Sip.
“No offense, but yes.”
“None taken, and you’re exactly right.” She smiles and leans in.Yes.“Here’s the thing. I’m happy to help, but the price you pay for my assistance is you’vegotto tell me who started it. And why.”
Oh,wellplayed.
Unlike Anders and Rafi, who are now openly sniffing around my sexuality, Parker lets me be and has never once asked, implied, or cajoled a response from me. It’s one of the reasons I like hanging out with her so much.
Seeing my indecisiveness, she grabs my arm. “I’m not asking for anything you don’t want to say. It’s none of my business. I just want to know who started it.”
“Yeah, well, you’re the only one who feels that way.”
She smiles and waits.
Maybe it’s because we’re newer friends; maybe it’s because I know she was really helpful in getting Rafi out of his funk, but I decide to—fuck it—take the leap.
“So…I’m guessing you know that I’m gay.”
She winks, pressing her hand to her chest. “Gay?Quelle surprise.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“I’d be less surprised if you didn’t have a whole closet of Differio, or skin so perfect I could weep. Also, there’s no way your teeth are naturally that white.”
“Good skin and teeth aren’t a gay thing, Parker.”
“Good? No. Next-level extra? Yes. And there’s still the clothes.”
“Well…I wear those to fuck with him.”
“Himas in Anders.”
“Yes.”
She laughs to herself. “Dude…are you sure you just want to get back at him? ’Cause it sounds like you want to fuck him.”
I take a sip of my coffee.
Her mouth flies open. “Youdowant to fuck him?”
Sip.
“Oh my god, have youalreadyfucked him?”
I hold up my hands. “No. But we came pretty close on Halloween.”
She punches my arm. “No fucking way!” She pauses her visible-from-space mental calculus. “Okay, so the timeline is starting to make sense. Youhaveto tell me everything.”
“I…ugh. Rafi and Everett dragged me to Rain on Halloween and then abandoned me to get laid and be all in love with each other. I stayed behind because A, I didn’t think anyone would recognize me, and B, I wanted to keep dancing.”
“But he was there.”
“He was there. Someone started dancing up against me, and when I turned around to see who was macking on me, there he was in all his Viking glory. I thought he didn’t recognize me, so when he started making out with me…”
“You let him?” Parker says, her mouth a perfect O.
I shrug, picking at my napkin. “He’s a good kisser.”
