Promises

CHAPTER 8

“JARED!” Ringo crashed through the door of the shop at top speed, knocking over a display of car air fresheners. He didn’t stop but ran back to where I stood at the back.

“Jared, I passed! I got a ninety-seven on the test!” He flew at me and threw his skinny arms around my neck.

“That’s great!” I patted him awkwardly on the back, and he seemed to realize what he was doing and stepped back. His face was glowing triumphantly, and he was grinning ear to ear.

“You’re a genius!” he told me.

I couldn’t help catching a little of his good mood. “You did the work, not me. Come on! I’ll take you out for a beer to celebrate.”

“I’m not twenty-one.”

“I didn’t say the beer would be for you! Let’s go.”

I took him to our local pizza joint, Tony’s. We ordered our pizza, and the waitress had just dropped off my beer and a root beer for Ringo when Matt appeared at our table.

“Hey Jared!” He looked genuinely pleased to see me but a little wary. “How have you been?”

“Great. Ringo here just aced his algebra final, and we’re celebrating.” Ringo still hadn’t stopped smiling.

“That’s great,” Matt told him but then turned back to me. “Mind if I sit down for a minute?”

“Of course I don’t mind.”

He slid into the booth next to me. “Jared, I owe you an apology for what happened at dinner—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“My dad—”

“I don’t really care what your dad thinks of me, Matt. You were right. He’s an angry, belligerent, antagonistic asshole.”

“Eventually you’ll learn that I’m usually right.” His eyes crinkled, like he was almost laughing, so I knew that was a joke. “No hard feelings then?”

“None at all.”

“Thanks, Jared.” He sounded enormously relieved and clapped me on the back hard enough to knock the wind out of me. “You know, we’ve got a table over there. Why don’t you boys come and join us?”

I looked in the direction he was pointing. Two cops and three women. In other words, complete hell. One look at Ringo’s face told me he wasn’t any more excited about the idea than I was.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Sure it is! Come on! Save me, please. I’m not sure how I got sucked into this dinner. I thought I was having drinks with the guys, and now I find out I’m on a blind date.”

“Jesus!” I laughed at him. “Then I’m really not going over there!”

“Can I stay here then?” He gave me the look I was starting to think of as the pseudosmile: one eyebrow cocked, the corner of his mouth twitching up.

“You’re joking, right?”

He rubbed a hand over his close-cropped dark hair and said tiredly, “Only partially.”

“Is she that bad?” I looked over at the table. One of the women was definitely keeping her eye on him. She was decent looking, with red hair that was obviously dyed.

“I’m sure she’s very nice,” he said quietly, “but we have absolutely nothing to say to one another. I’ve just sat through the most awkward forty minutes of small talk ever. I’ll have more fun if you’re there. Just come over, and we can talk football until they get bored and leave.”

“Matt, there’s no way those guys are going to accept me sitting with them.”

“Sure they will.” But he didn’t sound sure.

“They won’t. Are you going to tell me that they haven’t already given you a hard time for hanging out with me?”

I could tell by the flush in his cheeks that I was right, but he didn’t give up. “That’s part of the point, Jared. Maybe if you spent some time with them, they would realize—”

“Trust me. It’s a bad idea. Anyway, I owe Ringo here a celebration pizza.”

He glanced over at Ringo in surprise, as if he had forgotten he was there, but then conceded with a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Send me to my doom. They won’t leave me alone until I’m engaged. I’ll send you an invitation to the wedding.”

“I would offer to host your bachelor party, but I don’t think you’d like my choice of strippers.”

He actually laughed at that. I had never heard him laugh before, and I foolishly found myself thinking that it was the most wondrous sound in the world. “See? I told you. You’re more fun.”