Page 54 of Ship Happens

Kevin sits up, extending his balled-up fist toward Owen. “Bro code, dude. Whatever you tell me, I take to my grave.”

“It’s not that serious.”

“So, I can tell Abigail? Or Kaitlyn?”

“No!”

“Okay, then.” Kevin offers his fist again. “Bro code.”

Owen finally returns the bump, still wondering if it’s the smart thing to say it aloud. “I’m pretty sure I’m still in love with him.”

Kevin looks at him, frowning and confused, almost like he’s disappointed. Like he was expecting something more. “Oh! That’s it?”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Kevin starts to say. “I just thought that was obvious. I wanted something juicer! I thought gay guys were supposed to be good at gossiping.”

“I . . .” Owen starts to say, deciding to ignore him. Mostly. “How obvious is it?”

“Well, there’s the way you keep looking at him. Like the other night at dinner.”

Owen remembers catching himself, forcing himself to turn away, grateful that no one had seemed to notice.

Except Kevin had, apparently.

“You were together, what, four years? Living together? You talked about getting engaged, Jacob even bought you a ring. I think I’d probably still be in love with someone if I went through all of that too.”

Owen pauses, digesting Kevin’s words. “Wait . . . what?”

“What?” Kevin stares.

“He bought me a ring?”

In a flash, Kevin’s cheeks heat, eyes going wide. “Oh, uh . . . no. Did I say that?”

“You did.”

“Well, ignore that part. That’s not real, I was lying,” Kevin insists.

“Do you think it’s normal?” Owen says, knowing he needs to move on before he starts to hyper-fixate. A ring? “To still be in love with him? After all this time?”

“I mean . . . I don’t know a lot about love, but . . . I know it takes way longer to fall out of it than into it.” Kevin hesitates. “What does that mean for your truce?”

“I don’t know.” Owen huffs. “Kaitlyn thinks that we’re both idiots for ending the relationship.”

“How do you feel?” Kevin asks.

“Confused . . .” Owen hangs his head, letting out a slow, deep breath. “Anxious.”

“Well.” Kevin sighs, watching as Owen sits at the empty bench across from him. “I think this is the kind of situation where you can’t rely on what other people are telling you to make your choice.”

“I did feel like an idiot. I do,” Owen admits, remembering so vividly how he regretted the things he said to Jacob the moment the phone call ended. “We didn’t even try long distance.”

“Long distance is really hard,” Kevin adds. “And, no offense, dude, but neither one of you strikes me as the type that it would work for. You need to be a special sort of person to handle it.”

“It wasn’t just that, though. I think . . . I think that conversation made me consider things I hadn’t really before.”

“Like . . . ?” Kevin prompts.