The Friend Scheme

by Cale Dietrich

  We both step out of the Uber.

  The beach stretches out in front of us. It’s crowded. Up ahead, there’s a pink ice cream truck by a path to the beach. It looks a little hipster-y.

  “Want one?” he asks.

  “Yeah, for sure. Do you?”

  He nods, so we join the line.

  I don’t think I’ve ever felt this good.

  We reach the front of the line.

  “Can I get a sundae, and then whatever this one wants?” He puts his hand on my shoulder.

  “Can I get a choc-dipped cone?”

  “You sure can,” says the server. She’s dressed in a pink-and-white-striped shirt. “You two are the cutest, by the way.”

  “Thanks.”

  “He’s the cute one,” says Jason.

  I blush.

  She hands us our ice creams, and Jason pays.

  Then we start walking toward the beach. We both take off our flip-flops and walk. The sand is so warm. A pair of girls in bikini tops and denim shorts totally check Jason out as they pass us. One even lowers her sunglasses to ogle. It’s right out of a CW show.

  He stomps onward, oblivious.

  He glances my way.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asks.

  “Just that the beach looks really nice today.”

  He tousles my hair with his free hand.

  I smile.

  We find an empty spot, and he tosses his towel down hard onto the ground. We sit down, and eat our ice cream.

  “Now?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “Not yet. You really need to be sure.”

  “I am!”

  “Just give it a little longer, okay?”

  “Fine.”

  We finish our ice cream. My hands are all sticky now.

  “Want to go for a swim?” he asks.

  “Yeah.”

  We both stand. Then he grabs the hem of his shirt and pulls it off. I do the same with my shirt and throw it down onto his. He stretches, then adjusts his trunks, pulling them up a little higher.

  I’m not over seeing him like this. Not even close.

  I grab the sunscreen from my bag and start slathering it onto my chest. I feel like the palest person on this beach, so this will save my life. Without it I’d be beet red in half an hour. I put some on in the hotel room, but I really want to be sure I’m covered. The last thing I need right now is a sunburn.

  He turns to me. “Want some help with that?”

  “I’ve got it.”

  He frowns. “Oh.”

  “Unless you want to help?”

  He nods and grins. “Turn around.”

  I hand him the sunscreen. He puts it onto my back. I close my eyes for a second as he rubs. The skin-to-skin contact, it’s blissful. Once he’s done, he turns around and I put sunscreen on his back.

  He’s so broad, and I love how he feels with the sunscreen on him.

  He’s so slick.

  “Am I good?” he asks.

  “Yep. All safe.”

  “Awesome.” He takes a step away. “Race you to the water?”

  “You’re on.”

  We both tear off, sprinting toward the ocean.

  * * *

  Jason and I are sitting on a bench in front of the path to the beach. There isn’t a cloud in sight.

  It’s been another perfect day.

  I don’t want to leave.

  I don’t want to go back to Florida.

  I’d stay here forever if I could.

  We’re listening to his playlist, with one earbud each, and he has his arm around me. His songs are all fast-paced and electronic. So, not my usual thing, but I’m into it, because he likes it.

  He smells like salt, and he’s so warm. I can feel it even through his shirt. His stare is fixed on the horizon. This close, I can see his jawline is just starting to show signs of honey-brown stubble. It’s lighter than the hair on his head. I’m jealous, because it looks even, and my facial hair is still so patchy.

  He rubs my arm. I nestle against him.

  It’s time.

  Or, it’s close enough for me. The song we were listening to ends.

  I notice he’s shaking.

  “Hey,” I say. “What’s up?”

  “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  I move a little away from him. “Like, actually, or…”

  He leans forward, and starts breathing deeply. He’s hunched over, and his shoulders are raised.

  I don’t know what to do.

  He turns to face me. He’s gone so pale. “Listen, Matt.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I know you said you were going to talk about your family.”

  Oh fuck.

  Something is clearly very wrong.

  “Yeah?”

  “You can’t. Look at me, you can’t tell me anything about them.”

  His eyes are wide.

  “What? Why?”

  He looks like he’s in pain.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  He pulls his shirt down a little.

  In the middle of his chest, nearly invisible, is something that looks like a plastic circle. He obviously wasn’t wearing it before; I would’ve noticed it. I think back, and he left for a little while before to go to the public bathroom. He took his backpack. He must’ve put it on then, before we came here.

  Oh no.

  I think I know what it is.

  And why he wouldn’t let me tell him about my family until we got here.

  “What’s that?” I ask. I need to know for sure.

  There’s horror in my voice.

  He peels it off his skin, wincing as he does. It looked like it was stuck tight. There’s now a red circle on his chest where it had been.

  “It’s a wire,” he says. “It’s new tech.”

  He tries scrunching it up in his hands, but that doesn’t work, it’s too flexible. So he pinches it, and rips it in half. Inside, I can see tiny wires, glinting in the sunlight.

  I don’t know what to say.

