Page 56 of Deliverance

Frankie was back to see Zell.

I wasn't sure how I felt about it after learning they hadn’t had sex, but there was nothing I could do. For all I knew, he was back finally to have sex with her. I knew she liked him as more than a friend, and I didn't blame her since he was the only person she knew around her own age. I didn't like that he was Frank's son, but maybe that was better than someone actually paying to sleep with a virgin.

"I brought you something."

I looked up to see Ric in the doorway. I started to smell greasy goodness. "What's that?"

"Come to the stairs."

He walked away, and I hesitated. I couldn't remember the last time we chatted on the stairs, but the smell alone of whatever he had brought was enough to get me to my feet. Ric was seated in the middle of the stairwell, and I took a seat two steps above him. He opened a white paper bag.

"Hungry?"

I hadn't eaten dinner yet. "Yes."

He pulled what looked like a burger from the bag. "I got you a cheeseburger and a chocolate milkshake from Shake Shack."

A smile lit up my face. "You did?"

He lifted a shoulder. "I was going there and thought I'd get you one too."

"Why?"

He looked up at me. "Because I miss this."

I gave a small smile as I grabbed the paper-wrapped burger. "I miss this too." We started to eat our burgers, and he pulled out a tray of fries for us to share. "Wait. Is that bacon on your burger?"

He stopped mid-bite. "Yeah. Did you want bacon on yours?"

"Um, yeah," I sang.

He pulled a slice off his burger and handed it to me. "When we're out, I'll make sure you always have bacon on your burger."

"When we're out?" I stopped putting the bacon on my burger. We hadn't talked about a plan for so long. Did he finally have one?

"I'm done with all of this."

"What happened?"

"It's been ten years. I'm done."

"I know it has, but are you just going to leave?"

He blinked. "No. I said whenwe'reout."

"Okay, but how?" I groaned, finally taking a bite of the cheeseburger. It was no doubt the best thing I'd eaten in a long time. While we were able to order groceries, we weren't supposed to have junk food.

Ric hesitated for a moment, then reached up and wiped something from my bottom lip. "Good?"

I licked my lips. "Fucking delicious."

"See, this is why we need out. We're missing out on too much."

"I thought the plan was to leave when Zell turns eighteen."

He nodded. "She's almost eighteen, right?"

"In about a month." I took another bite of the juicy burger.