Page 30 of Caden & Theo

He sees me and lifts his drink. “Thought you bailed.”

“Nah,” I say, sliding down next to him. “Just got caught up.”

He snorts. “Caught up with what? Practicing your dramatic stare into the distance again?”

“Maybe. It’s my signature move.”

“You need better hobbies.”

“You need a better face.”

“Touché.”

He tosses a pebble at my sneaker. We sit in comfortable silence for a minute, watching the fire flicker and someone nearly fall off a cooler trying to impress a girl.

“Can’t believe we’re seniors,” he says after a while. “Feels like we were just freshmen getting shoved into lockers.”

“I wasnevershoved into a locker.”

Kurtis gives me a side-eye. “Dude, you’re five-nine and delicate. Youabsolutelycould’ve been.”

I laugh, not even offended by his description. “Fair.”

Kurtis sips his Coke. “You ever think about what you’re doing next year? Like, after graduation?”

“All the time.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean… I don’t have it all figured out, but I know I want to teach. English, probably.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Look at you, Mr. Hawkins. Inspiring the youth.”

“Don’t make fun,” I say, though I’m smiling. “I like it. The idea of showing kids how words matter. How they can carry you places.”

“I’m not making fun,” he says, holding up his hands. “I think it fits. You already tutor half the team anyway.”

I duck my head, tracing patterns in the dirt with my sneaker. “The hard part is where. What school. How far.”

He smirks knowingly. “Where Caden goes, right?”

I force a laugh, like it’s an obvious joke. “Yeah, something like that.”

He chuckles and lets it go, attention drifting back to the fire.

But inside, my chest is tight. Because it isn’t a joke. I do want to follow Caden to UK. Desperately. But I also want college to mean being out, living honestly, not hiding in shadows. And I don’t know if those two things can coexist. Not with him. Not yet.

The uncertainty sits heavy in my gut as Kurtis takes another sip of his drink, oblivious.

I also want to be able to go whereverheis once he’s finished college. Whatever city Caden ends up in, whatever team picks him up—if it happens, and I believe it will—I want to be ableto follow. Not like a tagalong. Just… near enough that we don’t have to dothisagain. The distance. The silence. The ache.

Teaching’s been floating in the back of my head for a while. I’m good with people. I love stories. And schools always need teachers—everywhere. But I can’t say that out loud. Not to Kurtis. Not yet. So I just sip my drink and say, “I’ll figure it out.”

And I will. Because I’m not letting this—him—slip away.

Kurtis nudges me with his shoulder. “You’ll kill it, man. You’ll have your pick of schools and courses.”

“Thanks.”