Sixteen
Luke
W ith a groan, I sit on the couch and rest my head back, closing my eyes. I would have never thought a small town would be so busy. We had false alarms, some asthma attacks, and an actual cat in the tree.
“Do you want a beer?” Sam asks.
Without opening my eyes, I respond, “Yeah, I do.”
Nudging my leg to hand me my beer, he sits down next to me, “I’m not mad we got a lot of calls, but I’m shocked at how busy we were.”
“I was just thinking that,” I say.
But I can’t shake the nagging feeling I have about the several small fires every day throughout the city. They are part of why we didn’t get together on Wednesday like originally planned. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but I just can’t get them out of my head.
What’s worse is that I’ve barely had time to see Amelia. I got a last-minute call on Sunday, so we weren’t able to hang out after the farmers’ market.
We texted between my calls when she wasn’t busy with meetings or deliveries. With how I’ve been trying to spend time with her, I feel like an addict who needs to get my fix—with no success.
“Are you even listening to me?” Sam asks me.
“Nope. I zoned out,” I admit.
He rolls his eyes. “Are you thinking about all the ways you’ll lose in Mario Kart ?”
I take a drink of my beer and say, “No, I’m just tired.”
Partial truth. The other part is that I was hoping to spend time with Amelia today, but she has her girls’ night, and I won’t take that away from her. Regardless of how much I want to see her.
There’s a knock at the door, and we both go to get up.
“I got it,” I say, knowing it’s just Noah with the pizza.
“Hey man,” I say as I open the door. “Thanks for grabbing the pizza.”
“No problem. Sorry I’m late. A call ran long,” he says as he hands me the pizza so he can take his shoes off.
“We get it. I promise it’s no big deal,” I tell him as I set the pizza down and grab a slice.
“We’re just vegging on the couch. Whenever you’re both ready to get your asses kicked in some Mario Kart , I set up the Switch,” Sam says as he rubs his hands together and comes up to the counter to grab some pizza.
“Fuck off. You act like you beat me all the time. I’m the Mario Kart champion in this house. Go get the game loaded.” I wave a hand toward the TV.
“Whatever you say, dude,” Sam says as he finishes his first slice and grabs another slice of pizza before walking over to the couch and loading up some Mario Kart .
“I guess I should take it easy on you guys since we’re all playing for the first time together,” Noah says with a chuckle. “But I will have you know, I was the reigning Mario Kart champion when I was younger.”
I grab the controller with more force than needed. “Well, there’s one way we can settle this. Let’s play so I can kick both of your asses.”
“Put your money where your mouth is, Grant,” Noah says, far too cocky as he builds his character.
“Whoever loses the most tonight has to get pizza and beer next time,” Sam says.
“Deal,” I say, putting the final touches on my Yoshi.
“Do you know where the ladies went tonight?” Noah asks.
“No, I just knew they were going out. Why?” I ask. “It’s not like they have much to choose from in town.”
“Oh, no reason,” he says.
I look at him out of the corner of my eye as the countdown begins.
“For a cop, you’re a horrible liar, but like Luke said, they don’t have a huge selection. There’s only one bar in town, and I’m pretty sure they went there,” Sam says without taking his eye off the TV.
“I was just wondering. I just want to make sure they’re safe,” Noah replies.
“Do you know something we don’t?” I say as I throw a red shell back at them.
“No, man, I just wondered if you knew and if you knew if Luna was there with them,” he says casually.
“Luna, huh? She’s quiet. Does she even know you?” I say as I try to distract him while also getting some information.
“Can we make a guys’ night rule where we don’t gossip like a bunch of women? Also, fuck you and your fucking red shells, dude,” Sam says.
“What has your panties in a twist? Not getting any in this small town like you were back in Boston?” I say.
“No, I mean I am, but you’re both lovesick, and I’m not trying to catch feelings,” Sam says.
Over the next several rounds, the conversation goes from work to things happening in town the next couple of weeks, and I lose the bet, knowing I’m never going to hear the end of it.
“Take that, motherfucker!” Sam yells as he stands up and struts around like he just won a gold medal.
I stand up and grab the pizza to put the leftovers away. “Whatever, man. I let you win because I feel bad you always lose.”
“I don’t always lose! You cheat!” he yells, then looks at Noah. “He always cheats when we play.”
“He did get an abnormal amount of power-ups,” Noah says with a smirk.
“I don’t cheat! It’s almost impossible to cheat. I just wanted to give Noah here a chance to win his first time playing with us.”
All three of our phones vibrate on the table at the same time, and we all grab for them.
“I swear if we get called in, I’m going to cry as we drive there,” Sam says.
I have to agree with him, but I let a smile take over my face when I see that it’s Amelia.
Amelia: I’m so sorry to bother you during guys’ night . . . but could you maybe come pick us up?
You don’t have to if you’re busy, but we came in two cars, and everyone but me is drunk.
I look at the guys. “Did any of us get called in?”
“I got a text from Pam asking if I could help wrangle the girls since everyone but Am is drunk,” Sam says.
“Same, but Farmer Joe is the one who texted me to give me a heads-up,” Noah says.
“Okay, so we’ll drive in one car and figure it out from there,” I say as Noah grabs his keys.
“Ugh, my sister is a shit show when she’s drunk. She always finds a way to get into some sort of trouble, and wherever she is, Am is right behind her,” Sam grumbles as he walks out to the car.
I’m just excited that this turn of events means I can see Am tonight. I quickly lock the door and see that Noah has the same smile on his face. Yeah, tonight is turning into a great night.