  “So I was right?” I ask. “You are still trying to learn my family secrets.”

  “Yeah, I am. But it’s not what you think.”

  I feel like I could be sick.

  “I’m not who you think I am,” he says.

  I scoff. “You’re right about that.”

  I’m only just managing to keep it together. I always had this fear, and it’s because it was founded. Jason was pretending. He was still trying to learn the secrets about my family so he could tell his. The scariest part is I was about to tell him everything. I was seconds away from doing it.

  But he stopped me.

  Why?

  “Matt, my last name … it isn’t Donovan.”

  “What?”

  “It was just a cover. If we got caught, we were told to tell you we’re Donovans, to throw you off the scent. My mom thought your hatred of them would blind you to the truth.”

  “What truth?”

  “About who we are. About who I really work for.”

  He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He swipes through and then turns it to show it to me.

  It’s a photo of Jason standing with a female cop. She’s wearing the full uniform. The badge gleams against her chest. I look closer, and see the similarities. They have the same face shape, the same hair color, and even the same nose.

  This can’t be happening.

  “I’m not a Donovan,” he says. “My last name is Kendricks.”

  I look at the woman again.

  His mom.

  Jason isn’t who he said he is.

  He’s the son of a cop.

  PART THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “So let me get this straight,” I say. “You’re the son of a cop?”

  “I am.”

  “And this whole time, you’ve just been trying to get to know me so you can tell your mom about my family.”

  “More or less, yes.”

  That
all sinks in.

  “Shit,” I say.

  “But, Matt, listen to me. I couldn’t do it.”

  “Couldn’t do what?”

  “The scheme. I couldn’t finish it. It’s why I told you, before you told me anything they could use.”

  “If you think I’m going to believe anything you say now…”

  “What else could I be hiding? What else could there possibly be?”

  “I don’t know,” I say. “But I do recall thinking something similar the last time you did a big reveal about who you are. I thought: He wouldn’t have another secret. There’s no way. And yet, here we are.”

  “I know. And you never fully trusted me, did you? You always picked up that something was off.”

  I feel tears prickle. “Actually, I did. In the end, I did.”

  “Oh.”

  “So you know, good job. You’re very good. Have you ever thought about going into acting?”

  Tears fill his eyes, too.

  “Why are you crying?” I ask.

  “Because I don’t want to be this person.”

  I do hate seeing him so put out.

  Then I remember he deserves it.

  “I wouldn’t want to be you, either. You might be the worst person I’ve ever met. You slept with me.”

  He just nods.

  “You made me think I’d made a friend. Do you even know how big of a deal that was for me?”

  “No, I know. You told me, remember. At the hospital.”

  I’m sort of surprised he remembered that.

  It was all fake.

  Yet he remembered.

  I take him in. I sort of can’t believe I didn’t see it before, but he looks like a rookie cop. With his crew cut and fit body, he fits in a lot more with that side of the law. I guess that’s part of the reason I was so drawn to him. He’s never belonged to my side of the world.

  I get why that was appealing to me.

  “This trip … was it just to get me away from my family?” I ask.

  “Yeah. It was pretty obvious you wouldn’t tell me anything. I was getting nervous, because I thought the longer I was with you, the more in danger I was in. So I needed to push you. Coming to LA was Mom’s idea. The whole scheme was, actually.”

  “What about your friends? Couldn’t they have given it away?”

  He shakes his head. “They were in on it. You never went to my real school or met my real baseball team. The dance was another school’s that we joined. We hired a few actors to pretend to be close to me, so that you’d trust me more. This was a huge project, man, led by my mom. She was constantly thinking of ways to get you to like me.”

  “She sounds like a real winner.”

  “You have no idea. She controls everything about my life. I didn’t even want to be a part of the scheme. But she made me. She said I would do it, or I would find somewhere else to live. She said if I didn’t, she’d get rid of my college fund and my trust.”

  “You expect me to feel sorry for you?”

  “No. I just want you to know why I did it.”

  “Why doesn’t really matter to me. You still did it.”

  He bows his head. “I know.”

  “You could’ve said no.”

  “Have you ever said no to anything your family has asked you to do?”

  Huh.

  I guess he does have me there.

  “Don’t turn this back on me. You’re the liar here.”

  “And you’re the one heading straight for a life of crime.”

  “I…”

  I can’t even disagree, because I know it’s true.

  “But that isn’t you, Matt. I know it. I’ve known it the whole time. You were nothing like I was expecting. When I was told I had to befriend the son of a criminal, I thought I’d have to deal with a monster. But then I met you.”

  “I know,” I say. “I’m such a disappointment, right?”

  “Dude, no! That’s not what I mean at all. You’re this sweet, thoughtful guy. I know you, and I know you’d never hurt anyone. You … you’re a wonderful person. You’re a good guy, just from a bad family. That was obvious to me straightaway.”

  I stare up. A few gulls are circling overhead. It’s late afternoon now, so the sun is going down.

