level of perplexed, I go in after him. The only available seat is, strangely, not in front of Hoyt, but rather next to him.
And it’s there that I sit and burn the side of Hoyt’s face with my eyes. All he does is sit forward, his model-boy face and perfect hair seeming to ignore me outright, until I finally go, “Well?”
He turns to me, innocence in his eyes. “Hmm?”
“What was that?” I ask, pointing at the door. “You and Vann? What’s going on?”
“Oh, that?” Hoyt shrugs and gives me a strangely gentle smile. “Just him thanking me for helpin’ him out. Did you like his belt buckle? I haven’t worn that sucker since freshman year.”
“You did that to him? Those are your clothes?”
“Hell nah. Look, can’t you be happy for him? He’s tryin’ to make a change. Prove himself. Do better. For you.”
When I spot a few heads turned, I lean over the aisle and bring it down to a whisper. “And what’s that got to do with you at all??”
“Oh, I guess that depends entirely on how the rest of your day goes.” He chuckles. “I knew there was a way I was gonna be able to do right by you in the end, Toby-Tobes. Despite all of my wrongs. And damn, have there ever been so many wrongs.”
Now I’m just plain weirded out. “So you two are friends now? Just like that? Only two nights ago, I was havin’ it out with you on G-Man’s front doorstep. And not long before that, you and Vann were at each other’s throats.”
Hoyt starts twirling a pen between his fingers. “Things seem to work out in the strangest ways, don’t they?”
Then the bell rings, Ms. Bean promptly begins class, and I’m left staring at the side of Hoyt’s face, bothered, a dozen and a half unanswered questions bouncing around on my tongue—questions Hoyt is apparently being too coy and smug to answer.
The moment the bell releases us—don’t even ask what Ms. Bean’s lesson was about; I couldn’t tell you if my high school career depended on it—I am hurrying down the halls and out toward the temporary buildings as fast as my feet can reasonably carry me. Sunlight hits my face as I turn a corner of the wooden walkways, blinding me. I lift a hand a second too late, then seem to wade through stars and indistinct shimmers of light as I scramble toward trailer 4-A.
Then I get a flash of flannel rushing toward me.
I barely stop in time to prevent crashing into his chest.
Vann’s chest. I blink the sunlight out of my eyes and gaze at him. He stands before me with a knowing, lopsided smirk on his face. I came so close to crashing into him, his arms had wrapped right around me protectively. All of my anxieties and insecurities are gone at once as I stare into his eyes, lost for a minute in a country-boy dream with Vann. He could have been born and raised here. We could have grown up together, had one another’s backs, and braved this dusty, countryside town together. For as lost as he’s been in so many different cities, and as lost as I’ve been in this one Texas town, we could have found each other.
His smirk deepens. “Thought you’d eventually come crashing into my arms.”
“What’s goin’ on here?” I softly ask, lost in his eyes. “Are you doing some kind of Reverse-Sandy-from-Grease thing?”
“Oh, is it that obvious?”
“Holy crap. You really are doing a Reverse-Sandy-from-Grease thing. Are you trying to prove something? With me? And how you’re all put together? Embracing the Spruce spirit? Making up with Hoyt like that? Borrowing his clothes?”
“Just the belt buckle. The rest was a bit of a shopping spree on Main Street, which Hoyt helped out with. We ran into each other at Spruce Fellowship. It’s a long story.”
“Spruce Fellow—” I gape at him. “You went to church??”
“The truth is, Toby, I’d do just about anything to prove to you that I’m the guy for you. But I don’t want this to just be some big declaration—like another piece of theatre. This is our lives. I want this to be a conversation. A dialogue. I want you to see that I’m making improvements. I’m controlling my emotions. I’m doing what I need to do to be a better guy for you … and for myself.” He starts gently rubbing my back, his arms still around me. “And you don’t have to decide today if you
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