The Friend Scheme

by Cale Dietrich

  It’s time.

  I need to head home.

  I turn the engine on, and pull out of the lot.

  I feel … weird. I’m completely devastated by what happened with Jason. Still, under that, though, I feel this undercurrent of confidence I haven’t felt in a long time. Maybe ever. I don’t know what it is, or why I feel this way.

  Maybe it’s because I know how much I can survive now.

  Or maybe this is just the leftovers of my time with Jason before his big reveal. Because I was feeling better from basically the second I left this accursed city. Maybe it’ll take a few days for it to drag my mood back down.

  Or it’s something else. Something unexplainable.

  Whatever it is, I don’t feel as beaten down as I normally do.

  I drive through the city. Eventually, I reach home and park. I check out my reflection in the rearview mirror. Yikes. I look like a hot mess. But there’s not much I can do about that. I glance at my house.

  The lights are on in the living room.

  Dad’s home.

  But wait.

  Luke said he was crashing at a friend’s place all weekend so Dad would buy our story about us going away together for the weekend.

  And yet, Luke’s car is parked in the driveway.

  He’s home.

  Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe I’m just overthinking this, like I overthink everything.

  I climb out of my car and close the door behind me. I lock it with my fob and then go up to the front door. I can hear Eddie scratching his paws against the wood. I unlock the door and open it.

  Eddie is right there, expecting pats.

  I give them to him, obviously.

  “Hey, buddy,” I say. “Miss me?”

  “Matthew.”

  I look up. Dad is in the kitchen, wearing a dark purple shirt and slacks. His arms are crossed.

  “Hey.”

  Luke appears, rounding the corner of the hallway. He freezes, sensing the tension. He looks like Eddie does when he gets scolded.

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “He was onto me, I had to tell him.”

  That’s when I notice it. Dad’s wide stance, and the throbbing vein in his neck. He’s furious.

  And Luke told him that I lied.

  Oh man.

  I’m so fucked.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Dad knows I lied to him.

  For the first time, he knows.

  “Who were you really with this weekend?” he asks. “And don’t you dare lie.”

  It’s hard to focus. I’m still so devastated after what happened that I’m not thinking straight.

  If I get this wrong, it’s game over for me.

  And I have only seconds to come up with a convincing lie.

  What can I do? How can I answer him?

  Then it hits me. It’s perfect.

  Or, at least it’s as close to perfect as I can hope for right now.

  “I was with Cass; we planned a trip together,” I say. “Are you happy now? You know my big secret; I officially have no space.”

  His eyebrows narrow. “Cassidy Strickland?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But I told you not to see her!”

  I glance at Luke. It all hangs on him.

  If he somehow knows that Cassidy wasn’t hanging out with me this weekend, then my plan is totally ruined.

  But maybe …

  “You sly dog,” says Luke, grinning. “You told me you were just friends, that the girl was someone else. You swore on it.”

  “No I didn’t.”

  “What’s going on?” asks Dad.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” says Luke. “They’re, you know…”

  He makes an obscene gesture with his hands, the exact same one Cassidy made when we went to dinner.

  Dad stares at me. “You’ve got a girlfriend?”

  I cross my arms. “No. But we’re seeing each other, I guess, and it’s getting serious. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think it was any of your business.”

  I hate dragging Cassidy into this. But it’s my only option. I think I’ll be able to explain things to her. It’s another lie … But I just need to get through this conversation. If she helps me, I’ll owe her forever.

  Dad’s still watching me. I’m not out of the woods yet. “How could you do this? She could be trying to learn your secrets! Our secrets!”

  “Jesus, Dad,” says Luke. “You can’t seriously think Cass is a secret Donovan. This is just normal teenage sneakery, not some whole big plot.”

  “Don’t question me. You know better than that.”

  “I’m not! But we have photos of us as kids. You really think the Donovans have been going for that deep a heist? Vince said it, we need to be wary of anyone new in our lives. Old friends are fine. I hate to say it, but you’re being paranoid.”

  They stare each other down.

  Dad finally relents.

  Luke officially might be my hero. Even if he did kind of get me into this mess in the first place.

  “Show me this photo,” says Dad. “And, Matt, if this is true, I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell us you were dating her.”

  “I … um…”

  “Dad,” says Luke as he searches his phone. “He already said it, he just wanted to get to know her without us breathing down his neck. Do you want me to tell you every time I hook up with a girl?”

  Dad’s stare flicks between us. He’s being ganged up on, and he knows it. I can’t believe Luke is doing this. He’s spending some of the capital he’s built up by being so good at helping me out. But if he wanted to help me, why wouldn’t he just follow through with the original plan?

  “We’re going to the bar,” says Dad with a huff. “Get ready. Suzanne will be able to tell me if Cassidy was with Matt this weekend. We’re leaving at nine.” He walks away. A few moments later, his office door slams.

  I expected this. Suzanne is Cassidy’s mom, and Dad and her have been allies for years.

  Now I need to get to part two of my plan.

  Luke is still looking at me, grinning.

  “What?” I say.

  “I’m just proud of you, man. Cassidy. Nice work.”

