boyfriends.”
“You’re right,” said Santiago, “you don’t know how to explain it.”
“I think I get where you’re coming from,” said Travis. “Imagine if we all had the same girl. She wouldn’t see other guys; she would just see us; and we wouldn’t see another girl, just her. She would be our girl.”
“We all share one girl?” said Elijah, clearly dubious.
“That’s not possible,” said Tristan.
“He’s not being serious,” said Travis. “Just talking.”
“I am serious,” I said, perhaps more defensively than I’d intended. “I mean, like I said, I know this girl. She has eight boyfriends. It’s not a secret. They all share her. And they seem to make it work.”
None of us said anything for a while. We were probably each thinking the same thing: ‘Is that possible?’ ‘Could we share the same girl?’
I thought of Gwen. Then I thought of Gwen in the arms of the other members of the squad.
“You’re right, Travis,” I said. “I was only talking.”
I had planted a seed, though. Later that night, when I was lying in my bed unable to fall asleep, I thought of what Santiago and Nolan had said, about lying in a bunk overseas, staring at a picture of a girl waiting at home for me to return. It wouldn’t be strange that we each had a girl waiting for us to return. But it would be strange if it were the same girl. On the other hand, if Alexa and her crew could do it, why couldn’t we?
The subject came up again the following night. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had thought it over during a sleepless night. It was all fantasy, of course, nothing serious—at least none of us expressed any serious intention outwardly. But it was fun to dream.
I laughed. I had been so shocked when Alexa first told me about her unorthodox relationship. And here I was, a few months later, contemplating the same thing, albeit from a slightly different perspective.
“Hey, Axel,” said J.P. “You want to go down to The Bean Counter with me after morning exercises?”
“To see Gwen?”
He smiled and nodded.
“Great minds think alike,” I said.
“So, you’re in?” he asked. “We’ll jog down there straight after morning exercises.”
“I wish I could, but I’ve got detail.”
“Tough break.”
I got up and headed toward the kitchen, but I could tell J.P. still had something on his mind. I walked slowly in case he’d come out with it. When I reached the threshold of the living room, I turned to him. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”
J.P. nodded. “Gorgeous.”
“With an infectious smile,” I added.
“And a fun, almost chaotic kind of energy to her.”
I chuckled. I knew what he meant. “Yeah, I bet she’d be a lot of fun to be with.”
J.P. looked at his hands and pulled at his fingers.
“Something on your mind, J.P.?”
He looked up at me. “Yeah, I was thinking of asking her out.”
“Good luck.” I gave him a thumbs up and turned to head into the kitchen.
“You wouldn’t mind, would you?” he called out.
I stopped and considered it. Contrary to my expectations, though I was attracted to Gwen and I would love to go out with her, when I said ‘good luck’, I genuinely meant it. I turned to J.P. “no, I wouldn’t mind. Would you?”
He seemed confused by my question. “Mind what?”
“Sharing her?”
3
J.P
Manny, Santiago, Nolan and I all went to The Bean Counter after morning exercises. It should have been a twenty-minute jog, but we’d decided the first one there would get to ask out Gwen. That pretty much guaranteed that Manny would get the honor. The last one there, however, would have to pick up the tab.
I came in last.
Manny beat us there by quite a margin. So much so that he was able to wait for us outside, and his breathing had returned to normal by the time we arrived.
“Oh, hi guys,” he said in an overly casual tone. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”
“Give us a minute,” I said between breaths.
“Order me a lemonade,” said Nolan, “and some cake; expensive cake, since J.P.’s buying.”
“I’ll have the same,” said Santiago.
Manny looked at me.
I smiled. “It appears that we all have the same tastes.”
“We all want the same thing,” said Nolan. “How appropriate.”
Manny returned my smile. “That bodes well.” He went inside.
We sat at the only empty table on the terrace, looking out on the street and farther still to the sea with the pier and the beach to the right. After five minutes, we had recovered from the run but Manny hadn’t returned.