Page 52 of Ship Happens

“I told her you’re an adult, and capable of taking care of yourself, but I guess they’re worried about you and Jacob being so close to each other.”

“At least someone here has confidence in me.” Owen watches the ticking timer, stomach sinking when he realizes only minutes have passed.

“Yeah . . . trust me, she means well. Abby always hovered over me growing up—she was hella protective. Used to beat up my bullies on the playground. Which worked when I was younger but I got taller than her quick so it just got kinda sad for the both of us.”

“Kaitlyn’s not much different,” he tells Kevin. “Sometimes it feels like she’s afraid I’ll break.”

“It’s nice that they both care,” Kevin adds, breath still heavy. “But I get how that could be suffocating.”

“And I’m not worried about being around Jacob,” Owen adds.

“I didn’t say you were” is all Kevin says. Which tells Owen that he doesn’t believe a word.

“What?”

“What?” Kevin looks at him, black hair clinging to his shiny forehead.

“What does that mean?”

“About what?”

“Kevin.” Owen hits the big Stop button on the treadmill, letting himself slide backward. “Come on, dude. Don’t you do this to me too.”

Letting out a deep sigh, Kevin halts his own machine. “Well, I mean . . . it makes sense that there’d be some tension. Right? You guys dated for so long.”

Owen pauses, looking out toward the ocean. “You’ve got exes. What would you do if you were trapped in the middle of the ocean with them?”

“Depends on which one.”

“Your last girlfriend?”

“The one who tried to get me to join her polycule?” Kevin guesses as they walk over to grab wet wipes to clean the machines. “I don’t know if she was a girlfriend exactly.”

“Okay, the girl before that.”

“Joanie, she was nice. Honestly, I don’t think I’d mind being trapped on a boat with her,” Kevin says as he walks over to the weight bench. Owen can only stand by and watch as he loads the barbell with weight after weight.

“Why’d she break up with you?” Owen asks.

“I broke up with her,” Kevin corrects.

“Okay, why did you break up with her?” he amends, remembering that he thought Joanie was nice, not that he saw her a ton. Kevin situates himself on the bench, bracing his hands on the bar and hoisting it into the air with the sort of ease that sends a spike of jealousy through Owen.

“Spot me?” Kevin grunts.

“Right, sorry,” Owen says, resting a hand on the underside of the weights. He’s not sure how good of a job he’s doing, or what he’ll do if something goes horrifically wrong, but Kevin doesn’t tell him to change what he’s doing.

“She wanted me to propose,” Kevin says, groaning as he lifts over and over. “Well . . . she never outright said that, but it was obvious with the conversations we were having. She wanted something way more serious.”

“And you didn’t?”

Kevin shakes his head, lifting the weights back into their resting position. “Nah, not with school. Besides, I’m young, dumb, and full of cum,” he says with a grin. “I kinda wanted the chance to plant my grains or whatever the saying is.”

Owen grimaces, staring at Kevin in a stunned silence and wondering just what went wrong in his life to get to the point that he’s having this conversation. “Sow your wild oats, you mean?”

“Yeah, that’s the one!” Kevin snaps his fingers once he’s standing up, pulling some of the weights off.

“Do you think you did the right thing?” Owen asks.