The Thrashers

by Julie Soto

Zack was Jodi’s best friend. But she was only one of Zack’s many best friends.

Maybe it wasn’t being lonely she was afraid of. Maybe it was being alone.

“When I got to the car, your window was only half-down and your seat belt was still on.” She could tell him about Paige’s shoe to her face, or remind him about her inability to swim, but she just swiped a new line at a new window. “Did you give up when the car flooded,” he whispered, “or before it even left the bridge?”

“Maybe she did. But I don’t want you to,” he said. Like it was as simple as that.

And she wondered what it was they were doing, and if it was wise to let him crack her chest open a second time, just to see if he fit inside.