“We interrupted her game—?have some sympathy.”
I smile as he holds open the door for me, surprised by his quick and easy humor. Usually, Alex is quiet, always a little dimmed next to all of Owen’s bright. I’m not sure if he’s compensating for all the shit that’s going on around us or if this is who he really is when you separate him from my brother. Alex undiluted.
There’s not much time to think on it because we’re immediately swallowed by darkness and the bass line of a Taylor Swift song. The room is huge and cold, and the black lights ignite the entire space with glowing reds and blues, greens and oranges.
“Holy shit,” I say, taking in the tiny glowing putt-putt course, the glowing bouncy house, the glowing inflatable slide, the glowing ball pit, the glowing basketball court.
“Right?” Alex says, slipping off his black Converse and stashing them in the glowing shoe cubby. “A veritable galaxy.”
I store my own boots. “What should we do first?”
“I’m not sure, but I think we need to talk about your teeth.”
My hand flies to my mouth. “My teeth?”
He bares his own and I laugh. They’re radioactive white.
“At least I’ll be able to find you in the dark,” I say. I’m in a navy tunic dress, and his sweater is dark enough that the black light doesn’t pick it up very much. The only things visible are our teeth and socks.
“Where to?” he asks, waiting for me to take the lead.
I squint through the neon gloom. We seem to have the run of the place. With most kids in school, I can’t imagine Glow Galaxy sees much action on a weekday.
“Bouncy house,” I say, slipping my hand into his and starting toward the giant glowing structure.
“I think you mean bouncy castle.”
We slip under the net that apparently doubles as a drawbridge. At first we both sort of hop around on the tight vinyl fabric. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little ridiculous. Without the conversation and with my body moving too slowly, the day creeps back in. Owen. Hannah. All the whispers at school. Charlie’s dark eyes so intent on mine as she tries to figure out how to help me.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I hurl my body into the air and throw my legs out in front of me so I land on my butt. I ricochet against the vinyl, getting tossed sideways and landing in a heap in the corner.
“Wow,” Alex says. “Complete abandon—?I like it.”
“Go big or go back to school, I guess.”
Alex teeters around while I get to my feet. This time I jump a little higher and a little longer, until finally I’m a foot off the surface, my hair flying around my face. Soon Alex is jumping too, gravity pulling the laughter out of us.
“Don’t spit on me,” I say.
“I’ll try not to.”
He backs up to the netted wall and gains some height. Then he throws himself forward, arms out like Superman. He lands on his stomach and bounces back up into the air, turning onto his back before hitting the sloped surface again.
“All I saw was a set of flying teeth,” I say, and Alex lets out a long laugh.
We take on the slide next. It’s at least three stories high, and I can barely climb the inflatable stairs because I’m laughing so hard.
“Your socks are my light in dark places,” Alex says from behind me. I have to pause in my climb, more laughter sapping me of all my strength.
The slide is exhilarating. We climb up and shoot down at least ten times, sometimes on our backs, sometimes on our stomachs, forward and backwards. The last time, Alex somersaults down and all I see are his socks flashing as he rolls down in a little ball. It’s silly and fun.
It’s perfect.
We hit the putt-putt course and Alex pretty much kicks my ass, but then I annihilate him on the small basketball court, so we call it square.
“There’s no way in hell I’m going in that ball pit,” I say as we catch our breath.
“Oh, come on, I’m sure they clean each individual ball every hour with a toothbrush.”