  He claps me on the shoulder. I wonder if he’d act like this if he knew I’d hooked up with a guy. I hope he would, Luke is pretty chill about this sort of thing. I know he knows a few LGBTQ+ people, and he’s never made a big deal about it. But I think it’s different when it’s family.

  “Want to talk about it?” he asks.

  “God no.”

  He laughs. “Fair.”

  I chew my bottom lip. “Are you mad?”

  “About what?”

  “That I lied? I’m sorry I did, I just…”

  “Hey, no, I totally get it. But when you’re ready to talk about it, I’m here, all right? There’s so much I wish I knew about girls when I was your age. So if you want advice from someone who’s been through it, I’m around.”

  It’s actually really sweet of him.

  Who knew he could be so wholesome?

  “Thanks, man.” I step closer. “But, dude, what happened?”

  “I guess Dad pays more attention than I thought. If it was just me, I probably would’ve gotten away with it. But because it’s you…”

  Ah.

  That does check.

  “Dad’s been different lately, ever since…”

  He got shot.

  “He’s way harder to predict now.”

  Well, that’s pretty terrifying.

  “Anyway,” he says. “We got away with it, so don’t stress. I expect you to hold up your end of the deal, by the way.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  I walk past him, back to my room. I close my door behind me, and then pull my phone from my pocket and open my messages to Cassidy. There’s one last piece of the puzzle I need to sort out.

  Hey, I have a HUGE favor I need to ask of you. I’m seeing this guy, and we went on a weekend away. Anyway, Dad found out
, and asked me who I was hanging out with. Long story short, I said I was with you all weekend. He said he’s going to double-check this tonight at the bar. Is there any chance you could cover for me? I’m not ready for him to know yet.

  I hit send.

  I stare at the message, like that will make her respond faster. While I wait, my thoughts return to Jason.

  I fall backward onto my bed.

  My room feels really still.

  I rest my hands on my stomach and watch my fan spin. It’s really over.

  This is it.

  After everything, it ended. Now I’m never going to see him again.

  I mean, I can’t, right?

  He’s the son of a cop.

  This is going to be painful, but I need to do it. I open Instagram and unfollow him. For good measure I block him. Then I go through every single app I have him on and delete him. Unfriend, unfollow, the whole shebang.

  I get sick of thinking about how much this sucks, so I scroll my phone, looking for the right song. Nothing feels right. I end up settling on this band I like called With Confidence. I hit play on one of their sad breakup songs.

  But the song doesn’t distract me. I can barely focus.

  Then my phone buzzes. Cassidy.

  So you want me to be your beard? Lol.

  I mean, yeah? Is that okay?

  It’s totally fine dude … what are friends for?

  What are friends for? There’s so much I can pull from her saying that.

  First, that we’re actually friends now. Which is pretty amazing. Also, that she’s willing to cover for me to my dad, the head of the Miller empire. I don’t want to underappreciate how massive that is.

  She’s a true friend.

  * * *

  When Dad, Luke, and I reach Jimmy’s, I’m actually less nervous than I expected I’d be when we left the house. I don’t think Cassidy is going to stab me in the back. The bad part about that, though, is it leaves some mental space to think about Jason.

  And I really don’t want to do that right now.

  I can just see Sunshine Diner in the distance.

  I picture us eating waffle fries and talking about video games. It was maybe the best night of my life. I keep thinking that, even though I know the whole truth now. I still don’t even know how deliberate he was. Was he just acting like that, so I’d befriend him? How much did I actually get to know him?

  Dad gets out of the car, and so does Luke. I take a second to breathe in and out, and then I step out, too.

  Time to face the music.

  Inside the bar, I see Cassidy is already here, with her mom, Suzanne.

  Maybe I should be worried. Now my nerves surge. If Cassidy decides, she could ruin me.

  Dad approaches Cassidy and Suzanne, who are seated at a booth.

  “Can I have a word?” he asks.

  Suzanne nods, and the pair go upstairs.

  Luke and I sit down in Cassidy’s booth.

  I want to make sure she told her mom that we were hanging out earlier, but Luke is right here.

  It’s kind of awkward.

  “So, Cass,” says Luke. “I heard you two were…”

  He makes the sexual finger gesture.

  “Are you jealous?” she asks.

  “Pfft, no. I ended things with you, remember?”

  “Oh, sweetie, it’s so cute that you think that.” She pats him on the cheek. “Come on, Matt, let’s get a drink, in private.”

  I mouth the word “sorry” to Luke, and then follow Cassidy across the bar. A lot of people watch us. A few guys even nod approvingly at me. I feel like Little Matty has finally stepped up and finally done good.

  In their eyes, anyway.

  Success is so often defined by heterosexual life-goal posts. Get a girlfriend, get married, have kids, etc.…

  I hate that.

  We sit down in a quiet section of the bar.

  “I owe you big-time,” I say, keeping my voice down so I know nobody can hear me. “Seriously, thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”

  She waves a hand. “Don’t worry about it. Like I said, what are friends for?” She leans forward. “Now, tell me about this guy you’re seeing! You must be serious, if you went on a trip with him! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

  Again, I wish Jason were just an ordinary guy.

