Chapter 42: Chapter 42

Since Drew wasn’t from around the area, Hector chose where they ate, keeping it simple: a deli near 5th Street where many of the boxers and trainers ate. Even though it was lunchtime and they’d be busy, there’d be plenty of room to sit and still have some privacy because the place was huge.

Drew ate silently, listening to Hector tell her all about his bully friends in high school. He tried to read her, make out what she might be thinking as he told her everything: the continual harassment of Walter, the robot, and Walter dropping out of school.

It wasn’t until he told about all the times he spent searching for anything about Walter on the internet, even after he’d graduated, that he realized just how obsessed he’d been about the whole thing. Looking back now, seeing three guys beat up on one guy was enough to make Hector jump to try and help out. But realizing who it was on the ground was what really made Hector deliver that knockout punch the way he had. Not only had it been an enormous relief to know Walter wasn’t dead but not having punched A.J or Theo out the day they took his robot or at least forced them to give it back was now one of his biggest regrets. That punch had a lot of weight on it. It had months and months of Hector lying awake late at night, wondering if he could’ve possibly played a part in Walter’s demise.

He’d even begun to wonder, since he hadn’t found anything on the web about Walter’s suicide, if maybe one day Walter would turn into one of those crazy dudes. Because of all the shit he’d been put through in high school, maybe one day he’d snap the way they did and do something crazy like shoot up a mall or school or something. Hector heard these stories on the news all the time. These guys were fucked up in the head to do stuff like that.

Hector remembered how, for a second, Walter had snapped and gone off on him then suddenly came back to reality and appeared stunned that he’d told Hector off. So many times when Hector had watched the news of these kinds of tragedies, he wondered what had driven them to it. Where had the anger all begun? And every single time, he had the nagging reminder in his head that maybe one day he’d be responsible or partially anyway for another bitter and tortured soul doing something similar.

As often as Hector had gotten lost in his thoughts while he explained to Drew just why he felt so strongly about not betraying Walter yet again, he noticed she’d repeatedly looked as if she were lost in her own thoughts.

By the time he was done, she was chewing on the corner of her lip and appeared to be trying to put it all together.

“So if Walter were out of the picture, you’d have no reservations about giving up all your little girlfriends to try something different with Charlee?”

Hector wiped his mouth with his napkin and sat back in his seat. Of all the things Drew could’ve said about everything he’d just laid on her, this was the only thing she got from it? From her expression, he could tell she had an idea, but he didn’t like it already. He’d gone over all the possibilities, and the main reason he couldn’t tell Charlee his real grounds for not being able to offer her more was this: the last thing he needed was for Charlee or Drew to tell Walter that Hector was the reason he didn’t have a chance with Charlee.

If either of them thought that’s how easy it would be, they were wrong on so many levels. There was no way Hector would chance Walter dropping out of the chess team or even school again to spare himself having to see Hector and Charlee together. Hector had enough on his conscience already. And keeping his relationship with Charlee a secret was out of the question too. If Charlee were ever to become his girl, Hector would make sure everybody, including that asshole on campus that was still trying to talk to her, knew it.

“What do you mean if Walter were out of the picture? How do you propose that would happen?”

She lifted her chin. “You answer the question first. Would you be willing to depart from your swinging bachelor life to try something a little more profound with Charlee?”

Hector stared at Drew now. She also had blue eyes, and while he supposed some might think them pretty, they were nowhere near as breathtaking as Charlee’s. Most importantly, with what he felt when he looked into Charlee’s eyes, they may as well be transparent. It wasn’t even about the color or how big her eyes were anymore. It was about what they did to him. He had to close his eyes for a moment. Hell, yeah, he’d be willing to give it all up for a chance with her, but . . . He opened his eyes and frowned.

“It’s impossible, but,” he shrugged, “sure, I’d be willing. I just don’t see how—”

She waved her hand in the air before he could finish. “Where there’s a will there’s a way. I have an idea already,” she leaned forward, lifting her brow and gave him a heavy dose of that hairy eyeball she’d brought out earlier, “if you promise me that you’re serious about this and you won’t dare break her heart or toy with her, Hector. I mean it. So help me you’ll have me to deal with, and trust me you don’t want that.” Drew paused, apparently waiting for him to respond to that before going on.

Hector almost smiled at the determination in her eyes. As delicate and small as this little girl was compared to him, he had no doubt she’d come after him with a vengeance if he ever hurt her friend—again. “I need to hear what this idea is before I agree to anything.”

He couldn’t even imagine what it could be. He’d had weeks to ponder this, and there was no way, not without Walter feeling betrayed again.

Drew suddenly stood up, and for a moment, he thought she might leave. So he sat up ready to go after her in case she misunderstood and thought he wasn’t willing to agree to not breaking Charlee’s heart. Instead, she began to pace, tapping her finger against her mouth. He watched for a moment then had to ask. “What are you doing?”

“I’m thinking. Give me a sec.”

Okay?

She stopped pacing then sat down. “So Walter thinks he’s in love with Charlee, but the guy can hardly talk to her. I’m thinking this is more of an infatuation thing with him. She told me about how awkward it was when she went over to see his science project. The only time he’d been comfortable was when he’d been demonstrating it to her. The rest of the time he was his usual nervous self and barely talked.” Drew rolled her eyes. “The guy had time to prepare for her coming over, and the only thing he prepared for was his demonstrations.”

Hector shook his head, feeling a little annoyed. “Nah, he did prepare. I helped him actually. He just choked like he always does. But that’s just who he is. That doesn’t mean he’s not really into her.”

“Well, I thought so too,” Drew quickly countered, “until I went with him and Charlee to his grandpa’s assisted living facility.” She smiled big. “You’ve been there with him too, right?” She gave him a knowing look.

