Chapter 183: Picking Up Friends!

The car had barely pulled out of the school lot before the noise level dropped to almost nothing.

Mateo was fine. He’d already kicked his backpack into the footwell and was fiddling with the radio, flicking through stations like he owned the car. But in the back seat, Owen sat perfectly upright, hands resting on his knees, seatbelt pulled tight across his chest like he was bracing for turbulence.

Five minutes ago, he’d been roasting Mateo by the bike racks without mercy. Now he wasn’t saying a word.

To Owen, this was a lot. Liam was the guy who’d walked into school with Darren and made Cody and Bryce back off without raising his voice. The guy who’d taken Mateo for a fresh cut and a fancy dinner. The guy Mateo talked about constantly, half like an older brother and half like some kind of legend. Liam was, without exaggeration, the coolest person Owen had ever met.

And now Owen was sitting in his back seat. It was hard to know what to do with his hands.

Mateo noticed, even from the front. He twisted around in his seat and squinted at him.

"Bro, what’s wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Owen said quickly.

"You’re sitting like you’re at the dentist."

"I’m not."

"You literally are."

"I’m just... sitting," Owen mumbled, and looked out the window.

Liam glanced up at the rearview mirror. His eyes met Owen’s in the glass for half a second, and Owen immediately looked away, suddenly very interested in a passing mailbox.

Liam almost laughed, then caught himself and sighed quietly instead.

He’d forgotten. Owen was tall for his age, broad through the shoulders, the kind of build that made him look a couple of years older than he was. But he was sixteen. Same as Mateo. Still a kid, sitting in a near-stranger’s car, trying hard not to say the wrong thing.

Liam tapped his thumb against the steering wheel, then glanced over at Mateo before looking back at the mirror.

"Alright," he said. "Screw going straight home. You two hungry?"

Mateo’s head whipped around.

In the mirror, Liam watched Owen open his mouth, like the answer was right there on his tongue. Then he closed it again and looked down at his hands, as if it wasn’t his place to want anything when he’d only been invited along for a ride.

He didn’t have to say it, though.

"HECK YEAH!" Mateo practically shouted, slapping the dashboard.

Liam grinned. "Figured."

He looked back at the mirror. Owen was smiling now, small and sheepish, staring out the window like he was trying to hide it and doing a terrible job.

"Owen," Liam said. "You good with food?"

Owen’s eyes flicked up, met his in the mirror, and this time he didn’t look away quite as fast. "Yeah. I mean, yes. If that’s okay."

"It’s okay. I’m the one asking."

"Okay." A pause. "Thank you."

"He says thank you," Mateo announced. "He never says thank you to me."

"Because you never do anything for me," Owen shot back, a little of his usual self slipping out.

"I let you copy my bio homework!"

"Once. And half of it was wrong."

Liam laughed out loud at that, and Owen’s ears went pink, but his shoulders finally came down from around his ears.

"Any requests?" Liam asked.

"Burgers," Mateo said instantly.

"Owen?"

Owen hesitated. "Burgers are good."

"Burgers it is."

Liam turned off the main road a few blocks later and pulled into the lot of Brickyard Burger Co., a squat red-brick place with picnic tables out front and a hand-painted sign of a burger wearing sunglasses. The smell of grilled onions hit them the moment the doors opened.

Mateo was out of the car before the engine had fully stopped.

Owen climbed out more slowly, then paused beside the back door and looked at Liam over the roof of the car.

"Um," he said. "Thanks. For the ride. And this."

Liam locked the car and walked around to him, giving his shoulder a quick, easy pat.

"Anytime, man. Any friend of Mateo’s."

Owen ducked his head, smiling at the ground, and followed him inside.

Liam ordered at the counter while the boys grabbed a booth by the window: two double cheeseburgers, a large basket of fries to share, two milkshakes, and a grilled chicken salad for himself.

Mateo stared at the salad when it arrived. "Bro. You brought us to a burger place and got *leaves*?"

"I’m watching what I eat."

"Since when?"

"Since recently." Liam speared a piece of chicken. "Some of us have to work at looking this good."

Owen snorted into his milkshake, then looked startled at himself, like the laugh had escaped without permission.

Liam pointed his fork at him. "See, he gets it."

"I didn’t say anything," Owen said, but he was grinning.

The food did what the car ride couldn’t. Halfway through his burger, Owen stopped sitting like he was in a job interview. He leaned back against the booth, elbows on the table, and started actually talking.

"So, Mateo said you used to be a lawyer," he said. "Like, a real one?"

"Still am. Just between firms right now."

"Did you ever do, like, a big trial? With a jury and everything?"

"A few."

"Did you ever say ’objection’?"

Liam smiled. "More times than I can count."

"That’s so sick." Owen turned to Mateo. "Your friend says ’objection’ for a living."

"I told you he was cool," Mateo said, mouth full of fries.

"You said he was cool. You didn’t say objection cool."

Liam laughed, watching the two of them bicker. This was the version of Owen he’d seen by the bike racks, quick and relaxed and loud. It was good to see him come back.

"Okay, my turn," Liam said. "Mateo told me about Jessica waving today."

Mateo nearly choked. "Owen told you that! In the car!"

"And now I’m following up." Liam turned to Owen. "Scale of one to ten. How bad was the freeze?"

Owen thought about it seriously. "Eight. Maybe eight and a half."

"Eight and a half?!" Mateo disputed.

"You didn’t blink, man. I thought you’d died standing up."

Mateo groaned and buried his face in his arms on the table, and Liam and Owen both cracked up.

"Next time," Liam said, "you just wave back. That’s it. Small wave, small smile. Don’t overthink it."

"Small wave, small smile," Mateo muttered into his sleeve.

"Write it down," Owen said. "He won’t remember."

Liam was still smiling as he reached for his water, then froze with the glass halfway to his mouth.

"Oh shit! Sophia!"

He’d told her he was picking Mateo up. He had not told her he was taking him anywhere else.

"Oh, shit," he muttered under his breath.

Mateo lifted his head. "What?"

"Nothing. Hang on."

Liam pulled out his phone, meaning to fire off a quick text. Before he could even open his messages, the screen lit up with notifications.

[3 Missed Calls — Sophia]

His stomach dropped straight through the booth.

Two days ago someone had followed her home. She’d spent today watching the street through her blinds. And school had let out over an hour ago, and her little brother hadn’t walked through the front door.

"Oh, I’m dead," Liam whispered.

Owen leaned over. "Is that your girlfriend?"

Liam didn’t answer. He just stared at the screen, thumb hovering, his mind going completely blank.