Fifteen minutes later, I had cleaned up everything, locked up shop, and we were back in my car on our way to some small Italian restaurant Tony recommended.

Once we were there, we ordered our food, and I looked down at my phone. I had a missed call from my mother back in Boston and a text from Jessica, but no calls or texts from Drew. My mind clouded with worry, and I wondered where she was and what she was doing.

“Dylan? Hello?” Tony said to me from across the table.

“Yeah?” My voice came out smaller than usual, and I cleared my throat.

“You zoned out on me,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, everything’s fine,” I replied, my voice stronger this time.

“I’m kind of immune to that lie at this point, Dylan. Really, what’s going on with you?”

I looked up at him and saw that his eyebrows were furrowed in concern. “Um, I’m just kinda worried about Drew, that’s all,” I said rather quickly, not yet willing to verbally express my worries.

“Why would you be worried about her?” His expression remained the same.

I sighed in frustration, briefly wishing that he could just read my mind so I didn’t have to talk about Jack. “Well, earlier when Drew came over to change, I told her about what happened to Ashley, and she told me that her fiancee, Jerry, has a brother named Jack, too.”

“So what? Ashley and Jack are from Miami, Jerry’s from San Diego.” He chuckled again, this time a bit more confidently.

“No, Tony. Ashley, Jack, and Jerry are all from Miami.” His eyes widened at me. “Exactly,” I said, referring to his shocked expression. “Drew was supposed to try and find out some more info when she got home, but she hasn’t called me yet. I hope she’s okay.”

“I’m sure she is, Dylan. Besides, even if they were related, and Jack was around, do you really think he would do anything to her?”

“Honestly, I don’t even know. Jack’s crazy.”

As I said that, the waiter came back with our food. Tony and I had ordered a large margarita pizza to share, but I had lost my appetite. Tony didn’t seem to notice, as he was too busy stuffing his face with his first slice. I simply stared at him in amazement and sipped my lemonade. By the time he noticed me staring, he was on to his second slice. “What?” he asked, his mouth full.

I laughed at him and shook my head. “You’re so silly.”

Tony swallowed the pizza that was in his mouth. “I thought you were hungry,” he said as his eyes averted their glance to my empty plate. I shrugged and looked down. “It’s okay, I’m just glad I could make you smile.”

I felt my cheeks get hot as I looked up at him. He was looking at me with his beautiful smile, and it was so contagious I couldn’t help but smile back. “Thank you,” I said rather quietly. He heard me, however, and nodded his head slightly, his smile remaining on his face.

“Alright, let’s get outta here,” he said as he waved for the waiter to bring us the bill.

“Aren’t you gonna finish that?” I asked, gesturing towards the partially-eaten pizza sitting in front of us.

“We can take it home,” he responded matter-of-factly. A few minutes later, the bill was paid, and I picked up the boxed pizza as Tony and I made our way back to my car.

Once we got back to my house, it was close to six o’ clock. I wasn’t necessarily tired enough to go to sleep, but I definitely wanted to relax. I walked into the living room and collapsed
dramatically onto the couch. Tony moved my legs, sat down on the middle cushion, and placed my legs on top of his lap. “Sleepy?” he asked me, his voice quiet.

“Not really, I just wanna relax,” I responded truthfully, closing my eyes. Suddenly, I sat up. “Let’s put on some sweats or something and get comfortable. We can just watch movies for the rest of the day or something.”

After a second of contemplation, Tony nodded his head. “Sure, why not?”

We made our way to my bedroom. I walked over to my dresser to grab some sweatpants, and Tony walked to the corner of the room where his duffel bag was sitting on a chair. “Shit,” I heard him curse under his breath.

“What happened?” I asked, peering at him from over my shoulder.

“I don’t have any more clean clothes. Shit,” he cursed again.

I turned completely around and frowned in his direction. “So…you gotta go home now?”

“Yeah, it looks that way,” he turned around, and, noticing my gaze, walked over to me, placing his hands on my hips. “Hey,” I looked up at him. “Don’t be sad, okay? After tonight I’ll come over whenever you want.” He shot me another one of his dazzling smiles. Shit, Tony, do you know what that smile’s doing to me?

“Fine, just call me in the morning, okay?”

“Count on it.” With that he leaned down to kiss my forehead, and before I knew it, I was walking him to the door. “Bye, Dylan,” he said, kissing my cheek before walking out the door. Damnit, the kisses.

“Bye, Tony,” I responded quietly and felt the butterflies in my stomach, even though it was only a cheek kiss. I stood at the door as he walked to his shining black Ford in my driveway. After he got in the car, he started the engine, and took off down the street.

“I love you.”