Chapter 50

“Hey, don’t.” I touched his arm. Couldn’t believe I was going to make him cry. Me? I wasn’t worth his pain. “Please don’t waste a single tear on me. Look, Jack, we don’t have to walk away from each other today. We don’t have to end it so abruptly, right?”

Jack sniffled and looked away at the mountain.

“We could be friends, couldn’t we?” I asked, knowing I didn’t even deserve an answer. But if he agreed to be friends with me, I’d keep him in my life for as long as I could.

“Why would you wanna be friends with someone you can’t even introduce to people you know? What kind of friendship is that?”

I made a decision right then and there. I could call Jack a friend and would, from this day on, introduce him as such to anyone who asked. That I could do. “If you agree to be friends with me,” I said, “I’ll never deny that we’re friends to anyone, anywhere, including my idiot team mates. And I’ll have your back, Jack. I’ll stand by you. I won’t let anybody talk shit about you.”