The Pick Up by Allison Temple

Author:Allison Temple [Temple, Allison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-11T23:00:00+00:00

14

KYLE

It’s Saturday afternoon, and I’m elbow deep in macaroni. I called Rebecca to confirm the details, and she insisted I didn’t need to bring anything other than myself to her barbecue, but I insisted I did, and finally, she relented when I offered to make macaroni salad. Seemed like a good idea then. Not so much now when I’m trying to avoid singeing my fingers while I toss steaming pasta around in the strainer.

We’re about an hour behind. Caroline is feeling better but still isn’t a hundred percent. On top of that, she slept in, which meant breakfast was late and so was cleaning up. She demanded cuddles on the couch while she watched the episode of Princess Amazonia where Prince Arvin gets kidnapped by the monkey tribe for the billionth time since she came home sick on Tuesday. They really need to release a new season of this show, because I caught myself humming the monkey tribe’s war chat while I was on the phone with Shannon. And last night as I was falling asleep, I started wondering if the king of the monkeys was gay, because the way he looked at Prince Arvin was . . .

Kyle, I’m gay.

Okay. So maybe it’s not about the monkey king. Anyone with eyes can see Prince Arvin is a babe. Just like Mr. Hathaway. Yeah. That total babe Mr. Hathaway, who is gay, and told me so in the middle of a panic attack when I was too caught up in my own trauma to hear what he was saying. But now I’ve heard it and had time to think about it, and I’m caught up in that anxiety spiral of feeling there’s something I’m supposed to be doing but either not being sure what that thing is or else pretending not to know because knowing would mean taking action and . . .

Look, the man is hot. It’s no secret I’ve been attracted to him since the first minute he leveled that glare at me in the school parking lot. And I never gave his sexuality much thought because it was easier to admire from afar. But I know now, and I don’t know what to do with that knowledge. I mean, I do know. I want to climb him like a tree if he’ll let me. But also, I don’t know if I’m allowed to want that, because it’s barely been a year since Olivia died, and what will Caroline think if she and her teacher and I start bumping uglies, and—

Does anyone even say bumping uglies anymore?

Anyway, that’s how it’s been for the last few days, and now we’re late for a barbecue, and I’m pretty sure I’ve overboiled the macaroni, but really, it’s too late to do anything but dump the mayo and tuna in and hope for the best.

“Jelly Bean!” I cover the bowl in plastic wrap.

“Yeah?” She’s somewhere upstairs.

“I’m changing my shirt and then we’re going to meet Haley, Lily, Uncle Ben, and Auntie Kirsten,

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