"Give or take."
At the image, my heart went out to him. "But why were you involved at all?"
Joel gave a humorless laugh. "Why were any of us involved?"
"I don't know," I said. "Why?"
"At first, it's because we're trying to separate my dad and Jake, but then, someone throws a bad punch, and before you know it, it's hard to say who's fighting who. And right there in the mix, there's Sandpaper Sally, naked except for this ratty-ass blanket, and all this time, she's still screaming that nothing happened."
"Did your dad believe her?"
"What doyouthink?" Joel said. "Forget she's got no clothes on. Jake's bragging about it."
I gave another shudder. I wasn't quite sure it could be counted as bragging, considering the whole sandpaper aspect. But that was probably beside the point. Bracing myself, I asked, "So how'd it all end?"
"For me," Joel said, "it ended with a broken arm and a whole lot of stitches."
I winced. "Really? How?"
"Long story," he said. "But there was this glass table—"
"In the kitchen?"
"Hell no. We're long past the kitchen. By now, we're in the living room, heading out the front door…" His words trailed off. "Anyway, you get the picture. I'm just saying, Jake? The guy's a dick. And if you let him in, he'll get under your skin – or worse."
"Worse?" I said. "Like what?"
"I don't know." His voice hardened. "And I don't wanna find out. So just promise me, alright?"
Desperately, I wanted to promise. But I knew it would be a lie. I heard myself sigh. "I can't."
Sounding less than thrilled, Joel said, "Why not?"
It should've been obvious. "Because if he stops by with Luna or something, I can't just be rude about it. I mean, they just did me this huge favor."
"So?"
"So I owe them. And besides, you guys should patch things up."
"There's nothing to patch up," Joel said. "It's just the way it is."
"But it doesn't have to be."
Sounding more unhappy than ever, Joel gave a low curse.
At first, I thought he was cursing at me, but then said, "Sorry, but I've gotta go."
Now,Ifelt like cursing. We'd talked for what? Five whole minutes? And we'd spent most of those minutes arguing.
Joel's voice, softer now, carried across the distance. "Listen, I want you to know something."
"What?"
"I love you, and we're gonna work this out."
In spite of everything, I smiled into the phone. I couldn’t help but say it back. "I love you, too."
And then, he was gone.
I sat in the parking lot for a long moment, wondering where all of this would lead. I only prayed that Jakedidn'tstop by – not because I was truly concerned, but because there was no way on Earth that I could refuse to let him in.
But with Derek, it was another matter entirely, as he soon found out.