"I can't believe it. He hung up on me again."

"Jordan, who are you calling?" I asked, leaning back in the passenger seat to look at him. He was flopped across the back three seats without a seatbelt, and he had been repeatedly trying to call someone for the last ten minutes.

"I just said, I can't tell you."

Declan, who was driving, sighed. "Jordan, like it or not, we're all in this together."

"Why do you need to know about my personal life?" Jordan retorted.

"Jordan, we're just curious," I soothed.

"If you must know, I'm calling Bentley."

"Bentley? What do you want with Bentley?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said quickly.

"Jordan, don't even lie," I grumped.

"Fine. Bentley called me and asked me a very personal question, and I called and was trying to give him a very personal answer."

"Are you two getting married and running off to Florida? What's going on?"

Jordan snorted. "I said it was a pers—"

"I don't care. Tell me."

He sighed. "Bentley wanted to know something about Bennett. And so I told him. And then he got all interested and asked me another question. And now I'm trying to answer it, but there's no cell service in this stupid car."

Jordan, Declan and I were driving in Declan's new car, over to the shoe store to buy Bennett some new shoes. He was sick, hence the fact that we were using Declan's car. I had been going to stay at the base with him, but he insisted that I come along because be didn't trust the other guys to pick out shoes.

"What was he asking about Bennett?"

Jordan shook his head and put his phone back in his pocket. "Nothing important," he assured me.

"Oh, like that's believable," Declan muttered to himself as we pulled into the parking lot of the shoe store.

"Remind me again why Bennett can't just order shoes online instead of making us drive out to go and buy him shoes," he said as we got out of the car.

"Apparently, this is his favorite place to buy shoes and they don't have a website," I told him.

"Does he need new shoes right this minute? What happened to his old ones?" Jordan asked as we walked in.

"Jordan, you incinerated his old ones with a lighter when Declan asked you if Dr. Scholl's insoles were flammable," I reminded him.

"Well how was I supposed to know that it was 'highly advised to keep insoles away from heat sources or high temperatures'?"

"You could have, oh, I don't know, read the warning on the back of the box."

"Well, it's too late now, isn't it?" Declan cut in, interrupting our debate.

The entire shoe store smelled like new shoes, which had to be one of the greatest smells in the world. There were massive arrays of just about every shoe there was.

"What did he say he wanted?" Declan asked as we strolled into the men's section.

"Converse."

Jordan raised an eyebrow. "Converse? Bent has enough money to buy a new pair of thousand-dollar basketball shoes every other day, but he chooses to wear Converse?"

I sighed. "You know how he doesn't like to flaunt the whole rich-kid thing."

"But still..." Jordan trailed off as we came to the Converse isle.

"What color did he say he wanted?" Declan inquired, browsing through boxes. "Blue?"

"Black."

"But I thought he liked blue," Jordan objected.

"He does. But he just doesn't like blue shoes," I explained. "He likes black ones better."

"That's racist."

I rolled my eyes. "There isn't a blue race."

Jordan looked at me, clearly confused. "Of course there is."

Declan stopped his browsing to raise an eyebrow. "No there isn't."

Jordan looked at us like we were idiots. "Duh, Blue Man Group!"

Declan and I looked at each other for a long time before turning to Jordan. "Jordan," he began quietly.

"Blue Man Group aren't actually blue," I told him. "They just paint themselves."

He gasped. "You're lying."

Declan nodded grimly, putting a hand on Jordan's shoulder. "I'm afraid it's true, my friend."

"M-m-my life is a lie," Jordan stuttered dramatically before flopping on the floor and clutching his heart. "I'm ruined!"

"Jordan, how did you even know that Blue Man Group were blue?" I asked hesitantly.

Jordan had sobered up. "I went to a Blue Man Group performance. Once, when I was really, really little, before the accident. I don't remember it, none of the colors. Just being there. And there's the fact that it's kind of in the name," he added.

"Enough sob stories," ordered Declan. "Jordan, get off of the floor. People are starting to look at us weird."

"What else is new?" I muttered.

"Okay, okay, here are the black ones," Declan mused, coming up to a stack of boxes. "Okay, Naomi, what's his foot size?"

Jordan snickered.

"You're so immature," I told Jordan. "And Declan, I don't know. He didn't say."

