“It was for a boy,” my son blurts out.
Yeah, that’s not what I had expected to hear today.
He looks stunned, like he’s surprised at his own words. He opens his mouth, trying to speak again, but no sound comes out. He closes it again.
“A boy,” I say, struggling to keep the smile off my face, because he’s legitimately scared for reasons I don’t quite understand. “Like, he wanted you to get it for him?”
He snaps his head from side to side so quickly, it looks painful.
“Is he pressuring you for it?”
Another no.
Oh, kid.
Even Caleb is watching his brother with interest, milkshake forgotten.
“Do you go to school with this boy?” I ask.
Noah starts to shake his head but then seems to change his mind and nods instead.
“Would I happen to know this boy?”
Noah glances at his sister, who smiles at him encouragingly. “Yeah,” he croaks out when he looks back at me.
“Hmm,” I say, pretending to think. “Oh! Would this boy happen to be Ethan?”
His eyes bulge just a little at that.
Yeah. Got you.
Ethan Lundgren. The kid a year above Lily and Noah. Popular and handsome and seemingly playing the role of the stereotypical jock who had one day last year followed Noah home with a dreamy look on his face, much to Noah’s bewilderment, and had never really left.
It wasn’t that hard to spot the fact that Ethan had a crush on my son.
And, as Bear pointed out, it seemed to be a mutual thing, though we were pretty sure neither had done a damn thing about it.
I was proud of Bear that day. He hadn’t freaked out in the slightest.
I had. A little.
Bear wouldn’t let me buy a gun to threaten Ethan with.
“So, Ethan,” I say, already knowing Bear’s going to be pissed that he wasn’t here for this. “He didn’t ask you for it, he didn’t pressure you for it—and wow, it sounds like we’re talking about something else.”
“Dad,” Noah hisses.
“Whoa,” Lily breathes. “That was awesome.”
“We’re talking about drugs,” I say rather gleefully. “Of course we’re only talking about drugs. Now, it does beg the question why you’d be asking your
sister to ask JJ for weed if Ethan didn’t want you to get it or pressure you into doing so. So, I suppose that’s where we’re at now.”
“What are we talking about?” Caleb asks.
“Noah’s crush on Ethan,” I tell Caleb. “And trying to get drugs to impress him.”
Noah squeaks.