Page 85 of Something Like Hail

“Don’t lie to anyone,” Noahsaid, handing back the license. “Especially to impress them. Ifsomeone doesn’t like you for who you are, they aren’t worth yourtime.”

Felix seemed taken aback by this, but henodded. Noah started the truck and pulled out into traffic, worriedhe was being too bossy. He didn’t want to be the older guy whothought he knew better, or worse, come across like a teacherlecturing his student. Their age difference wasn’t that big. Noahwas only three years and a few months older, but he supposed he’dbeen forced to grow up sooner than most people.

“I don’t usually lie,”Felix blurted out. “It just sucks being under twenty-one. You getexcluded from so much, and people whoareold enough leave you behind. Notthat I can blame them.”

“I remember,” Noahsaid.

“We don’t have to go tothat bar. Anything is fine. I’m easy. Going! Easygoing.”

Noah did his best not to laugh. “Let’s trythe bar. Maybe I can pull some strings. So, your last name isRamos. That’s Mexican, right?”

“Nope! Tryagain.”

“Spanish? As inSpain?”

“Almost. Keepgoing.”

Noah glanced over at him. He dug the blackhair and dark eyes. “Greek?”

Felix laughed. “Don’t worry, nobody gets itright. The name is Spanish, but I’m Filipino.”

“Like from thePhilippines?” Noah asked. Then he shook his head. “Pretend I didn’task such an obvious question. Did one of your ancestors marry a hotSpaniard?”

“No, it was the ClaveriaDecree in eighteen forty-nine. Most people in the Philippinesdidn’t have a last name, which I guess the Spaniards didn’t like—wewere part of their empire back then—so the governor of thePhilippines sent out a list of names for people to choose from. Therest is history. Literally.”

Noah glanced over at him again. “If you’retrying to impress me, it worked.” He returned his attention to theroad, but not before noticing how Felix blushed at the compliment.“Is that what you’re studying? History?”

Felix breathed out. “I don’t know what I’mdoing. My mom says I need to take my basic college courses while Ifigure it out. I’m working fulltime to save up for whateveruniversity I end up choosing, which is dumb because I know sheneeds the money. I’d rather just work and help her out, at leastuntil my sister graduates high school. She’s a dancer and wants todo it professionally. Between you and me, I’m really just saving upto help put her through school.”

“Aw!” Noah said, genuinelymoved. “That’s so sweet! You must be a really goodbrother.”

Felix shrugged. “I try. What about you? Areyou still studying or…”

“Never went to college,”Noah admitted. “I work fulltime.”

“Doing what?”

“Customer service.” Wasn’tthat the truth!

“Like whatexactly?”

“I work for astudio—”

“I knew it! Youarea movieproducer!”

Noah laughed. “Not that kind of studio. Iguess they do dabble in movies, but it’s mostly about photography.They have a bunch of high-profile clients. My job is to make sure aparticular group of them are happy and stay that way.” All true,even if he was intentionally being misleading. The high-profileclients had little to do with the group of clients Noah tended to.Occasionally an overlap existed, but rarely. He didn’t feel badabout being obtuse. Even if Noah wanted to be more forthcoming, hewas sworn to secrecy. Only if things became serious between Felixand him would he reconsider.

The bar was just a handful of blocks awaywhen Noah found a parking spot. The rare kind that wasn’t evenmetered. He took it, hoping that Felix didn’t mind walking.

“So you’re into videogames?” Noah asked when they were strolling down thesidewalk.

“Yeah.” Felix shot him ademure smile. “Especially the retro stuff. It just feels moreexciting when you consider how groundbreaking each game must havebeen. Genres didn’t exist back then. Not like now. Someone had tocreate the first shoot ‘em up—SpaceInvaders—or the firstplatformer.”

“MarioBrothers?” Noah guessed, wishing he hadpaid more attention to the documentary.

“Close!Donkey Kongwas the first trueplatformer, which is also Mario’s first appearance. Even that’sexciting to me. Whoever invented that game—”

“You don’tknow?”