  “Why are you even telling me this?” I say. “And why didn’t you finish it? I was about to tell you everything. You know that, right?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “So you had everything you wanted. But then you do this. Why? I mean, the sex was good, but it wasn’t this good.”

  “I couldn’t do it to you.” He smiles. “And hey, don’t talk down, you’ve got skills.”

  “If you expect me to believe that, and that you care about me, I—”

  “But I do,” he says. “Deeply. That’s real.”

  “Fuck off.”

  That hits him hard.

  I almost feel bad.

  Almost.

  He’s a monster. He’s lied to me and manipulated me. So what if he had a point about our parents making us do things that we don’t want to do? He still came so freaking close to ruining not only my life but also that of my whole family.

  My family wouldn’t go to prison.

  They just wouldn’t.

  They’d fight the cops with everything they have. They’d die before they let the cops win.

  He’d know this if he talked to me.

  He also would’ve been dooming me to an incredibly painful death. If word got out that I was the one who told the son of a cop the secrets of my family, then I would’ve been hunted down. Nowhere would be safe, as I’d be my family’s biggest target. The whole criminal underworld would want me dead.

  No matter where I ran, one day, they’d find me.

  I know men like Vince save their worst tortures for snitches.

  Jason came within seconds of dooming me to that fate. Of practically killing my entire family. Of dooming me to a short life on the run, then an incredibly painful death. I came within seconds of that reality coming true.

  It doesn’t matter that he stopped.

  I can never forgive him.

  “Do you hate me?” he asks.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  Which, honestly, is an answer.

  “This is so fucked,” he says.

  He’s started crying, which surprises me. I never really thought of Jason as the sort of guy who’d cry.

  But he is now.

  Good, I think. He should feel bad about this.

  “Well,” I say. “I better head home. Um, what are we going to do about the flights?”

  He wipes his eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “Obviously I’m not going to hang out with you anymore. I think getting on a flight together would be so unbearably awkward.”

  “Right. Take your ticket. I’ll move my flight to later on tonight.”

  He picks up his phone. He can do that from here. He emailed my ticket to me earlier, so I already have it on my phone.

  This sounds like a good plan.

  “So you really don’t want to see me again?” he asks.

  Not bloody likely.

  I think back to when I first met him. When I ran into him in the bathroom. It wasn’t a random meeting. He was in there, on purpose. To pick a target.

  He chose me.

  I get why, but it still hurts.

  “I don’t think I can. I can barely even look at you right now.”

  He nods. “Okay. Well, for the record, I want you to know that, for me, this friendship is real. I know you might not believe that, and you have no reason to ever trust me again. But I really do consider you a friend of mine. If you ever decide you want to be friends again, you can always message me. Okay?”

  “How would that even work?” I ask.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re the son of a cop. I’m the son of a criminal. I’m sorry if I’m being too on the nose, but that’s a horror show waiting to happen if I’ve ever heard
one.”

  “You’ve thought we were on opposite sides before, and you made it work.”

  Yeah, but I honestly feel like the cops are a step further than his being a Donovan. Sure, we’ve been at war with them for the past year, and it’s been tense since the fifties. But people like me have been fighting with cops forever. It’s been nonstop. There is no circumstance where we will totally get along.

  “This is different. We can’t be friends. We’re fundamentally incompatible.”

  His face falls.

  I think that’s a good note to end on, so I pick up my backpack. He just watches me.

  I sort of hate this. But for some reason, a part of me is hoping he’ll stop me. That he has more to say.

  He doesn’t, though. He just sits there, looking crestfallen.

  That’s where I leave him.

  I walk away and don’t look back.

  * * *

  I didn’t cry until I was seated on the plane.

  It’s funny, the smallest thing set me off. I boarded and got my seat. I’d already returned to the hotel, gathered my things, and then got an Uber to the airport. The whole while I was thinking about what went down, obviously. But I managed to keep it together.

  And then, once we were in the air, I looked at the seat beside me.

  It was empty.

  I guess in the time since he moved his flight, they weren’t able to sell a new ticket.

  Seeing it made me start to cry. Jason was supposed to be there.

  There was a man in a suit seated in the aisle seat, so I didn’t have much privacy. I turned and pretended I was looking out the window. As quietly as I could, I cried, mourning what I had with him.

  I told myself it would be the first and only time I would cry about this.

  I think I knew, even then, that I was lying to myself.

  I just finished crying for the second time. I’m back in the city now, in my car. The airport parking lot around me is massive and totally still.

  I can’t stop crying.

  I’ve never felt anything this painful.

  It’s over.

  My friendship, or whatever I had with Jason … it’s over.

  I can never see him again. I just can’t. For one thing, I know I’ll never be able to trust him.

  He’s bad news for me.

  Pull it together.

  I wipe my eyes. Oh man, my cheeks are so wet. This is so embarrassing, I’m very glad nobody can see me right now. Above me, a plane flies overhead, just taking off. It’s loud.