I considered his explanation. Finally, so many things made sense – in particular, the amount of crap that Joel had taken before losing it.
Thinking out loud, I said, "But then, at some point, you realized…"
"That the job was a crock?" Joel made a scoffing sound. "Yeah."
I almost didn't know what to say. "Wow."
Joel turned to face me. "You know, I might've realized sooner, except there was this girl, sitting next to the douchebag, distracted the hell out of me."
I felt myself smile. "Me?"
"You've gotta ask? There was something about you, made it hard to think."
My breath caught. "Really?"
Joel nodded. "And I could tell you were embarrassed as hell. It reminded me of something."
"What?"
"How embarrassedIused to get whenmyfamily made asses of themselves."
I hesitated. "But Derek and I aren't related. You didn't know that?"
"I do now. But I didn't then."
"Let me guess," I said. "You thought we were brother and sister?"
Joel shrugged. "Or cousins."
"We get that a lot," I said, "probably because our families grew up so close. Sometimes, he almost feels like a brother."
"And other times?" Joel asked.
"Other times?" I forced a laugh. "I'm pretty sure I want to strangle him."
After a long pause, Joel asked, "You two ever date?"
I drew back. "Heck no. Never. Me and Derek?" I gave a little shudder. "It would be like dating your brother." I paused. "Well, notyourbrother. Butmybrother, if I had one, that is."
"Yeah?" Joel smiled. "Good to know."
I smiled back. "Why?"
"Youknowwhy." He leaned closer. "Less competition."
I rolled my eyes. "Likeyouhave to worry about competition."
"You think I'm joking?"
"Aren't you?"
Joel gave a slow shake of his head. "Not with you." He stood and pulled me to my feet. "Now come on. I promised you dinner."
Hehadpromised me dinner. But I felt almost guilty taking him up on it. I still knew nothing about his job, or whether he even had one.
At last night's campfire, I'd asked in a roundabout way, but he'd dodged the question by joking that his only job now was to be on vacation.
I bit my lip. Maybe he didn't even have a job. Looking to conserve his money, I said, "Well, technically, we've already eaten."
