“This is so good. I’m willing to take a gunshot to the leg if it means that you’ll cook for me,” Quinn said between bites of food.
“Did Shane ever tell you about the time that he shot his best friend in the ass with a BB gun?” Abe said.
The fork full of eggs stopped halfway to Quinn’s mouth and he stared at Abe in shock while Shane groaned loudly. “Oh God, Dad. No. Please don’t.”
“Oh no, now I need to hear this,” Quinn quickly said before shoving the eggs into his mouth.
Shane groaned again, but Abe ignored him. “Shane was about twelve that summer. He and Kevin had been inseparable since they’d met when they were about six. Kevin had gotten a BB gun for his birthday a couple of months earlier, and they spent most of their time wandering through the small sliver of woods not far from our house. They promised me that they weren’t shooting at any animals.”
“We weren’t,” Shane firmly cut in. He limped over with his coffee mug in one hand. With extreme care, he slid onto the bench next to Quinn, sitting just close enough that Shane’s knee brushed against Quinn’s under the table. “We set up cans or other bits of trash we found as targets.”
“Well, that day they started out early as usual. His mother barely managed to get any breakfast in him before Kevin was knocking at our door, asking for Shane. I watched them run off, not expecting to see them again until lunchtime.” Abe paused and looked at his son with amusement flashing in his eyes while Shane just shook his head, keeping his attention on his plate. It even looked like there was a slight flush to his cheeks. “But it was less than two hours later, I was mowing the grass when I see Kevin limping out of the woods, tears streaming down his face. Shane was slower behind him, face flushed, looking both angry and confused.”
“What happened?”
Abe paused and smiled at his son. “Shane discovered boys.”
“What?”
“Kevin kissed me,” Shane said, his voice thick. “I was so surprised. I didn’t handle it well.” He took a deep breath and loudly exhaled. “We were lying on our bellies next to each other, shooting at stuff. Kevin got the last can, but when he handed the gun over to me for my turn, he kissed me. Then he got up to set up the can for me. I was so stunned that I wasn’t paying attention when I picked up the gun. He’d already cocked it so when my finger hit the trigger, the gun fired the BB…right at his ass. He was sure I’d done it on purpose.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Poor Shane,” Abe murmured.
“I was trying to figure out why he kissed me and why I wanted him to do it again and what my dad would think if I liked kissing him. The next thing I know, he’s upset with me because I shot him in the ass. Then I got angry at him for surprising me and for not believing me when I said I didn’t do it on purpose.” He looked over at Quinn, his smile a little crooked. “It was a real mess.”
“Did he ever believe you?”
“Took him about two weeks to start talking to me again.” Shane pushed his food around on his plate. “I kissed him the first time I could get him to agree to meet me. I was convinced he was going to slug me afterward.”
“And?”
“They were inseparable for about two years,” Abe said. “But you could tell it was a little different from the friendship they’d had before. They were closer.”
Two years inseparable sounded a whole lot like dating. Quinn closely watched Shane who wasn’t looking at him anymore. His body seemed a little stiff and more closed off than it had been before. Their knees no longer touching. Abe was also watching his son with a smile, but his eyes seemed sadder.
“What happened? Did he move away?”
“No, we just grew apart. Friends change.” Shane’s words were hard and he glared at his father across the table as if daring him to say otherwise. Abe looked unmoved.
“Happened at roughly the same time that Shane’s mom and I separated.”
“Whatever. I shot my first kiss.”
Quinn smirked and bumped Shane’s shoulder with his own until Shane looked over at him. “Gotta say I’m glad you outgrew that habit.”
Shane snorted and his smile returned, the tension that had filled the air suddenly deflating so that Quinn could breathe easier. Shane changed the subject to talk of moving his next get-together with his dad to the following weekend and FC Cincinnati’s chances of getting one of the two open Major League Soccer spots. Quinn was happy to let him. Abe had left him with enough to think about. He just didn’t know whether to take it as a warning or as a sign of hope.