  That way I could talk to her about him.

  I shrug. “He’s just a guy.”

  “How’d you meet?”

  “Grindr.”

  She snorts. “How romantic.”

  “Right?”

  “Come on, dude, don’t be coy. Tell me about him! If you met on Grindr, does that mean you’re, like, hooking up?”

  “Um.”

  I feel my cheeks warm.

  “Oh my God, you are! What was it like?”

  “It was so good. Have you ever done something and then, like, then after you do it, it becomes the only thing you ever want to do? It was very that.”

  I hope she doesn’t ask me which position I was. I feel like that’d be really invasive. Not that I’m ashamed, but like, I’d never ask her which position she was in if I found out she’d had sex. I can’t see why for gay dudes some people think asking is okay. We started out doing lighter things, and when that stopped being enough for us, I went into the bathroom and got ready. Then I came back out, and after we both decided we were sure we wanted to, we went all the way.

  “I haven’t, no,” she says. “But I’m so glad you’ve found that.”

  “I mean, yeah.”

  “Tell me about him.”

  “He’s, like … so sweet. And nice, too. And he just sort of knows exactly what to say to make me feel good about myself. I don’t know how he does it. And he’s really weird, but in this, like, cool way. Plus he really likes video games, too, which is cool. I dunno, we just click, it’s hard to explain.”

  And I’m never going to see him again.

  “It doesn’t matter, though,” I say. “Things actually ended between us.”

  “What, why?” She watches me for a moment. “Dude. I feel like you should have cartoon hearts above your head right now. You’d be a total fool to let someone like that go. And you, my friend, have never struck me as a fool.”

  She has a point. I can’t even talk about him without turning into a gushing mess.

  “We just don’t see eye to eye,” I say. “On, like, anything.”

  “I think that’s normal, sometimes. How long have you been seeing him?”

  “A couple of months. But it’s been so difficult. To be honest it’s never been easy, so maybe this is a good thing.”

  “Easy is so overrated. I don’t know why people are so scared of things that are hard. It means you care, and the end result is going to be better than something easy.”

  I feel like that might be a slightly problematic viewpoint, and I’m not sure I agree with it.

  “I just don’t think you should give up,” she says. “You clearly like him a lot.”

  “Yeah. But I feel like I shouldn’t.”

  “As long as you’re not hurting anyone, you should just feel what you feel. I…”

  She freezes. Dad and Suzanne have reappeared back in the bar.

  I guess I’m going to find out if I’ve managed to bluff my way through this.

  The pair make their way up to us.

  “And?” says Cassidy, like she’s ready to fight.

  “You’re off the hook,” says Dad, who is staring right at me. “I’m sorry that I was so nosy, Matt. I’ll give you more space from now on. Sometimes I forget that you’re a young man now and I shouldn’t be so domineering.”

  “It’s fine,” I say.

  “You know, I always thought I’d never act like my own father. Yet here I am, acting just like him. He never gave me any space when I was your age, especially when I started dating. I can’t believe I did the same thing to you.”

  “Time’ll do that to you,” says Suzanne. “Want to have a drink and work throug
h it?”

  “I think I need more than one.”

  “That can be arranged.”

  The two head to the bar.

  “Oh God,” says Cassidy. “If they get together because of this, I’m never going to forgive you.”

  She pretends to gag.

  “I’d understand fully.”

  She smiles.

  And then something comes flying in through the front window.

  There’s a crunch sound, and then a fiery explosion.

  I can’t move.

  It was a Molotov.

  We’re under attack.

  Another Molotov flies in. It explodes through the other window this time. It hits the bar, and there’s a whoosh, and suddenly …

  The bar goes up in flames.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The bar is on fire.

  Everything caught so fast, and now the whole place is burning. It’s like something out of a nightmare. Huge orange flames snake up the walls. People are screaming. Smoke is already pooling at the ceiling.

  It’s chaos.

  I’m frozen. It’s like my feet are stuck to the floor. All I can do is watch as it all unfolds. I can barely even breathe.

  I feel scorching heat.

  People are shouting, but I can see only dark shapes.

  Another Molotov flies in through the shattered window. It hits the far wall, crunches, and explodes in a huge orange fireball. Through the flames and smoke, I can just see the wall of glass bottles behind the bar. It’s all alcohol.

  If that gets hit …

  Something pulls on my wrist, yanking me to the ground.

  It’s Cassidy.

  “What are you doing?” she shouts. “Move!”

  She army-crawls along the ground, cutting a path through the bar, dodging anything that’s aflame. The ground is hot, and I think I’m starting to breathe in smoke. I’m coughing, and feel light-headed. I know that’s bad.

  Up ahead, I see the back door.

  Someone is standing in front of it, holding it open, shepherding people out.

  I’m nearly there.

  Once I get outside, I’ll be safe.

  We go around a burning table and then finally reach the exit. Cassidy sprints out. I follow her and make it outside, into the cool night air. I cough, hacking up my lungs. Through watering eyes I check and see that she’s fine. Thank God.