Page 23 of Conflict Conclusion

“Like you and James?” she asked quietly.

Leon tipped his head to the side to look at her. “Like you and me.”

Hailey’s expression was so confused that, for a moment, he could see his ten-year-old next door neighbor again. The one who pointed at his neck tattoo and asked if she could get one just like it. He blinked, and he saw the twelve-year-old who wanted to learn how to feed his cat, and when he blinked again, he saw the sixteen-year-old who asked hard questions about life and love and the future.

“I’m not going to be your next door neighbor forever,” he said. The words felt like acid on his tongue, but he couldn’t seem to stop them. It was like that balloon in his chest was pushing up, up, up, until the words had no choice but to come tumbling out. “You’re going on to bigger and better things, and, yes, you had an accident, but you’re okay—“ even if he wasn’t okay, that wasn’t something she needed to worry about, “—and you’re going to keep being okay, and everything is going to be fine, even if I’m not around to see it be fine. And while that hurts like a fucking bitch to say, and I’ve barely even been able to admit it to myself, that’s just how the world works. You graduate high school and go on to college, and you leave people behind, and that’s⁠—”

“If you say fine one more time, I’m going to throw you back in the creek,” Hailey said, her arms, of course, crossed over her chest once again.

Leon worked his jaw back and forth, but it seemed like everything that he had needed to say had been said.

Hailey studied him, her eyes skimming over the slight crow's feet forming next to his eyes and the laugh—and scowl—lines around his mouth. “I’m not leaving you behind. Just like I’m not leaving my mom behind or any of my friends here today. We have group chats set up, and Mom and I are going to keep our shared calendar so I can see her when she’s off work. If anything, I may even get to see her more often, because I’m going to actually take advantage of her days off. Yeah, sure, I guess I won’t just run into you in the hall anymore, but we’ll still hang out. James already promised to help us study, and I have a list a mile long of pop-up restaurants and shit to do in the next year. The only way you’re getting rid of me is if you leave me first. And even then. I know where you live.”

She said the last line with a smirk, like she’d outdone him at a game of rummy out on their fire escape. She said it like it really could be that easy. Like his world wasn’t one slippery road away from ending on any given day. Like people didn’t grow up and apart, and he wasn’t going to be left behind just like he had by his dad, and his exes, and…

And he really should talk to his therapist about this, huh?

“You make it sound so simple,” he said, his eyes drifting back the way they’d come. There was movement in the trees, and, as if it really was that simple, James emerged, his button-down wrinkled to all hell and his khakis stained green and brown.

“That’s because it is, dummy,” Hailey said, bumping their shoulders together once again. “If you want us to stay in touch, maybe answer your texts every once in a while. If you want us to hang out, make plans.”

James’ eyes were wide as he took in their wet clothes, but his lips were turned up in a small smile, no doubt in response to Hailey’s infinite wisdom. “She’s right, you know. Not everything has to be hard and complicated. If you like the office mensch, hold his hand in a haunted house. If you want to make a new best friend, talk to them at a Christmas bar. If you want to stay in touch with Hailey, just pick up the phone.”

Leon held out an arm, and James hurried to his side, taking care to keep their legs a few inches apart so he didn’t get wet. “It’s that easy, huh?”

James pressed a soft kiss to Leon’s cheek, and Leon turned his head just enough to return the kiss.

“Ugh, old people being gross,” Hailey said, but she was smiling as she fought to put her hair back up in a ponytail.

“Well, congrats, kid. You just signed up for many more years of being around the gross old people,” Leon said.

Hailey sighed so long and so hard that she had to take a breath in the middle. Despite them both being wet and all three of them being dirty, Leon wouldn’t have it any other way.

Chapter Seven

JAMES

James drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he waited at the fourth red light in a row. The park where Hailey had held her going away party was on the outskirts of the city. The roads were quiet, yet, for some reason, full of traffic lights.

He and Leon had driven separately to the party, since James had been voluntold to help Linda and his mom sort through old files during their regularly scheduled Saturday lunchtime. They weren’t quite to the point where Leon had an invitation to every Saturday lunch, so at least James didn’t need to lie to him about it. Even still, he was getting tired of all the subterfuge, especially since it was all his fault.

Hailey’s party had gone surprisingly well, though. He hadn’t expected to find Leon and Hailey having a soggy heart-to-heart in the woods, but it was well overdue.

Much like the conversation James needed to have with him first thing tomorrow morning.

James rubbed at his eyes as the light turned green and he gripped the steering wheel a little harder than necessary. All the stress of the past couple of weeks had started affecting his sleep. He couldn’t wait to get back to Leon’s place and curl up on the couch, maybe order some takeout and snuggle with two of his favorite⁠—

An orange blob limped into the street, and James swerved onto the shoulder, slamming the brake pedal all the way to the floor. Thank god there hadn’t been anyone behind him. That was exactly what Leon needed: James to get into an accident right as he was finally starting to smooth things over with Hailey.

James threw the car into park and craned his neck to look back at the street. The orange blob seemed to have made it across and was lumbering into the tall grass by the side of the road.

Without stopping to think about diseases or fleas or uncertain living arrangements, James jumped out of the car and hurried across the street. While he couldn’t be certain, it hadn’t looked like a fox or other wild creature. He was pretty sure⁠—

The creature gave a loud, plaintive meow as James approached, and a pair of golden eyes stared up at him through the brush. Once again, with no thought or plan, James found himself unbuttoning his shirt and bending down to inspect the creature.

It was bigger than Yarmen by at least five pounds, if not more. Its fur was matted, but beneath the grime, it was a beautiful orange color. There were no visible wounds, but as James removed his shirt, the cat sat down and held its right front paw to its chest.

“Oh, baby,” James cooed, holding his shirt tightly in one hand as he held out his other hand for it to sniff. He couldn’t spot any tags or a collar, but the cat immediately limped forward to sniff James’ hand. After doing its due diligence, it shoved its head into James’ palm, and he knew he was done for.