“I don’t know. I’m not sure.”
For a while we sat in silence, Zac not saying anything. I could see he didn’t like the idea of me being with Sam and that he wanted to advise against it. But he knew better than to tell me what to do. Besides, our friendship didn’t work like that. We were there to support each other, not judge each other.
“What about setting some ground rules?” Zac said.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Like with Denise, I told her the last time if she breaks up with me again, I won’t take her back.”
I looked at him, skeptically.
“I’m serious! And she didn’t break up with me all summer!”
“And didn’t cheat on you either?”
I could see he didn’t like that.
“Sorry, Zac. I take it back.”
He was quiet for a while and the mood changed.
“You can’t help who you fall in love with,” he said.
“No, but you can do something about what happens after,” I said, thoughtfully. “I think that is true. Thanks for helping me see that, Zac.”
“I helped? Really?”
I smiled and gave him a hug.
“Now, do you have any idea where Tucker is?”
He didn’t want to tell me, but I pushed him. “He hangs out at the bar where Denise works. He’s often there at night, with his buddies.”
“Is he using?”
“I couldn’t say for sure,” Zac said. But the look on his face made me think that he probably was.
I looked at my watch.
It was late afternoon already.
I decided to go to my mom’s place, have a shower and head over to the bar later.
Zac said he’d meet me there.
For the first time that day, I felt a glimmer of hope.
Maybe there was a way out of this mess.