It turned out, though, that Keme wasn’t quite ready to move on.
With a dark glare for me, he said, “Are you any good?”
“At paintball?Obviously.I mean, I’ve never actually played paintball before, but I assume—”
“Bobby!”
“Just stay behind us,” Bobby suggested.
I gaped at him.“I cannot believe the treachery—”
“You’d better not make us lose,” Keme said.
“I’m not going to make you lose.I’m an asset—”
I cut off with a yelp as a paintball exploded against my thigh.Bright pink paint coated my leg.Keme grinned.
If you’ve never played paintball before, spoiler alert: getting shothurts.
“Keme!”
“It’s my birthday,” he said.
“You can’t—” I tried.And then “Bobby—” And finally “We’re on the same team!”
“I know.”Keme shrugged.“But it was fun.”
“Come on,” Bobby said.“Let’s get you cleaned up before the round starts.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
“Heshotme.”
“I know.It was hilarious.”
I stopped abruptly.
Bobby said carefully, “Uh, hilarious how inappropriate that was.”
“You’re on thin ice, mister.”
He looked like he was trying not to smile as he grabbed a rag and a spray bottle and began cleaning me up.In a low voice, he said, “He’s not used to people being so kind to him, Dash.He doesn’t always know how to act.”
“You’re kind to him.He’s always nice to you.Helovesyou.”
“We’re friends.But we’ve always got safely macho ways to channel our feelings so we never have to talk about them or deal with them or even acknowledge that we have them.
“Oh my God, you sound like a straight.”
“Plus, heisstill a teenager, which means he’s also hormonal, moody, and sometimes an all-around brat.”Grinning, he gave me another swipe with the rag and looked me in the eye.“He’s obsessed with you, and he’s still figuring out how to show it.”
“Maybe you could suggestnotshooting me point-blank.”
“I’ll see if I can work it into the conversation.”
“Maybe you could tell him not to pull my hair, either.”
