the first one • j. hughes

4

"No, bananas are not the cucumber of fruit," Luke says. Completely serious. "That doesn't even make sense."

"It makes total sense."

It's a slow day. The two of us are laying on the dock. Well, I'm laying and he's sitting. The sun's a refreshing kind of warm. The kind that makes you want to fall asleep right then and there.

He scoffs. "How does that make sense?"

"Like, you know, they're both so casual," I say. What the fuck am I talking about? "Okay. I see your point."

"You're so dumb."

Instead of dignifying his lame response, I turn my head to the side. Toward the house. In the grass, Quinn and Jack are tossing a football. I don't get how that doesn't get boring. Like, tossing it back and forth without anything else to it has got to get boring.

Watching them— No. Watching Jack makes my mind wander a little. By wander I mean wander over his body. Okay! Weird. But it's true. I'm not gonna lie about it. He's only got his swim trunks on. No shirt. His shorts are short enough to show how nice his thighs are. I don't know.

"Are we doing that this summer?" Luke asks.

I look up at him to see him looking over at his brother too. So I follow suit. "What?"

"Are we doing the whole Jack thing this summer? Number a million and one?"

"No."

"You're both single," he says. "The moms would like it."

"I don't choose whether or not it happens."

"If you did though, would you?"

I watch Jack laugh as Quinn fails a catch and nearly falls back onto his ass. I'm deciding best friends are the worst. Luke could have kept that question to himself. But like would I? Would I choose to fall for Jack again? It feels like a dumb question.

Luke laughs. "You so would."

"What?" I sit up and look at him. He's still laughing. "I didn't even say anything."

"You didn't have to. You practically undressed—"

"Don't say it!"

"—him with your eyes."

Dramatically, I start fake gagging. He calls me immature through laughter at how ridiculous I am. I keep going until he takes a hand and shoves my head to the side pretty gently, though it does knock my sunglasses right off.

He breaks into laughter. "Shit, sorry."

"You better be," I mumble, laughing a little too. Only a little so I can pretend I'm mad. "You're supposed to be my best friend."

"I am your best friend."

"Not after saying that."

"I once had to sit and listen to you vividly describe a guy's dick and then hold your hair while you puked an hour later," he says. "I think you should be able to handle me calling you out for looking at Jack like he's a piece of meat."

It's my turn to push his head. "I would never look at him like he's a piece of meat."

"Do we need to get you to a doctor?"

"What?"

"You've been doing it for years. Changes in behav—"

"We're not friends anymore," I state.

"I've learned to accept that you want to fuck my brother and I think you should too."

"You think I should fuck your brother?"