Free Echo by Sol Crafter Page B

eyes. " I have insurance . That'll be such a gigantic relief when I'm in full body traction or dead."
    "You're so negative." Anderson thought it was hilarious that Cole was so worried. He was actually a very good driver and hadn't gotten into an accident since he first got his license. "You've gotta live a little, that's all I'm saying."
    * * *
    He didn't know how it happened, but after they'd been driving for about twenty minutes he fell asleep, his head leaned up against the window. One minute he was listening to Anderson sing along with the radio, the next he was being shaken awake and the car was parked.
    Cole sat up with a yawn, looking around. "This doesn't look like a house," he said.
    Anderson laughed. "I thought we could pick up some snacks and something to drink before I introduce you to my father."
    Cole felt all the blood drain out of his face. " Something to drink before I introduce you to my father . You never said anything about your father. What if he totally hates me or something?"
    "He's not going to hate you," Anderson said. "He's actually a really nice guy... when he's not being a jerk." He laughed. "Seriously, there's no reason to be worried. The worst thing he's going to do is make you eat a ton of grilled steak and possibly some ribs. He makes a mean pulled pork sandwich."
    Cole rolled his eyes while Anderson waxed eloquent about the various foods his father put together. He followed Anderson out of the car and toward the gas station mini-mart.
    They attracted a few looks because of their suits, but it wasn't that big of a deal. They were just a couple of guys getting off work.
    Cole couldn't help the way his shoulders hunched when he carried his soda and small bag of chips to the cashier. He hated talking to new people.
    He handed his stuff to the woman, then reached into his pocket to pull out a ten dollar bill. "Here you go," he said, not waiting for her to speak.
    She gave him a weird look, but quickly completed his purchase and handed him his change. "Here you go. Have a good day."
    " Have a good day ," he echoed, hurrying to stand next to the door to wait for Anderson who was browsing around the candy section.
    He watched Anderson walking around and couldn't help his faint smile. Anderson was so handsome, and the way he was groping the gummi bears was undeniably cute. It was the kind of thing a kid would do.
    Cole turned to the swivel rack next to him and glanced through the fold-out maps and spiral bound atlases. There wasn't anything very interesting, and there was no way he was spending $17 for an atlas he was only going to maybe use one time.
    "You ready to go?"
    He twitched in surprise. " You ready to go? You surprised me," Cole said, glancing up at Anderson. "Yeah, let's get out of here."
    Anderson pushed open the door and gestured Cole through. "You got chips and I got candy. Do you want to trade with me when we get in the car?"
    Cole shrugged agreement and walked back to Anderson's car. His hand was a little sweaty on the plastic of the potato chip bag. Whenever he had to deal with strangers, he always got the sense that the world was closing in on him and it took him awhile to gain back his equilibrium.
    "Social anxiety sucks," he said, putting on his seat belt.
    Anderson glanced at him while he turned the key in the ignition. "What?"
    " What? I just said that social anxiety sucks." Cole sighed. "My heart always beats so fast when I have to deal with strangers. One day, I think I'm just going to drop dead from stress or something."
    "I would never let that happen to you," Anderson said. "If I had to, I would do all your talking to strangers for you."
    " I would do all your talking to strangers for you . Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm pretty sure I can handle things," Cole said. "I need to figure out how to deal with things myself or my therapist is going to think I took a step backward or something and I'm going to end up on her list or super loser patients."
    Anderson snorted a