The bell rang, and Nate scowled at the ceiling. “Great. Now I’m late for physics. And you’re late for math.”
“Whatever.” The good thing about being in the degenerate math class was that just about everybody turned up late. “You better find a way to apologize, or to convince him you had nothing to do with it. Either that, or you better be ready to fight him next time he comes after you.”
“He won’t. He was mad, but I’m sure he’ll get over it.”
“I don’t know, Nate. You can’t just assume this’ll go away. You heard him—”
“Can we talk about this later?” Nate glanced at his watch, as if he needed it to tell him he was tardy. “I gotta go.”
Cody sighed, defeated. “Whatever. Steer clear of Brad, all right?”
“I always do.” Nate turned and headed down the hall, but stopped and turned on his heel after a few steps. “Thanks for trying to come to my rescue.”
For all the good it did, Cody thought.
Because no matter what Nate said, Cody knew it wasn’t over.
It was Monday when Brian caught up with them again. It was a gorgeous March day, and spring was in the air, the breeze warm and the sun high in the cobalt sky. Nate’s dad had finally agreed to let him drive the Mustang again, and Cody hadn’t needed to wear the thick coat Logan had given him. He had only a zip-front sweatshirt over his T-shirt.
“Maybe we can even put the top down,” Nate said as they weaved through the school lot toward his parking spot at the end of the day. He had a notebook and his calculus book with him.
Cody, on the other hand, had nothing but a new pack of cigarettes in his pocket. He’d made it through lunch without one, but he was dying to light up now. “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” he warned. “It could still snow tomorrow, you know.”
And after Logan’s accident, he was terrified of Nate being caught off guard, out in a snowstorm with only his Mustang. He figured he’d get over it someday, but not yet. Not when he still looked for Logan’s laughing face in the hallways. Every once in a while at the Tomahawk, he still found himself staring down at a sink full of soapy water with tears in his eyes.
“What the hell?” Nate said, stopping short. “I have a flat tire.”
Cody eyed the Mustang, slumped like an injured animal on the pavement. “Looks like more than one.”
They circled the car, going opposite directions, meeting again on the other side. “All four,” Nate sighed. “Guess it’s safe to say I didn’t just run over a nail.”
“It had to be Brian.”
“Damn it. I even talked to my dad. He said the bust had nothing to do with what I told him, but not like Brian will ever believe that.”
“Now what?” Cody eyed the school. “We could go ask to use the phone in the office.”
“My dad’s at work. I won’t be able to reach him until after five.” He glanced up at the sky. “At least it’s a nice day. Let’s just walk to your house, and I can call from there once he’s home.”
They started down the street. Cody tipped his head back to let the sun wash over his face. The trees were still bare, but birds chirped and sang, flitting from branch to branch. He and Nate stopped at the curb and waited for a car to pass before crossing toward the empty dirt lot behind the gas station where they’d first met. Cody shook a cigarette out of his pack and lit it. Cutting down as much as he had made him savor each one that much more.
“I forgot to tell you, that day when Brian tried to start a fight with you, I was in the library. I looked up Iowa.”
Nate glanced his way, looking hopeful. “And?”
“It looks good.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“So, where do you want to go? Des Moines?”
“I was thinking more like Iowa City. It’s only three and a half hours from Chicago. They have a university there, and a community college. The book I looked at said the population is about fifty thousand.”
“That’s not very big at all.”
“It sounds enormous to me.” But in a good way. Not scary-big. Just refreshing-big. “It looks amazing.”
Nate stopped in his tracks, staring at Cody with bright eyes. “‘Amazing’ meaning you want to go live there?”
“Maybe.” But just the thought was making him smile. “If you do.”
Nate laughed. “Absolutely.” He looked happier than Cody had ever seen him. He reached out and took Cody’s hand as they started walking again, squeezing his fingers quickly before letting him go. “I’d kiss you right now, if I could.”