Inside, the Camaro was still warm from the drive over. Cody knew from past trips that Logan didn’t mind people smoking in his car, so he lit one up and cracked the window a bit to let the smoke out.
The engine rumbled to life, and Logan edged them out into the street, turning west. The car had a cassette player, and Logan had some kind of country music on low. Cody wasn’t much into country, but he figured it was better than R.E.M. or Depeche Mode.
“I saw Nate tonight.”
Cody froze, his stomach fluttering. So that’s why Logan had come by—to talk about Nate. Cody kept his eyes averted, staring out the passenger-side window. “So?”
“At the bowling alley.”
That got his attention. His head whipped Logan’s direction. “Nate went to the bowling alley?” He couldn’t even imagine it—Nate walking into that dive, all the burnouts lounging against the video games, smoking so much the ashtrays were overflowing halfway through the night. “Why?”
Logan glanced pointedly his way. “Looking for you.”
Cody’s heart did a funny little dance. He didn’t know if it was from excitement or dread. “What’d he want?”
Logan’s shrug was dramatically casual. “Well, if you had to ask me—and it turns out, you do—I’d say he misses you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I told you, man. He’s been trying to get your attention in social studies all week.”
Cody turned away to stare out the window again. “Not trying too hard, is he?”
Logan made a snorting, scoffing sound of disgust. “You’re not exactly being fair. You think I don’t notice how hard you work to not see him looking over at you every five minutes? Jesus, he was staring at you so long on Friday, he didn’t even hear the teacher call his name.”
“You’re full of shit.”
“Yeah. Okay.” But he could hear the amusement in Logan’s voice. “That’s how it is. I’m the one who’s full of shit. You betcha.”
Logan could almost always make him laugh, but not this time. “He has his new friends now. All those assholes from Orange Grove. He’s probably just going to ask me to buy him some beer so he can look cool for Jennifer Parker. He knows Vera will sell to me. Then he and his rich pals can all have a good laugh about it.”
“Jesus. Only you could come up with something so pessimistic, you know that?”
Cody didn’t answer.
“Listen, I’ve been up to the mine with those assholes from the Grove. I’ve been to their parties. I’ve seen Nate there with them. And I know you don’t want to believe me, but he doesn’t fit in with them as well as you think. Hell, he didn’t even last thirty minutes at Jennifer Carrington’s party a couple of weeks ago. Ran out of there like his life depended on it, except, you know, trying to look all casual while he did it.” Logan laughed. “I heard he walked in on Brian and Brad doing lines. I think your boyfriend’s too uptight for that scene.”
Cody turned reluctantly toward Logan again, not wanting to expose too much of himself, but wanting to see Logan’s face so he could judge how much of what he said was true and how much was bullshit. He didn’t even bother to contradict the “boyfriend” remark. “But he’s one of them.”
“He has the clothes, I’ll give you that, but that’s as far as it goes. He always sort of hangs back, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world than where he is.”
Cody hadn’t expected that.
They turned into the trailer park, and Logan slowed the car to a crawl on the speed bumps. Cody tossed his smoke out the window and watched the trailers creep past. They dipped under the train tracks, and Logan braked to a stop outside Cody’s trailer. Cody was already reaching for the handle, anxious to escape their awkward conversation.
“Wait.”
Cody did. It’d be damn rude to do anything else after Logan had gone out of his way just to give him a ride.
“He wants to see you. He wanted me to tell you he’ll meet you tomorrow at noon. He said ‘in the usual place,’ whatever that means.”
Cody closed his eyes, trying to stop the little glow that blossomed in his heart. It felt like hope, but hope was a lie. Hope was dangerous. Hope would make him bleed like nothing else in the world could. “Okay.”
He started to pull the handle, but Logan spoke again before he could open the door.
“There’s more.”
And based on the tone of his voice, Cody wasn’t going to like it.
“Jimmy and Larry were there, and Larry gave him an earful, man.”