The Keys to Jericho by Ren Alexander

of official girlfriends. He flirted a lot with most of the school’s female population.”
    “That’s a lie.”
    Dash laughs. “You’re right.” He says to my dad, “Let’s just say that Jared came off as cool and a lady’s man, but he was far from either.”
    “Shut up, Calder. I flirted some.”
    “Not that I ever saw. I did see you hanging around one girl a lot. What was it, junior or senior year? I can’t remember. I was never close enough to see who she was, and you’d never talk about her.”
    “Like I’m not now.” Ever.
    “I think I’m hitting a nerve.” His eyes light up, sparking my dad’s interest with it.
    “You wish,” I lie, wanting to close the subject. I pose to him, “What about you, Calder? I saw you flirting with quite the crowd. You even had some regulars that hung onto you in between classes or at lunch.”
    “Regulars? You make me sound like an old waitress or a hooker.”
    “Yep.” I shove his shoulder. “You were way too friendly with those eighth graders.”
    Unfazed by my teasing, he replies, “I can’t help it I’m a people person.” True. Dash knows everyone and is always highly regarded when I hear him mentioned, until his choice in a best friend comes into question. He looks at me pensively. “You’re …complicated.”
    “I’ll vouch for that one,” my Dad offers. I frown at both of them.
    Abruptly, I laugh. “Remember the girl with a limp you dated for a while?”
    “Her name was Carolyn and we only were together two months.”
    “What happened?” my dad asks between bites.
    Dash’s smile hits the skids. “She left me for her cousin’s boyfriend.”
    I facetiously smirk. “Did he have a limp, too?”
    “No. She limped because she had an ingrown toenail that was removed wrong or something.”
    I recoil, letting my pizza hang limply. “That’s fricking disgusting.”
    “I never saw her feet!”
    “I doubt you saw anything else, either. Not that she was makeout material. She talked like an auctioneer, making you sound like you had shit in your mouth.” I laugh, but hear my dad’s chagrin swirling in his sigh.
    “Yeah. My mom met her when we saw Carolyn at a store. She said she’d kick my ass if I knocked her up because she could never keep up with our kid.”
    “Truest words ever said. Especially since your mom wore the eight-inch heels back then.”
    Dash rolls his eyes and says, “I’m pretty sure you had more girlfriends, but you hid them.”
    I try smiling, but fail. “Nope.” There was only one I wanted. My gaze slides to the patch of grass across the parking lot, frantically trying to forget.
    Dad and Dash both give me a strange look. I don’t see it, but I feel it in the silence that follows, which is unsettling. Without looking at them, I edgily ask, “What?”
    “I think you’re not telling us something,” my dad accuses.
    Tired of this shit, I push off the tailgate. Dad asks, “Where are you going?”
    I say over my shoulder, “I don’t think I need a permission slip signed anymore.” I hear whispering and then quick footsteps behind me.
    “Wait, Jericho.” Dash catches up with me. “Why do you shut down like that? It’s just your dad and me.”
    “And you just answered your own question.”
    “I know you have issues with your dad, but don’t you trust me, at least?”
    I honestly don’t know how to answer that, so I just keep walking.
    “Jared, there’s something going on with you. You and Rio never fight like you did the other night. Why does Liberty bother you so much? You’d find she’s really funny and nice if you took the time to get to know her.”
    “Like you do?” I glare at him. The wind blows through his blond hair, making it chaotically ruffled, which he hates.
    “More than you do,” he challengingly retorts as we cross the street. I shake my head, walking onto the Spa Creek Drawbridge, sliding past people waiting for the race to start. He asks, “Are you afraid he won’t want to be friends