The Friend Scheme - Cale Dietrich Page 0,99

he says. “I missed you.”

I can barely find my voice.

“I missed you, too,” I say.

We smile at each other.

“So, Matthew,” he says, looking at my name tag.

“Yeah?”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

“Nope. Are you?”

“Nope.” He grins. “I guess my question now is: How would you feel about being friends again?”

I step closer to him and decide to go for it.

“Fuck friends,” I say.

And I kiss him.

EPILOGUE

Jason is coming over today.

I can’t wait.

It’s been nearly two weeks since I saw him at work, and we’ve spent basically every spare minute together. Now that I’m out, there’s nothing stopping us from hanging out as much as we want.

He’s never actually been to my house, though, which is why I’m excited. I want him to see what my new life is like.

I’m in my room now, trying to make sure it’s as clean as possible. I know I’ve cleaned a bunch, and I can’t see any mess, but still, I feel like there’s more I should be doing. This moment has been a long time coming, and I want it to be totally perfect.

“Look at you,” says Miriam, my roommate, and she stops in my doorway. “What’s got you all stress-y?”

I turn and face her.

“Nothing,” I say. “But I look good, right?”

“You look great. But if you want to impress whoever is coming over, why don’t you wear that shirt I like?”

“The red one?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not too dressy?”

She shakes her head. “Wear it with jeans, you’ll be fine.”

She’s in school for fashion design, so I figure she knows this stuff.

“Okay. Noted. Thanks.”

She smiles and then heads off down the hall.

I pull off my shirt and switch into the red shirt. I button it up and then check myself out in the mirror.

She was right.

I roll the sleeves up so it’s a little less formal. And then I fix my hair.

The doorbell rings.

Okay.

He’s here.

I jog down the steps, and see Ashley, Miriam’s partner, open the door. Miriam stands beside her, grinning eagerly.

“Hi,” he says. He scratches the back of the neck. It’s so adorable.

“You must be the boyfriend,” says Miriam. “Matt’s told us a lot about you.”

Er.

So, I have talked with them about Jason. But I’ve never called him my boyfriend. Because he’s not my boyfriend.

Why would she say that?

“We’re just friends,” I say, saving Jason from this epic shit storm of awkwardness.

“Yeah,” he says.

“Oh,” she says. “I thought…”

“Just stop,” I say, and I grab Jason by the wrist. “You’ve done enough.”

I throw her an eyeroll, and she smiles. She’s kind of known for talking a lot and making things awkward accidentally. I know if we stick around, she’ll just make it worse.

We reach my bedroom, and I shut the door behind us. I lock it for good measure.

Jason is grinning.

“Shut up,” I say. “Seriously, not a word.”

He smiles and looks around. My room is pretty similar to my old one. He walks up to my Mulholland Drive poster.

“Your roommate seems nice.”

I nod. “I got lucky, that’s for sure.”

It’s the truth.

“Well, I’m glad,” he says. “You deserve the best.”

“Thanks. So, what’s new?”

It’s a joke, as we’ve been basically inseparable.

He looks up. “Mom called.”

“Oh shit, what’d she say?”

“Same as always. She thinks studying game design is a waste of time, and I’m ruining my life. I think she’s just mad I’m not in Florida anymore so she can’t control my every move.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think I’m exactly where I should be.”

He smiles. “Anyway, I think we should circle back to your roommate thinking we’re boyfriends.”

I start blushing. “It’s ridiculous, right?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say that.” His voice is shaking.

“It’s complicated,” I say.

He looks into my eyes. “Does it have to be?”

He touches my arm.

“Does it?” I ask. My voice has gone thick. “Because … because I’ve thought about it a lot. And I … I think I’d really like it. I just didn’t think you wanted that. It’d be really complicated.”

“It would be,” he says, laughing. “But I think it’s worth a shot.”

I can’t believe this is happening.

It’s so perfect.

I want this moment captured on film.

“So, boyfriends?” he asks.

“Boyfriends.”

Thank you for reading this FEIWEL & FRIENDS book.

The friends who made

The

FRIEND

SCHEME

possible are:

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cale Dietrich is a YA devotee, lifelong gamer, and tragic pop punk enthusiast. He was born in Perth, grew up on the Gold Coast, and now lives in Brisbane, Australia. His debut novel, The Love Interest, was named a 2018 Rainbow List Selection. He can be found on Twitter. You can sign up for email updates here.

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CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Part One

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Part Two

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Part Three

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

One Year Later

Chapter Thirty-Six

Epilogue

About the Author

Copyright

Copyright © 2020 by Cale Dietrich

A Feiwel and Friends Book

An imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC

120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271

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First hardcover edition, 2020

eBook edition, May 2020

eISBN 9781250187000

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