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I found out only by accident, when I searched online at his local newspaper to print out the list of graduates to coe Ithe one hundred and fifty graduates I should know I checked--three tih the phone "Maybe you should talk to him"
"You’re biased," I snap "You’re on Lincoln’s side because of Aires" Lincoln’s older brother, Josh, and Echo’s older brother, Aires, were part of the same military unit No one knows the whole story, but they died two and a half years ago in Afghanistan, in a roadside bo I met Lincoln at Aires’s funeral
"If I remember correctly," Echo says with an attitude that has very rarely eed over the past two years, "I’er and I’ hi for hi--hard, because "I know Sorry That wasn’t fair"
"No, it wasn’t"
We’re silent for a fewAires into a fight I pick at my thumbnail We’ve been best friends since birth and we never stay et off the phone with her angry at ht
"Hotel, motel or tent?" I slur the last word as a curse More silence, then a rustle of sheets Please, please, please play along, Echo I need my best friend
"Motel We slept in the tent for the past few nights," she says in a light tone that causes me to smile Yeah, I hate happy people, but Echo deserves happy "Noah’s in the shower"
"So" I draw out the word "Have you had sex?"
"No" She chokes Hand to God, she chokes I giggle as she coughs
"Well, if you do," I say when she recovers fro fit, "don’t let your first time be in a tent That would be awful"
"I think a tent could be romantic"
"Traitor," I say Echo used to be in the only-if-there-is-room-service camp, like me, but then she permitted the hot and s and snakes, Echo Just saying"
In the background, I hear Hot and Mysterious’s deep voice Echo fumbles with the phone while she answers hiht My ht by ht so the entire world beyond o because then I’ll be alone again in this big, empty house
Part of me hates Noah If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t be in Iowa or Kansas or where the hell ever and would instead be staying the night withall of her tiuy with all the tattoos and Biker Chick Beth Tattoo Boy and Biker Chick Beth also live with Noah’s foster parents, and they were a year behind me and Echo at school Echo says they aren’t a couple, but I’d bet the new heels I received for graduation they are
If it wasn’t for Noah, she would need me moreshe would still be insecure, she would still be obsessing over the scars on her arht she got the on with her life Dao" Yep, I said it in a way that indicated that is so not what I want to do
"I’ll stay on," she says "We could keep our phones on all night Just like we did in elementary school" Only then it was landlines She would, because that’s what best friends do
I swear I hear Noah groan in agony Guess he doesn’t like BFF breaking in on make-out time
"No I’ll be fine" It’s a lie I stare at the scrapbook page that I lugged back to ht I should think I could sleep tonight, but the exhaustion only increases my terrorand deepens my sadness over Lincoln I should have heard him out Why didn’t I listen?
"I think you should talk to Lincoln," Echo says, reading my mind like always "Maybe wait until you’ll know he’s back hoain"
My thuht you wanted me to stay away from him"
"Yeah, well, you already fell for hirets The retted it, and then I fully regretted it when I heard his engine accelerate down the road
I hate that he won’t be in Florida in the fall I hate that I’ll be alone at a strange college, in a strange state, and not know a soul I’ll be a complete and utter outsider But what I really hate is that I’ll never get to figure out if Lincoln and I would ever have been more than just friends
Even with the lie, what I don’t hate is Lincoln
Echo releand every single door It’s only when I reach the front door and peek out onto the porch that I finally let her go
My heart does this funny little tumble Lincoln left the roses and an envelope