"Maybe he didn't want us to know," Jordan speculated. "Maybe it's so hideously small that he didn't dare to tell us. Maybe—"

"Jordan!"

I took out my phone. "I'll text him."

I sent a message:

NaOhMe4 Hey, Bennett, what size shoe do you wear?

And then this happened:

BentOverBckwrds1 eleven

NaOhMe4 k thx

BentOverBckwrds1 yw

NaOhMe4 btw how are you feeling?

BentOverBckwrds1 better

JorDunDunDun2 what, now that your texting naomi???

BentOverBckwrds1 shut up

JorDunDunDun2 you shut up

BentOverBckwrds1 you shut up

JorDunDunDun2 you shut up

NaOhMe4 DON'T start this again!! Okay, size eleven and you want black Converse right?

BentOverBckwrds1 yeah

JorDunDunDun2 woah dude size eleven jeez ;)

NaOhMe4 JORDAN!!!

JorDunDunDun2 sorry

JorDunDunDun2 is what i would say if i was actually sorry ;)

BentOverBckwrds1 dude you stole that line from me!

NaOhMe4 okay seriously guys. Jordan, stop making crude jokes.

JorDunDunDun2 crude?

JorDunDunDun2 ooh it rhymes with lewd

NaOhMe4 okay THATS ENOUGH

JorDunDunDun2 oh come on i know you two secretly love each other

BentOverBckwrds1 NO WE DON'T

BentOverBckwrds1 THAT WOULD BE BREAKING THE CONTRACT

BentOverBckwrds1 AND WE'RE JUST FRIENDS

JorDunDunDun2 okay, okay, calm down

DeckDaHalls3 guys, if you would stop arguing, I found the shoes.

Jordan and I put down our phones to see that Declan was holding a box of black Converse, size eleven. For once, he had been the useful one.

"Let's go," I advised, "before Jordan's mind gets any dirtier."

We went to the checkout line when my phone buzzed again.

BentOverBckwrds1 can you get some new Dr. Scholl's insoles? Plz?

"Bennett wants some new Dr. Scholl's," I told Declan. There were a few boxes resting on the shelf next to the check-out line, and he took one.

Jordan snatched it from him and squinted at the box. "Are you sure that it has a fire-hazard warning on here?"

I pointed at it. "Yes, Jordan I'm sure."

He sighed. "And are you sure Blue Man Group aren't actually blue?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm positive."

When we got to the checkout line, Jordan waved the Dr. Scholl's box in the clerk lady's face.

"Can you believe that these things are actually flammable?" he asked incredulously.

She raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, come on, if you set one of these things on fire it ruins the whole shoe!"

She gave him a very puzzled look and turned back to Declan and I, bagging the Converse.

We passed a gum ball machine on the way out. It was stationed by the door, an old-fashioned one with a coin slot.

I waited.

"Oooh, can I have a gum ball?" Jordan asked.

I sighed.

"Come on, please?" he begged.

"The last time someone bought you something sweet, you ended up projectile vomiting all over me," Declan protested.

"Pleeeeease?"

I fished in my pocket and handed Jordan a quarter. "Here you go."

He inserted it into the slot and waited patiently as it tumbled down into the slot. When it did, he picked it up and asked:

"What color is it?"

"Blue," I answered.

His face turned sour. "Oh, the bitter memories. Blue reminds me of the pain and lies of my childhood that is Blue Man Group. I can't eat this."

"Jordan—"

"I'm just kidding," he reassured me, popping it into his mouth. "I still can't believe that Blue Man Group aren't actually blue, though."

I rolled my eyes as we piled into Declan's car.

NaOhMe4 hey, we got the shoes and the insoles, and we're coming home now

BentOverBckwrds1 thx!!! So sorry I'm sick! I bet having to deal with the others was a total nightmare lol

NaOhMe4 you have no idea

BentOverBckwrds1 oh rly what happened?

NaOhMe4 apparently no one thought it was a good idea to tell Jordan that Blue Man Group aren't really blue, so Declan and I had to do it.

BentOverBckwrds1 wow lol

JorDunDunDun2 COME ON HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT THEY WERENT ACTUALLY BLUE????

BentOverBckwrds1 *weren't

JorDunDunDun2 AAAAARGH!!!

I smiled. They were still my Musketeers. All three of them.

Even if I was finally admitting to myself that I really did have a crush on one of them.