When We Were Strangers by Finn Manning & F.N. Manning

Author:Finn Manning & F.N. Manning
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay, gay romance, lgbt, lgbt romance, lgbt fiction, gay fiction, gay romance novel, romance, romance novel, young adult, coming of age, boys and men, fiction, story, YA, young adult literature, teen fiction, gay teen fiction, humor, comedy, romantic comedy, love story, funny, m/m, MM, M/M romance, mlm, lgbtqia, short story, contemporary romance, gay books, small town, rural, rustic, small town life, friends, enemies, jock nerd, jock nerd romance, nerd romance, high school, high schoom romance, teen, ya, yalit, ya lit
Publisher: F.N. Manning
Published: 2020-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

4. Anything You Can Do

Luke doesn’t get paid enough for this.

Luke

Summer used to be paradise. Months of no homework and waking up whenever you wanted. As a kid, the end of the schoolyear meant swimming pools, popsicles, fireworks on the 4th of July, and riding around the neighborhood on bikes. Those were the days.

As a soon to be junior in high school, I had to work.

Life as a farmhand wasn’t glamorous, but I enjoyed being outside. My town of Lake Forest... had neither of those things. There was lots of space, crops, and animals. People too, but all spread out in a rural setting.

Okay, I appreciated the paycheck and not having homework. Work was fine. But dealing with Ryan Miller? So not in my job description.

* * *

I moved a hay bale while the sun did its best to roast me alive. Manual labor wasn’t a problem for me. I’d done this job before. Plus during the schoolyear, I played baseball, ran laps, and lifted weights. I was strong, not to brag. And I wasn’t just a baseball player. I was my school’s starting pitcher. When fall came, I would be captain! As a junior. That was a big deal. Okay, I was bragging a little.

Anyway, this job? No sweat. Okay, lots of sweat. Dropping the bale down, my shirt stuck to my skin as I wiped my brow with a forearm. I could handle the heat, the sweat, and the labor. But Katie Simpson and Ryan Miller kept gossiping about me, and it was driving me crazy.

They were sitting on a fence near where I worked, and I felt their stares on my back even as I tried to ignore them. I should focus on my task and not the rising tide of annoyance building in the pit of my stomach at their whispers and laughter...

“Oh my god, shut up,” I barked at them in the same sharp tone I use when making the guys run instead of complain at practice.

Worked on the team. On Ryan? He argued. “What? We’re just sitting here, having a lovely conversation.”

“You can go talk somewhere else,” I suggested.

“How is it any of your business?” he countered.

“I know what you’re talking about.”

“We were only discussing last night’s ball game.”

Pausing, I stared at them in surprise. “Whoa, really? Did you see that awesome catch in the 4th inning? It—”

“We weren’t really talking about baseball,” Katie explained apologetically, kinda laughing anyway.

“Oh. It was a good game,” I tried stupidly. I flexed my fingers in the too big gloves I used to handle the hay and stood tall despite not feeling very big.

Turning from them, I went back to work. Their annoying whispering started up again, and I reminded myself for the millionth time that Ryan Miller had a tough year.

Working at the same farm as his father, I knew the older man better. Everyone at school knew the younger guy after our recent sophomore year. Look, Mr. Miller seemed really proud of his son and always bragged about the guy’s brain.

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