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
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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
fiercereads.com
All rights reserved.
Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
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First hardcover edition, 2020
eBook edition, May 2020
eISBN 9781250187000