Hector stared at her blankly. “Yeah?”

“He’s not so awkwardly shy around everyone, now, is he?”

Still drawing a blank, he thought about it harder, feeling a little stupid because he had no clue what she was talking about.

She frowned now and sat up. “How many times have you been down to the old folk’s home with him?”

“A few.” So Walter wasn’t shy around his grandpa or the other oldies he played. Big deal. Hector didn’t see how that was going to help.

“And did you meet Natalie?”

Hector had to think about it for a moment. “His gramps’ nurse? Yeah, I met her. She’s been there every time.”

“And?” Drew pressed.

When he thought about it a bit too long for Drew’s liking, she plopped her hands down on the table, and her eyes flew wide open. “Oh my God, I’ve only been there once with Charlee, and we were there for all of five minutes before we picked up on it. Charlee even thought it was cute, but at the time, I was too annoyed to give it much thought because I didn’t like how rude Natalie was to Charlee.”

Hector lifted an eyebrow unbelievably. “Natalie was rude to Charlee?” Natalie was a sweetheart. He had to wonder if Drew was exaggerating or if this was a chick thing.

“Yes, she was rude to her. She obviously has a thing for Walter and wasn’t thrilled about him bringing Charlee with him. The girl wasn’t exactly sweet to me, but she must’ve picked up on Walter crushing on Charlee because she really laid on the rude with her.” Drew dug into her chip bag and shook her head. “Though, the big lug is as oblivious about it as you are. Charlee and I actually considered getting involved and maybe giving him a clue, but after the way she treated Charlee, we both said, ‘screw her.’”

This was total news to Hector. He’d been there a handful of times with Walter now, and while he noticed Walter seemed comfortable enough with Natalie, Hector hadn’t caught any interest she might have in him. Still, he liked where Drew was going with this. It wasn’t as simple as he’d been thinking. “So what’s your plan?”

“We get Walter and Natalie together! Charlee even says they’re perfect for each other. His grandpa’s in love with the girl. This will be a piece of cake.” Drew smiled wickedly. “Once they’re together, trust me, he’ll need to get over Charlee real fast because that cute little nurse with the big attitude won’t be having it.”

Hector thought about it. Funny, he hadn’t picked up on any discourteous behavior from Natalie. But then he wasn’t another girl vying for Natalie’s love interest.

“And here’s the beauty of it.” Drew had Hector hanging on her every word now. “Walter’s going to be traveling with Charlee a lot, right? Spending time on the road, staying in the same hotels. Natalie already doesn’t like Charlee.”

Hector didn’t even realize he was frowning until Drew laughed. “Relax. This is where you come in. I can guarantee you she’ll have issues with it that may lead to arguments and fights and ultimately her not being able to deal with it. I know I’d have a hard time dealing with my man going on the road with someone I knew he had a thing for, especially someone as adorable as Charlee. So you’ll actually be helping him out. If she knows Charlee will have her hot boyfriend with her along on said trips, she won’t be so freaked out about it.” Drew reached for her straw and took a sip of her soda. “You’ll be Walter’s hero, not someone who betrayed him.”

“Did you just call me hot?” Hector smirked.

With a laugh, she rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself.” She reached for her purse. “But I will need your number. We gotta collaborate here. Charlee cannot know about this. She’ll kill me. As a matter of fact, I have to get going, or she might get suspicious. I’m never gone this long without her knowing where I am, and she sort of already caught on this morning that I might be up to something. Only today, I knew she’d be out of it for most of the day, so I figured I could pull this off. Let’s have it.” She held her phone up, ready to enter his number in her phone. He gave it to her, and when she was done, she stood up.

“I’ll be in touch with you to let you know what I come up with. I’ll have to think fast. Charlee was already talking about going back home.”

“What?” Hector stopped in his tracks. “Why?”

She continued to walk, making him walk with her. “It’s what she does. That’s how she deals with being upset. She runs into her little Charlee hole and wants to hide from the world. I talked her out of it for now. But if this goes on much longer, I don’t know that she won’t change her mind.” She must’ve seen the worry in his face because she added. “Don’t worry. If you knew how my mind works, you’d know I’ll probably have a plan before I even get home. I’m all over this.”

Hector smiled now as they walked out the restaurant. Drew seemed as genuinely excited as he was beginning to feel. And she wasn’t kidding about how fast her mind worked. By the time they got back to 5th Street, Drew had already gone over several possibilities about how they could go about this. The more excited she got, the faster she talked.

“Catch your breath,” Hector said as they got out of his truck.

Drew laughed, but she did take a very long dramatic deep breath. “I needed that.” She laughed.

Hector stared at her for a moment then smiled. “So you’d do all this for Charlee, even though there’s a possibility she could kill you if she found out?”

Her smile didn’t flatline like last night when he told her she was a good friend, but it did lose some of its glow. “I just wanna see her happy. She deserves to be.”

With his insides already stirring, Hector could hardly wait to get on with this. The excitement of knowing this might actually work made him smile. He was glad now that he’d decided to tell Drew everything. This day could’ve gone in a completely different direction, and now he felt over the moon. “I know I said it already, but Charlee really is lucky to have you as a friend.”

That really snuffed what was left of her smile. “You did that yesterday when I said that. Why is that a bad thing?”

She was quiet for a moment then shrugged. “Let’s just say this is not an entirely selfless act on my part. You’re not the only one whose conscience is dragging him down. I need to do this for me as much as I do for Charlee.” Hector waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t. “I gotta go, but I’ll text you.”

That last revelation didn’t sit well with him. Did Drew mean she’d done something to Charlee she felt guilty about? No way. The girl had protective best friend written all over her. She’d even marched in and called him an asshole for making her friend cry.

He made a mental note to bring it up again if he ever got the chance.