back and closing his eyes. “Besides football and y’all, I don’t have much going on.”
“You have Dolly,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but that’s not my life,” he said. “She’s her own person.”
I couldn’t imagine seeing her that way, being happy to have a girlfriend whose life moved parallel to mine.
I wanted to be entwined down to the deepest roots, to have every part of her be a part of every part of me.
I didn’t want Dolly to compliment my life as her own person.
I wanted her to be mine, to be my person, to be so enmeshed with my life that we couldn’t be extracted from each other.
She’d been the sun that my world revolved around since my earliest memory, and she wasn’t even mine yet.
“Maybe you’ll meet some cute hippie chick on the river in Colorado,” Colt offered.
“I’m not going to meet girls,” Devlin said. “I’ve had enough of that drama this year.”
“Aw, you’re scared,” I taunted.
“I’m not fucking scared,” Devlin snapped. “I’m not interested.”
Colt laughed. “Preston’s right. You don’t know how to pick up chicks, do you?”
“That’s right,” I said, grinning and taking a swig of beer. “You didn’t even have to impress Dolly. Your daddy got your girlfriend for you.”
“Fuck off,” Devlin growled. “I could get a girl if I wanted one.”
“If you say so,” I said, laughing. “Guess we’ll never know, since you’re already basically married.”
“We’re not married,” Devlin said, throwing open the cooler and grabbing another beer.
“You afraid they’ll shoot you down?” Colt asked.
“Dude, trust me, it’s not that hard. There’s not a girl in the school who doesn’t get her panties damp when you look her way, Dev.
Shit, maybe we should be telling you to put a ring on Dolly’s finger instead of joining us in the pussy parade.
Might not be anything left for the rest of us if you were out there.
You’d sweep the field, and we’d all be left with your sloppy seconds. ”
Devlin grunted. “Not interested.”
“Are you interested in Dolly?” I asked carefully, making sure I didn’t sound too interested, too confrontational.
“Of course I’m interested in Dolly,” he said, glowering. “She’s my girlfriend.”
“Just seems like a bad sign when you have to leave the state to get breathing room,” I said, shrugging like it didn’t matter. I had limits. I wouldn’t move on his girl. But if they broke up…
“I don’t have to leave the state,” Devlin said. “I just want to do my own stuff. She’s not really outdoorsy.”
“And what will she think about you leaving for a whole summer?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Devlin said. “I haven’t talked to her about it.”
“But you already asked your dad for the lodge?”
He shrugged. “Yeah. I’m going. Y’all can come if you want. CJ and Wade said they might come up for a week in July, too. Maybe even Walker.”
Colt raised his brows. “You think Dolly’s going to unchain you for that long?”
“I’m not chained,” Devlin grumbled. “And this isn’t about her. It’s my thing. It’s something I want to do, so I’m doing it. Shit, you’re both more worried about Dolly than I am. She’ll be fine with it. She’s always fine with whatever I do. I don’t have to ask her permission.”
If I was a good guy, as loyal to Devlin as he was to us, I would have said she was off limits, period.
Even if they broke up, I wouldn’t make a move.
You didn’t date the exes of your cousins, friends, or brothers.
That was an unspoken rule. But I would cross that line in a heartbeat. For Dolly, I would.
I’d never been a good guy when it came to Dolly, after all.
So, when I had the opportunity to drop the trip into a casual conversation with her a few days later, I did it, knowing that Devlin hadn’t told her yet, knowing it would hurt her.
I’d hardened myself since our first time.
I was ready to step up and be the man she’d always deserved.
Sometimes, you had to pull a perfectly good plant to give another one enough sun to grow.