We start running in silence, finding our rhythm side by side. Tucker has always been slightly faster on the straightaways, but I have better endurance on the hills. After decades of competing, we've settled into a pace that challenges us both equally.
Two miles in, Tucker finally breaks the silence.
"So, a summer fling."
I keep my eyes on the path ahead. "Don't start."
"Too late." He matches my stride effortlessly. "What were you thinking, A?"
"It just came out, okay? Uncle Tim was pushing, and I panicked."
"Yeah, but 'summer fling'? You basically told Mom you're using our new team dentist for sex."
I wince. "That's not what I meant."
"Sure, sounded like it. Poor Doc looked like she wanted to crawl under the table and die."
We reach the frog pond at the halfway point, and I'm grateful for the excuse to stop talking as a flock of geesewaddles across the path. Tucker waits until we're running again before continuing his lecture.
"So, what is going on with you two? Because something's definitely going on."
"I don't know," I admit. "We haven't really defined it."
Tucker snorts. "Classic Alder."
“Fuck you, Fucker. This isn’t like with Adam, if that’s what you’re implying. We're just... helping each other through a shitty situation."
"By sucking face?”
I stumble slightly, catching myself before I faceplant on the trail. "How did you?—"
"I heard you and Lena whisper-fighting. Something about 'the kiss' you've both been avoiding talking about."
Great. Just great. Not only did I humiliate Lena in front of my family, but now my fat mouth just set off another avalanche of shit.
"It was a distraction," I say. "Her ex walked in while we were getting her stuff. I kissed her to throw him off."
"And how'd that work out for you?"
I think about Lena's soft lips, the small sound she made when I touched her face, and how right it felt to hold her against me. "It worked fine."
Tucker gives me a knowing look but mercifully drops that line of questioning. We run in silence for another quarter mile before he speaks again.
"You know, the fam never liked how you let Adam treat you."
I tense. "Adam has nothing to do with this."
"Doesn't he? Six months of you chasing someone who wouldn't even acknowledge you in public, and now you're suddenly in a 'summer fling' with the first person who shows interest after he dumps you?"
"Adam didn't dump me. He cheated on me. There's a difference."
"The point is," Tucker continues, undeterred, "you deserve better than that. Better than Adam and better than whatever half-assed arrangement you're trying to set up with Lena."
We hit the hill that marks the final stretch of our run, and I push the pace, partly to punish Tucker and partly to channel my growing frustration. He keeps up because, of course, he does.
"I'm just saying," he pants, "you're worth someone being excited to be with you. Worth more than some weird payback plan.”
"You don't know what you're talking about."
