I flop over dramatically on the grass in Mr. and Mrs. Kelly’s backyard and squint up at the hazy pink sky still edged with gold and orange from the setting sun. “This is the most bored a human being has ever been.” A second later a thin paperback gently hits me on the side of the head and I shoot to a sitting position to glare at Ethan. “Um, ow.”
He doesn’t look up from the book he’s reading. “I gave you The Old Man and the Sea. Less than a hundred pages.”
I rub my temple. “Still not awesome trying to catch it with your head.”
He smiles, then turns another page in a book so thick I don’t even bother to read the title. He looks like he’s nearly a quarter of an inch into it, worse, he looks like he’ll gladly keep turning pages until curfew. No, thank you. He’s been extra tense about leaving his grandparents’ house lately. His mom doesn’t usually stay away this long and he keeps expecting her to show up. I keep expecting it too, but I’m not ready to call it until she’s knocking on his door.
I inch closer to Ethan and with two hands raised high above my head, drop The Old Man and the Sea onto his stomach.
He flicks his gaze at me. “Was that supposed to hurt?”
“No,” I say. “It was supposed to make you stop reading for two seconds. And don’t—” I lean forward and press his open book down against his chest “—start back until you’ve heard me out.”
“Fine. I’m listening.”
I draw back and cross my legs. “Remember how I said you could pick what we do today, no questions asked?” I wait for his nod. “Yeah, well that was before I knew you were going to bring us boring old books about boats and sit in your backyard all day.”
“It’s a good book. There are sharks.”
That piques my interest. “When?”
“You have to read it and find out.”
I groan and let my head roll back. “I don’t want to read it.” I glance down at the cover of The Old Man and the Sea and notice the corner is ripped. Without even thinking about it, I tear it the rest of the way off.
Ethan reacts as though I set it on fire or something, snatching the book from my hands. “What did you just do?”
“Nothing, it’s just the corner,” I say, watching him frantically trying to match the torn edge back. “The pages are all fine and it’s a super old book anyway.”
“So you just rip the cover?” He jerks to his feet.
“I didn’t rip it, it was already hanging off.”
Ethan grabs his other book, one that looks like it’s been reread a million times too and might not survive another. That reality seems to hit Ethan then too because he goes completely still. For a second I think he’s gonna cry.
“I’ll buy you another copy, okay?” I stand and walk closer to him. “I didn’t know it meant that much to you. I thought it was just some old book.”
He stands there, nostrils flaring for a solid minute glaring at the books.
I have no idea why he’s so upset and he’ll never tell me. Sometimes being Ethan’s friend is like navigating a minefield with all these emotional detonators hidden everywhere. I never know when I’ve stepped on one until he blows. “Are they from your mom?”
He snorts.
Okay then. “But somebody?”
He still doesn’t answer which suddenly feels irritating. It’s not like he was treating them special or anything.
“You maybe shouldn’t have thrown it at my head then. How was I supposed to know it was important?” I prop a hand on my hip only to drop it a second later. Ethan’s getting more worked up by the second and getting mad back never helps. His mom could show anytime now and the last thing I want is to wake up tomorrow and find him gone before we can make up. This could be our last day together for who knows how long.
“What if we go to my house and get some tape? My mom has all this fancy fabric tape and stuff. I bet we could make it look good as new.” Or as good as a tattered old paperback could. “And I’ll read the whole thing.”
I feel hours of my life slip away at that promise and try not to make a face. Not that it would matter since Ethan isn’t even looking at me. In his mind, I feel like he’s already gone which means his actually leaving isn’t far behind.
“Ethan, come on.” I slide around in front of him. “Let me at least try and fix it. And then we can read and I won’t even complain the tiniest bit no matter how boring the book is.” I mime locking my lips with a key then smile, an expression that feels heavy to hold even for the few seconds it takes for Ethan to look right through it.
He mumbles something like forget it, and with an explosion of energy, hurls both books behind him. There’s a loud, slapping splash when they hit the pool.
I stare wide-eyed as the books sink and Ethan storms off.