Glad we found your boundary tonight.
I lift my chin.
“So what’re we thinking?—
“hand up the front or the back of the skirt?”
“Front,” he says, watching my face.
“He needs her focused on him.
“Doesn’t want her noticing the real view’s behind her.”
“Nah, I’m goin’ with the back.”
I lift a hand toward Mason.
“He’s a grinder. Got his thin-ass pants on, ready to rub up on some heat. Chin on her shoulder, finger ready to slide in and pretend she’s all Bar Girl, blonde hair, and boobies.”
Nico snorts loud across from me.
“Hold up—” Mikey lifts off an elbow.
“Miss Past gettin’ real sus right now.”
Andrew and I turn our attention back to Mason. Miss Past might be catching on to what Mason’s looking at.
Nico gestures to our TV.
“Yo, Allison?—
“What do you think she’s sayin’?”
I tilt my head,
then raise my voice an octave?—
“Mason, it’s been seventy-eight days since you touched me… just asking for one night without you looking away…”
Dead silence.
Then the boothfalls apart.
Mikey collapses into Jay.
Nico slaps the ledge behind him with a cackle.
Andrew’s laugh knocks him forward, but it’s a broken sound, holding back more than breath. “Yo... I was not ready,” he chokes out, hand over his jaw, eyes locked on mine. “You really just said that.”
Then Nico perks,
and it gets everyone’s attention.
“Oh-oh—Mason’s makin’ a move, people.”
Andrew’s eyes find mine again,
trying to gauge how I’m feeling.
