Page 184 of Should the Sky Fall

“Yeah.” He waits for Kieran to say something else, but he doesn’t. “Aren’t you gonna tell me ‘I told you so’?”

Kieran gives him a look of pure confusion. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you’d be right?”

“Wow. Don’t you have a high opinion of me,” Kieran says saltily.

“That’s not—”

“I don’t give a shit who was right and who was wrong. I give a shit that my best friend is hurting, and I have no way to help him.”

Dawson’s miserable heart melts a little. “You’re here when I need you. That’s all that matters.”

“Yeah, yeah. Smooth-talker.” They both chuckle. “But I don’t get it. Even though he remembered, he could’ve pretended he didn’t. Why tell you?”

Dawson is too tired to think. There’s no point. He’s wasted so much time in the past six years trying to get into Cal’s head, to understand why he’d acted the way he had, why he’d done the things he had. He shouldn’t have bothered. Cal’s mind is a mystery, and it’s probably better it stays that way.

“I guess I’d have figured it out sooner or later if he started acting like he used to.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Kieran says. He doesn’t sound too sure.

“Is it really okay for me to stay?” He always comes running to Kieran when things go south.

“Dee, as far as I’m concerned, you might as well move in here.”

Dawson scrunches his nose, thinking of the state of Kieran’s apartment. “I think not, but thank you.”

“Rude,” Kieran says. “Seriously, stay as long as you want. Just make sure the dog doesn’t shit anywhere.”

“It wouldn’t make this place look any worse.”

“Hey!”

“Dawson, it’s been three days. You can’t be holed up here the whole day.”

“Eh ot,” Dawson says through a mouthful of Fruit Loops, Donut curled in his lap. He grabs the remote, pressing play to watch the next episode ofStranger Things.He really needs to get Cal to start watching it—

Fuck. He did it again. He can’t even watch stupid TV without thinking about him. Worst of all, he can’t stop checking his phone.

God, he’s pathetic. No amount of therapy will make him right in the head.

“Uh, yeah, you are,” Kieran insists, the pain in the ass he is. Is it wrong of Dawson to want him out of his own home already, so he can wallow in his misery?

“I walk Donut four times a day.”

“Yeah, the only time you get out is when your dog needs it. You need to get out too. You need the sun and fresh air. People are basically plants.”

The mention of plants makes Dawson think of cacti, and of Cal’s cactus-dick painting.

And there he goes again.

“Seriously, Dee. Get out. Go to the cafe. Say hi to Gabe and Zeke. Just chill a little.”

Chill. Right.

“I could bump into Cal.” Which is something he’d never had to worry about before, because Cal had no idea about Dawson’s little getaway. Except Dawson made ittheirlittle getaway now.

“Text Gabe to ask him if Cal’s there. And even if you bump into him, it’s a public space. You have nothing to worry about.”