Page 61 of On His Mind

“Rowan is coming to my house,” Benson says. “Which means I’m going home.” Benson throws his hands at Stanley. “I told you this.”

Stanley looks at Blue.

“Brothers,” Blue says, which is the whole of his travel plans. Three of them, apparently, all younger.

Stanley swings around on his stool and points his fork at me. “Mon Petit Percy.” He lifts his phone and his eyebrows. “I’ll buy you a ticket right now if you promise to get shit-faced and talk to me in French.”

“Working.”

He scoffs, putting his phone down. He squints in disbelief. “Over break?”

“Yeah.”

He whistles. “Alright. Sick. That’s real money, right? Is that the place Benson used to work?”

I nod.

“Get it, Mon Petit Percy.” He goes back to Cabo, and to whether he’ll need two swimsuits or three, and whether Drew’s dad has a boat.

Benson looks over at me. “You could come to my house,” he says. “My mom would lose her mind.”

“I’m working.”

“Yeah, but not every day, right? I don’t think that’s legal.” He shrugs and goes back to his phone. “If you change your mind, text me.”

Rowan says something about how the eggs won’t eat themselves, so I eat two plates.

The house empties over the next couple of hours. Doors banging. Bags dragging down the stairs. Stanley loses his passport twice and finds it both times where he left it, and the third time, he only pretends to lose it. Someone’s car horn goes off in the drive. Benson thumps me on the back on his way past and says something about saving my money. Rowan turns off the stove and checks it, and then comes back and checks it again.

Then it’s Blue in the doorway with his duffel. He looks at me for a second.

“Text me if you need anything,” he says.

He wouldn’t say that to anybody else. He knows I won’t.

He pulls the door shut behind him, and the sound of it goes through the whole house, and then there’s nothing.

The heat clicks. The fridge shudders on. A car goes past out on Hawthorne Street and takes its sound with it. I go and turn the thermostat down. I check my phone. Nothing. I check it at one, and again while I’m getting my boots on.

I’ve been doing this for two weeks. She hasn’t said where she’s going for break. I didn’t ask. I don’t ask her questions.

I scroll up the group chat from last week while I’m sitting on my bed with one boot on.

Stanley: You guys can call me Pony Boy from now on.

Benson: Go to sleep.

Rowan: We’ll stick to your real name.

Stanley: It’s to boost morale.

Benson: I’ll boost your morale.

Me: Mon Petit Poney.

Benson: When did Percy join the chat?

Rowan: First text from Percy is iconic.