Free Ignite by Kate Benson

a few feet and walls between us, we’d managed to keep our heads clear enough to set up some rules.
     
    Well, really it all came down to one rule: if at any point we feel like we need to walk away to save our friendship, we do it. No questions asked, no hard feelings.
     
    I’m just about ready to pick her up when I hear the walkie under my pillow sounding off, her hushed voice sounding slightly panicked.
     
    “Zeke! Pick up!”
     
    “What’s wrong?” I ask, glancing out my window across to hers and seeing her empty bed, the covers still a mess from this morning.
     
    “Nothing,” she groans, going silent for a moment before the walkie I’m holding sounds off again. “I have to… I have to ask you something and I don’t want to.”
     
    “Well, what is it?” I ask, my mind reeling.
     
    Addie and I have always had a completely honest relationship, so when I try to think of things she wouldn’t be comfortable asking me, I draw up a blank.
     
    “It’s so stupid…” she sighs.
     
    “Oh my God, Addie,” I cut her off. “Would you just ask me already?”
     
    “Ugh! Fine!” she huffs. “This morning when you left, my dad asked me what was going on with us and I told him I didn’t really know. So, he told me I was being ridiculous and needed to figure it out. I told him I knew that and so then when I told him we were going to the movies, he asked me if we were dating and I didn’t know what to say so I just stared at him like a moron. He started some awkward sex talk and I freaked out,” the hushed words leave her so quickly, she pauses to take a breath.
     
    “So what did you tell him?” I ask her, unable to keep the smirk from touching my lips.
     
    “Nothing! I told him I had to pee and I came up here and called you!”
     
    “So he thinks you’re peeing right now?” I laugh in disbelief.
     
    “Yes!” she hisses. “I didn’t know what to do so I ran away.”
     
    “Oh my God,” I groan, still laughing. “Okay, I’ll take care of it.”
     
    “What do you mean you’ll take care of it? How the hell are you gonna take care of it, Zeke?”
     
    “Don’t worry about it,” I tell her. “Just get dressed and I’ll be there in a minute.”
     
    “Okay, thanks,” she says quickly and I look over to see her popping up from beneath her window and running across the room, the action making me laugh harder.
     
    ***
     
    “Hello Zeke,” Addie’s dad says as he swings the front door open, motioning for me to come inside as he takes a long pull from his beer.
     
    “Hey Mr. Greyson,” I smile, walking past him. “How are you?”
     
    “I’m alright, I suppose,” he says, pushing the door shut before calling up the stairs. “Addie! Zeke’s here!”
     
    “Okay!” she yells back.
     
    “Do you want me to go and get her?” I offer and the smirk that covers his mouth has me a little nervous.
     
    “No,” he says. “No, I think we should take advantage of this time to have a little chat since my darling daughter’s suddenly overactive bladder has forbidden such.”
     
    “Okay,” I nod, following him into the living room, watching as he gestures to the blue couch they’ve had in there for years.
     
    “Have a seat,” he tells me before taking his spot in his favorite old recliner and faces me. “Son, I’m only gonna have this talk with you once, you hear?”
     
    “Yes sir,” I nod.
     
    “I’ve known you for years, I think you’re a good kid and I know you care about my daughter,” he starts, holding my eyes. “But if you hurt so much as one hair on Addie’s head, this happy little relationship we have here will be over.”
     
    “Mr. Greyson, I wouldn’t…”
     
    “I don’t think you’d do it intentionally,” he cuts me off. “But you’re both leaving here in a few weeks and you need to seriously think about what you’re doing. The two of you have been through a lot over the years and I know how much you mean to each other. Don’t go mucking up